San Diego wonders what's next for newspaper

The announced sale Wednesday of the San Diego Union-Tribune to a private equity group from Beverly Hills had San Diegans asking: What next?

Editor Karin Winner told her staff that it's unclear whether she will remain. Civic leaders and journalists wondered whether the sale will mean an end to the Copley brand of Republicanism that, on the editorial page and sometimes on the news pages, has shaped San Diego since 1928.

“The Copley influence has been huge in this town, but no progressive would count it as having been beneficial,” said George Mitrovich, founder and president of the City Club of San Diego, the city’s top public affairs forum.

“Once Mr. Copley died,” Mitrovich said, referring to the death of James Copley in 1973, “the paper underwent a gradual evolution but it never fully lost its conservative view of the world, or its deep-seated Republican bias.”

Tim McClain, editor of the San Diego Metropolitan Magazine, said the Union-Tribune's view has been that San Diego County is separate from the rest of Southern California. “But despite the U-T’s warts, I'm concerned about what happens next,” he said. “No one knows what an equity group is going to do.”

Carl Luna, a professor of political science at San Diego’s Mesa College, said that publisher David Copley “has acted like an absentee owner.” In his years as publisher, Copley was rarely seen in public and turned down all interview requests.

“I think he’s lost interest in San Diego and just wants to cash out and live the good life that he's known to favor,” said Luna. “Without a strong publisher, it’s fallen to the editorial page to carry the Republican message and they seem to be talking about a world that no longer exists, as if it’s 1985 and Morning in America again.”

A longtime Copley employee found it strange that Copley did not address the staff and was not quoted in the official statement announcing the sale.

“I hope that as we get closer to this being done that he talks to his staff and to the community,” the staffer said.

Dean Nelson, a journalism professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, said the Copleys have been “pro-Republican, pro-business, pro status quo. It will be interesting to see if the sale brings other voices, but no one can tell at this point.”

-- Tony Perry

Comments

[Kit]

Yeah, it would be an absolute tragedy not to have one newspaper that isn't utterly in thrall to every whim of the Democratic party and MoveOn.org. How shall democracy survive? Crikey. The fear of other points of view is pervasive in modern journalism.

[Douglas MaKitten]

It is preposterous to say that the U-T has a "deep seated Republican bias." Compared to what - the ultra liberal L.A. Times? Many of the U-T's national and world news stories come from the New York Times and Washington Post - hardly Republican oriented papers. Also, the editorial/op-ed pages have a wide range of opinions, not just those of conservatives or Republicans.

[belavucica]

It is preposterous to say that the U-T has a "deep seated Republican bias." Compared to what - the ultra liberal L.A. Times? Many of the U-T's national and world news stories come from the New York Times and Washington Post - hardly Republican oriented papers. Also, the editorial/op-ed pages have a wide range of opinions, not just those of conservatives or Republicans.

I agree whit that, absolutely ...
www.theageofnepotism.com

[Mind Bomber]

Well it looks like you might actually have to leave the office now to cover the news and stop getting comment from your dial-a-quote sources.