UT SAN DIEGO SELLS TO OWNERS OF LOS ANGELES TIMES 4K
Total Views: 40 By Miriam Raftery May 13, 2015 (San Diego) – UT San Diego, our region’s largest daily newspaper, has announced an agreement to sell to Chicago-based Tribune Publishing. The fourth largest newspaper chain in America, Tribune Publishing owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and other major newspapers. The $85 million deal would end local ownership of the 146-year-old newspaper and the controversial reign of developer Doug Manchester as publisher, opening the door to a potential shift toward higher journalistic standards. Manchester acquired the newspaper in 2011, later acquiring a total of nine local publications ranging from the North County Times to the Ramona Sentinel, also included in the deal. He has drawn criticism for injecting political bias into the newsroom as well as using the newspaper to further his own personal financial interests as a developer. When a developer-stacked red tape reduction task force appointed by Supervisors sought to eliminate community planning groups countywide, Manchester failed to inform his readers. While many newspapers wield influence through editorial pages, Manchester went further, wrapping the front page in editorials for conservative candidates he favored. After helping elect Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer with editorials and six-figure contributions, Manchester succeeded in having his own company’s architect appointed to the city of San Diego’s planning commission and saw environmental obstacles to his Grand Del Mar resort lifted. New York Times media columnist David Carr remarked that under Manchester, the U-T looked “like a brochure for his various interests.” Sale of the UT will allow Manchester to retain ownership of the UT’s property in Mission Valley, which he has indicated he hopes to develop as a residential property. The new owners retain a one year lease and reportedly aim to seek a new headquarters locally. The new publisher, Austin Beutner, is a former Smith-Barney analyst and ex-deputy mayor of economic development appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villlaraigosa. When Tribune Publishing acquired the Los Angeles Times, Beutner was named publisher of the major L.A. newspaper. Beutner has been an Obama financial backer who also has ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, though he has pledged to keep politics out of the newsroom at the UT –which may take back its historic Union-Tribune name. City News Service reports tha Beutner has said the U-T will continue to operate as a separate brand with its own newsroom. U-T President and Editor Jeff Light will retain his post. Beutner says the company can cut costs, combine resources and share stories, photos and other content, U-T San Diego reports. “That’s our competitive advantage…We have more voices and more content, and that’s how we win in a digital world,” Beutner told the U-T. “We compete by having the best content.” Tribune Publishing has apparently beat out efforts by developer and philanthropist Malin Burnham to form a community nonprofit to acquire and run the U-T. For 81 years, the U-T was owned by the Copley family, a conservative powerhouse in the region. In the 2009 recession, following the death of Helen Copley, heir David Copley sold off the newspaper to a private equity firm, Platinum Equity, which turned it over to Manchester just two years later. Capitol New York writer Ken Doctor calls the rapid turnovers including the latest sale to Tribune Publishing “emblematic of the chaos of American newspapering” which has weathered declining readership coinciding with the rise in Internet news outlets. Dean Nelson, journalism professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, has said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the sale will lead to improved reporting, calling Manchester’s legacy “minimal, bordering on harmful.” George Mitrovich, City Club of San Diego President, stated, “the more enlightened among the town citizenry know the Times is superior to the U-T, and if the buyout means better journalism for San Diego, then the new ownership should be welcomed, not scorned.” Carl Luna, a political science professor at Mesa College, noted that the political views of Manchester were out of step with the city’s changing demographics and Democratic voter registration majority. He voice optimism that “a restored San Diego Union-Tribune can become a voice which speaks to and for an increasingly diverse and dynamic San Diego,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer however, who benefitted from Manchester’s editorializing, praised Manchester for an “incredible track record” and “quality reporting.” Democratic Councilman Todd Gloria noted the Chargers have also been wooed by Los Angeles, concluding, “I welcome Los Angeles acquiring our newspaper—but not our football team!” Printer-friendly version
4K viewsMEDIA WATCHDOG: IS THE U-T’S PURCHASE OF NORTH COUNTY TIMES AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE? 5.7K
Total Views: 17 Merger highlights the decline of independent media By Miriam Raftery, Editor, East County Magazine September 19, 2012 (San Diego)—The U-T San Diego’s purchase of the North County Times for $11.95 million dollars has sent shudders across the journalism community locally and nationally. The deal also includes acquisition of the Californian in Riverside County(no relation to the East County Californian), which was owned by North County Times. Demise of one of San Diego’s largest independent media outlets highlights two growing problems: fewer voices controlling the media due to consolidation and a decline in quality including slashing investigative/watchdog reporting and abandoning journalistic standards—most importantly, impartiality. Wealthy publisher/hotel magnate Doug Manchester, a major funder of anti-gay marriage initiative Prop 8 and other political causes, touted the sanctity of marriage while his own marriage dissolved due to his admitted infidelity. Now critics contend that his acquisition of newspapers in order to control what news the public reads is, in truth, an unholy alliance. Rival publications have penned articles fiercely critical of the acquistions, pointing out that under ownership of “Papa Doug” Manchester, the U-T has provided biased coverage of projects favored by developers (including projects in which he stands to personally profit) as well as abandoning even a pretense of unbiased political coverage. Examples of the pro-development slant include the U-T failing to forewarn the public about Supervisors’ proposal to eliminate community planning groups (a scheme proposed by developers). It editorialized in favor of an industrial wind development in our region while ignoring negative impacts on public safety and the environment. The U=T’s owner is also a self-proclaimed cheerleader for a new Chargers stadium and waterfront developments benefitting Manchester’s hotel empire. Notably, his business has had its share of labor issues over working conditions as well as boycotts. Manchester even sent his hotel chain’s lobbyist to debate labor leader Lorena Gonzalez in a forum on Prop 30, the Governor’s initiative for education funding, covered by the U-T. The newspaper’s political bias has become overt since Manchester’s takeover. While for-profit newspapers have a right, even a duty to make endorsements in key races as they see fit, injecting editorial slant into news coverage has long been taboo. The U-T recently launched a new website called Seeing Red, described as a “conservative view of politics.” Manchester, who donated over $118,000 to a Super-Pac supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and gave big bucks to the Prop 8 campaign to ban gay marriage, recently wrapped the newspaper’s front page in an editorial for Republican mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio and invited Republican candidates to a how-to-get-endorsed while short-shrifting Democratic contenders, to cite two recent examples of flagrant political slant. The latter included a tour of the new U-T TV studio with Roger Hedgecock and a session on “how to get noticed by the press, how to craft a press release” for GOP candidates only. MediaBistro blogger Matthew Fleischer wrote: “Wow. Looks like … Manchester’s U-T San Diego isn’t even pretending to be an objective news source anymore.” Manchester also hired right-wing radio owner John Lynch as the new chief executive officer—a man who previously sold interviews to a government agency for profit, CityBeat reported. The skew was also evidenced after the national political conventions, with positive stories on Romney but negative stories on Democrats with titles such as “Democratic Folly.” Scott Lewis, CEO at Voice of San Diego, observed in a story titled “The Two Faces of Papa Doug” that Manchester has touted “limited government” on a KPBS interview yet supports massive military spending including “the Navy’s effort to build a new headquarters, which benefits, of course, him.” Lewis added, “In fact, he’s a fan of big government as long as it is based on religious authoritarianism, provides for private enrichment of public assets and spends what’s left on unquestioned militarism.” Manchester has even raised eyebrows for promoting his religious beliefs in a pro-Jesus editorial last Christmas Day, then turning off comments to squelch criticism. North County Times reporter Brandon Lowery sent a Tweet revealing that Manchester told staff to be “positive” and write nice stories about business owners, further evidence that we’re not likely to see hard-hitting news stories critical of corporate interests in the up-until-now respected North County Times. Such bias violates the basic core tenets of journalism. Despite the onslaught of opinionated rants on talk radio and the Internet in recent years, real newspapers and professional journalists are supposed to abide by certain rules designed to protect the public interest—your right to know all sides on controversial matters in order to make up your own mind. The Society of Professional Journalism’s code of ethics, for example, states that “public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.” SPJ urges journalists to, among other things, strive for the following: Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible. Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant. Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context. Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection. Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others. Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage. Full disclosure here; I have no love lost for the U-T’s prior owners. In fact I sued Copley Press for copyright infringement as a named plaintiff in a class-action suit after finding hundreds of my copyrighted freelance articles had been sold or republished without my permission. (The suit, filed in 2008, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and was remanded back to a lower court; where settlement discussions continue.) But even the
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