Billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has announced his plans to launch a “bias meter” for all articles on the outlet’s website as soon as next year. Speaking to CNN’s Scott Jennings on his radio show, the media mogul explained the meter would allow readers to view different perspectives on a news or opinion article in real time and allow them to write or read comments on the subject matter. “What we need to do is not have what we call ‘confirmation bias’ and then that story, automatically, the reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story based on that story and then give comments,” Soon-Shiong explained. “Now I’m giving you some little breaking news here but this is what we’re currently building behind the scenes. And I’m hoping that by January we launch this.” The billionaire proceeded to explain his hope for the module in building “respectful disagreement” and starting a “conversation.” Following his announcement, the L.A. Times’ editorial guild released a statement in response writing, “the newspaper’s owner has publicly suggested his staff harbors bias, without offering evidence or examples” and that they value “an earnest search to understand all sides of an issue.” Soon-Shiong notably blocked the paper from publishing a Kamala Harris endorsement in October which was met with opposition from some staff.
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