Another quake hit the media landscape Tuesday when U-T San Diego’s owners of the North County Times. It was a reminder of how many local papers have folded, including the Encinitas Coast-Dispatch, The Vista Press, La Mesa Scout, Lemon Grove Review, El Cajon Californian and San Dieguito Citizen. U-T columnist Logan Jenkins recalled the old Oceanside Blade-Citizen and Escondido Times Advocate, and wrote: “In the sparsely populated aquarium of daily newspapers, they’ve survived for 16 years but now they’ve been devoured and now what?” What paper do you miss?
Also, my in-laws in Vista tell me that they no longer have a "North County" section either. It's a "U-T Local" section with north county stuff in it just like our east county Local section.
We do have plenty of online local news, we have the Coast papers ....
The U-T editorial board, and Manchester himself, are obviously sick, as their writings thus far could only be equated with projectile vomiting. We all have many strongly-held personal views on issues, but Mr. Manchester's editorials have entered a new dimension I am glad to tell readers that my opponent in the new US House D-50, Congressman Duncan Hunter II, will be receiving the endorsement of Mr. Manchester and his organ. Were there to be some incredible typographical error showing the U-T endorsing my candidacy, I would reject it immediately. In fact, I believe (editorial) any candidate for any office in San Diego County, regardless of party, that shares the extremist views of Manchester and accepts a U-T endorsement, is not worthy of the office he/she seeks.
I've read a few good pieces in the UT from the Watchdog, though not lately; many read the UT more for local news. I appreciate UT's news blog (similar to this one) which follows news articles, where we can post comments, thru facebook. That being said, I will miss North County Times, & I do miss the old Coast Dispatch, & papers that came before. While competition is usually excellent for the consumer, the competition of the internet & sound bite TV is mostly what did papers in, with falling circulation. A big factor probably was we could get our news elsewhere & didn't want to deal with all the newspapers piling up. This probably saves trees. Yet, I'm dismayed we don't have more local investigative reporters. We truly rely on the media to be a "4th branch," along with local activists & watchdogs, as our City government becomes so insulated, without true separation of powers, acting as judge, jury & executioner, or judicial, legislative & executive branches all rolled into one. The North County Times, at one time, had excellent reporters who would attend Council Meetings, take photos, & follow thru on leads & news articles. A miniscule % of people participate by attending Council Meetings. We rely on the media to inform us! Bottomline, desire for profit shouldn't filter the news!
For years, the Union-Tribune called itself “the ring of truth.” No more and it shows.
Political endorsements are a big power that newspapers & local news magazines, such as SD City Beat have. But here, in this forum, I don't see why this has to be another, bitter, partisan debate. Conservatives, liberals & moderates should all want objective news sources, so that we can form our own conclusions, not have our decisions & choices "spoon-fed" to us by those that would "sell" their version of the truth, for profit. If someone doesn't have an open mind, & a real sense of integrity, then he or she, whether he owns the medium, or whether she's just a concerned citizen, attempting to consider the facts as well as opinion on "all sides" of a question, will already have his mind stuck in the rut of foregone conclusions & pre-formed opinions. It takes more than information & knowledge to be wise. One must be able to understand & process information one takes in, weighing it, & deciding what IS factual, & what is mere propaganda, that is opinion tweaked & manipulated into twisted, distorted facts. I don't trust the UT, now, to be an unbiased source of news. Manchester is doing himself a favor, not us. I'm grateful for the Patch!
Of course, there has to be some balance between freedom of speech and causing injury to others, but it seems as though actually removing groups of comments should be rare. I have found that sometimes comments don't show up as they are on "Page 1" of the comments, and I've been taken, by default, to Page 2. Or someone, like a Council candidate, here in Encinitas, could have removed my comments through her own facebook page. Yet when I went to the article through my own link, on my own facebook page (my own timeline), my comment, which I thought had been deleted, was still there. I've also seen where people had deleted their own comments from the "main article" page, but I could still see them through my own facebook page link, if I had replied to a particular comment. Facebook's "protocol" can make finding previous comments confusing!
My comments, below, are meant to be directed toward daily newspapers. I hold the owners and the editorial staff of the Coast News in high regard. I hope the Coast News remains financially solvent, and that people will come to realize the value of the Coast News as a local newspaper, even more, with the demise of the NCT. and the lack of more objective local daily news reporting.
Posting comments on the U-T website, or most any other, is subject to the whims of the people who are PAYING for the webservice. You really have no rights to having comments kept there when someone else is paying for it. It'd be really nice if a newspaper was open minded enough to allow controversal posts to remain, but if they don't want them, they have every right to purge them.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/07/block-on-board-with-campus-indoctrination/ http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/07/a-bizarre-rationale-for-irresponsibility/
Full-page ads, rumored to be free or at a steep discount, for the Mormon produced hit-piece on Obama, 2016. (Yes both the prodcuer and the distributor are Mormon, and yes (religion) it does make a difference when the LDS pumps so much money and resources into politics.) For every one letter with a democratic slant, the U-T publishes six with their conservative slant. Deleting comments posted about their stories. Leaving comments that support their (Manchester’s) viewpoint. Firing good reporters and writers and keeping the “yes men” type journalists. The new room used to have some independence, now it’s obvious it has none.
Sort of like being a PR guy for Satan. No matter their shifting political slant their customer service has always been the worst on the planet.
I canceled my subscription today so you and I create a wash. I did find it interesting that their "stop subscription" line had "a high call volume" today so it took me several calls to finally get through to cancel.
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