Destiny Schmesticy… Many San Diegans will care less about anything political today, if they did care before, in favor of the biggest Chargers game since 1995. Heck, many regular church-going folk will even fore-go that for the morning, or at least be seen at an earlier service so as to get to a TV by noon.
Although the Chargers are playing the AFC Championship against the 17-0 Patriots — a team of destiny, some say — there is no doubt that San Diegans are united in hope and excitement. The odds makers say this is a long shot, the Pats in the midst of one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, maybe the greatest. None of this has dashed the hopes of local fans. "On any Sunday…" the saying goes.
Politically, the town’s united passion is like that of a Ron Paul supporter, ignoring the polls, discounting the odds, looking only to their belief in a potential outcome that says the pundits are wrong, but the world is alright.
The Decline of the Trad Media and the Rise of the Blogs… Voice of San Diego Executive Editor Scott Lewis on Thursday wrote about one of "the best local political and policy stories for the coming year," along with — of course I’m very biased here — credit where credit is due for the other day’s FlashReport Brian Maienschein for City Attorney scoop….
The Changing Media
We’re back with the list of the best local political and policy stories for the coming year. No. 2 today and No. 1 tomorrow. This one, obviously, I have a vested interest in, so take whatever I say however you want.
Regardless of my and this organization’s place in it, this is going to be a big deal.
2. San Diego’s Changing Media
One of the biggest stories to play out in the next 12 months might not be an issue or a challenge or controversy but more the way stories are told in this region. Fifteen years ago, the region changed forever when the San Diego Union merged with the Evening Tribune. As the Union-Tribune’s president and CEO announced this week after he laid off 27 employees, a similar reworking of the media landscape is occurring.
In a memo to his employees, Gene Bell elaborated…
"Not since the merger of the Union and the Tribune over 15 years ago have we faced such wrenching changes. At the same time, never in our history have we faced revenue losses as dramatic as those of the last 12 months."
The U-T is changing and so is everything else. Wednesday night, news came out that City Councilman Brian Maienschein had officially decided to run for city attorney. The city attorney’s race is going to be one of the most amazing political events to take place in recent memory. This is big news.
But it wasn’t the U-T who broke the story. Nor was it the local television news stations. It was conservative blogger Barry Jantz, a former La Mesa City Councilman. He wrote a post about it on his blog and sent an e-mail out to me and many others.
Blogger Pat Flannery, on the other hand, has become a trusted outlet for City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Flannery actually provoked the U-T itself to write a profile about him and his "unfiltered" news.
The way we get news and the way people spread it is changing as fast as anything in our culture. Obviously, voiceofsandiego.org has created one model of how to do it: Spend far less of our budget on printing and distributing news on space-limiting paper and invest everything we can on quality writing and reporting without trying to make a profit.
But the race to tell 2008’s story will be an amazing story itself.
Speaking of Maienschein… Brian was gracious in talking with me Wednesday night, understanding that no one else had the story yet and that once it was up, well, who knows. Considering, however, that he made it clear his formal candidacy announcement would be forthcoming, we both may have underestimated how ferociously the rest of the media would run with the story. Voice of SD was up with it quickly Wed. night, Sign On San Diego followed as did Channel 8, CityBeat Thurs. morning, then the print…
Thursday – SDUT: Councilman Confirms City Attorney Bid
Friday – SDUT: Maienschein’s bid to unseat Aguirre wasn’t in GOP plan
Plenty of emails about Brian’s chances, especially considering the GOP has already endorsed Jan Goldsmith. Many of them saying they believe with his $250k in the bank from 2004, Maienschein can make a runoff against Mike Aguirre. Whether he would be the strongest candidate against Aguirre becomes another story, however, especially if my email in-box counts as a weather-vane of opinion.
The U-T’s Chris Reed tells-us-how-he-really-feels about Brian’s prospects on America’s Finest Blog…
Friday – Brian Maienschein? This is a joke, right? Right? Right?
Ouch.
Home for the Hunter?… I know, that’s about as bad as "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," but whatever. With Congressman Duncan Hunter’s announcement yesterday that his quest for the presidency has ended, comes the proverbial questions of whether he will now seek re-election for his house seat. Aside from that being about the cruelest thing anyone could do to their own son, Hunter has said repeatedly he will be retiring. Change his mind? Ain’t gonna happen. I repeat:
Throughout all the years of public service, his honesty and integrity have remained. He has stated several times that he would not be running for re-election, as recently as last week in the U-T. I believe him, because I know all too well that he says what he means and means what he says.
Steve Francis… Oh yeah, someone announced for SD mayor last week. More on that later. Not a snub, just an AFC Championship game coming up. OK, Francis did bet the mayor of Boston on the game and got some press out of it. Since Mayor Jerry Sanders apparently wasn’t up for the bet, I woulda thought Mike Aguirre might have called a press conference to take care of it.
Go Chargers!