Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel Flores over racist recordings
Prosecutors downgraded 16 charges to misdemeanours after criticism the case could deter whistleblowers
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman delivers remarks at a press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)
Photograph: CTV News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman reduced 16 felony charges against LAPD Officer Daniel Flores to misdemeanours on 19 August 2026.
- Flores recorded colleagues making racist and sexist remarks in 2025 and shared the recordings with LAPD internal affairs.
- Hochman said the original charges sent the wrong message to potential whistleblowers, though he maintained Flores broke the law.
- The officers recorded were not criminally charged, as prosecutors found insufficient evidence of hate crimes.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 17 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
70/100
Craft
65/100
Hype
15/100
17 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
Only 1 of the 17 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman reduced 16 felony charges against LAPD Officer Daniel Flores to misdemeanours on 19 August 2026. Flores had been charged in July 2026 for secretly recording colleagues in the LAPD recruitment division making racist and sexist remarks. The recordings, which included racist tropes and derogatory comments about a recruit, were shared with LAPD internal affairs in early 2025.
The original charges carried a potential 13-year prison sentence. Hochman said the decision to reduce them followed criticism that prosecuting Flores could deter whistleblowers from coming forward. He stated the felony charges had sent the wrong message to the public. Flores will now enter a diversion agreement, avoiding jail time if he complies with the terms for one year.
Hochman condemned the remarks made by the recorded officers as hate speech but said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute them for hate crimes. The officers faced confidential disciplinary hearings within the LAPD, though the department has not disclosed whether any were disciplined. Flores was separately found guilty in an internal LAPD investigation and received a 22-day suspension without pay.
The seven left-rated digests and reports led on the backlash against the original charges, framing the reduction as a response to concerns that prosecuting Flores could deter whistleblowers. The Associated Press and CTV News reported Hochman’s statement that the felony charges sent the wrong message. The Los Angeles Times and Lodinews.com included the detail that Flores recorded racist, sexist and homophobic remarks. None of the left-rated digests omitted the fact that Hochman maintained Flores broke the law.
The six centre-rated digests focused on the legal reasoning behind the charge reduction. The Lawton Constitution and Winnipeg Free Press carried Hochman’s statement that the decision aimed to balance deterring criminal conduct with encouraging whistleblowers to use legal channels. The Daily Breeze and LA Daily News quoted Hochman’s phrase that he wanted to be crystal clear the charges were meant to incentivise legal means of gathering information. None of the centre-rated digests omitted the fact that Flores faced a potential 13-year sentence under the original charges.
The single right-rated digest, from the Marietta Daily Journal, led on the reduction of charges and the backlash over the potential deterrent effect on whistleblowers. It did not include Hochman’s statement that Flores broke the law or the detail that the recorded officers were not criminally charged.
None of the right-rated digests mentioned that Hochman said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the recorded officers for hate crimes. The centre-rated digests from the Daily Breeze and LA Daily News did not include the specific examples of racist and sexist remarks made by the officers. The left-rated digests did not omit any of the verified claims listed by the standards desk.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 19 Aug 2026, 23:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman delivers remarks at a press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)
Associated Press News — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
9 rated outlets
- All seven left-rated outlets reported that Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman reduced felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel Flores to misdemeanours. The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, The Independent, Lodinews.com, The Hamilton Spectator, and St Catharines Standard led on the decision to downgrade the charges, which followed criticism that the original felony charges could deter whistleblowers.
- The Associated Press report detailed that Flores recorded colleagues making racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks, which he reported to LAPD internal affairs in early 2025. It quoted Hochman condemning the remarks as "hate speech" but stating there was no evidence to prosecute them as hate crimes. The report also included Flores’ attorney arguing the charges sent a message that documenting bigotry would lead to prosecution.
- None of the digests from the Seattle Times, The Independent, Lodinews.com, Los Angeles Times, The Hamilton Spectator, or St Catharines Standard mentioned the specific content of the recordings or Hochman’s statement that the remarks did not amount to a hate crime. The Associated Press report alone noted Flores’ 22-day suspension from the LAPD for the recordings.
Centre
7 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports all led on the Los Angeles district attorney reducing felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel Flores to misdemeanours. They agreed Flores recorded colleagues making racist remarks, reported the recordings to internal affairs in early 2025, and faced 16 felony charges under a California eavesdropping law. All noted the charges carried a potential 13-year prison sentence.
- The digests from the Lawton Constitution, LA Daily News, Daily Breeze, Winnipeg Free Press, and Spectrum Local News carried Hochman’s statement that the original charges sent the wrong message to whistleblowers. The Daily Breeze and LA Daily News included his emphasis on incentivising legal means of gathering evidence. Spectrum Local News alone mentioned Flores’s age, 43.
- CTV News, the only outlet with a full report, quoted Hochman calling the officers’ remarks hate speech but stating no evidence supported a hate-crime prosecution. It also reported Flores received a 22-day suspension from the LAPD, though none of the digests mentioned this detail.
Right
1 rated outlet
We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.
Read it at the source
17 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
9- Los Angeles DA Reduces Charges Against LAPD Officer ... (opens The Washington Post in a new tab)
The Washington Post — is The Washington Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA, criticized for charging officer who taped others making racist remarks, drops felony (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Toronto Star — is The Toronto Star biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who taped colleagues making racist remarks (opens The Seattle Times in a new tab)
The Seattle Times — is The Seattle Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA, criticized for charging officer who taped others making racist remarks, drops felony (opens Associated Press News in a new tab)
Associated Press News — is Associated Press News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who taped colleagues making racist remarks (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who recorded racist remarks by colleagues (opens Lodinews.com in a new tab)
Lodinews.com — is Lodinews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- D.A. reduces charges against LAPD officer who recorded racist remarks by colleagues (opens Los Angeles Times in a new tab)
Los Angeles Times — is Los Angeles Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA, criticized for charging officer who taped others making racist remarks, drops felony (opens St Catharines Standard in a new tab)
St Catharines Standard — is St Catharines Standard biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
7- Los Angeles DA, criticized for charging officer who taped others making racist remarks, drops felony (opens Santa Maria Times in a new tab)
Santa Maria Times — is Santa Maria Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA, criticized for charging officer who taped others making racist remarks, drops felony (opens The Lawton Constitution in a new tab)
The Lawton Constitution — is The Lawton Constitution biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who taped colleagues making racist remarks (opens CTV News in a new tab)
- Charges against LAPD officer who recorded colleagues’ derogatory remarks are reduced (opens Daily Breeze in a new tab)
Daily Breeze — is Daily Breeze biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Charges against LAPD officer who recorded colleagues’ derogatory remarks are reduced (opens LA Daily News in a new tab)
LA Daily News — is LA Daily News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Los Angeles DA reduces charges against LAPD officer who taped colleagues making racist remarks (opens Winnipeg Free Press in a new tab)
Winnipeg Free Press — is Winnipeg Free Press biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Charges against LAPD officer who recorded others to be reduced to misdemeanors (opens Spectrum Local News in a new tab)
Spectrum Local News — is Spectrum Local News biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
1Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel…?
- Of the 17 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 53% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 6% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel… left or right?
- Neither side dominates it. Of the 17 rated outlets on this story, 53% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 6% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
- Is the coverage of Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel… biased?
- Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel Flores over racist recordings is one event reported by 17 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Nathan Hochman reduces felony charges against LAPD officer Daniel…?
- 17 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why were the charges against Daniel Flores reduced?
- Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman reduced the charges after criticism that prosecuting Flores could deter whistleblowers from reporting misconduct. He said the original felony charges sent the wrong message, though he maintained Flores broke the law by secretly recording colleagues.
- What did the recorded officers say?
- The recordings included racist tropes, jokes about a Latino baseball pitcher dying from eating too many tacos, and derogatory comments about a recruit, whom officers called rapeable. Hochman described the remarks as hate speech but said there was insufficient evidence to charge the officers with hate crimes.
- What happens to Flores now?
- Flores will enter a diversion agreement, avoiding jail time if he complies with the terms for one year. He was separately suspended for 22 days without pay following an internal LAPD investigation.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
