Photograph by Phil Konstantin

“The San Diego Union-Tribune is looking for a Reporter to cover border life and immigration issues affecting the San Diego-Tijuana region,” says a job notice posted by MediaNews December 7.

Back to the border?

More than 13 months after Union-Tribune border reporter Wendy Fry departed for a new gig at non-profit CalMatters, the paper, these days operated by MediaNews Group — a chain owned by vulture investing outfit Alden Global Capital — is advertising for a replacement. “The San Diego Union-Tribune is looking for a Reporter to cover border life and immigration issues affecting the San Diego-Tijuana region,” says a job notice posted by MediaNews December 7. “We are looking for a versatile journalist who can take an enterprise approach to the beat, focusing on deeply reported, high-impact journalism. At the same time, the successful candidate must be able to juggle aggressive beat work and breaking news.”

Barbara Bry left the consulting to her guy.

Adds the announcement: “This is an incredibly dynamic region to cover, and this reporter must be able to identify stories that resonate with a cross-border/U.S. readership. The beat is broad and covers both sides of the border.” The wording is nearly identical to an online job notice for the position posted by the U-T — then owned by Los Angeles biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong — after Fry left in the fall of 2022. But there are two telling differences. The Soon-Shiong-era job notice says the new hire “should be able to tackle stories that make a difference and hold accountable institutions and people in power.”

Not so Alden Capital’s version, which instead relates “this reporter should be able to cut through the rhetoric on border and immigration issues, and bring context and nuance to the beat, all while carefully navigating a complex reporting environment.” Regarding compensation, the Soon-Shiong ad said pay would range from $65,000 to $75,000 a year. Alden Capital is offering a more modest $27.64 to $32.45 an hour, which converts in annual terms to between roughly $57,000 and $67,000, significantly below the current average San Diego salary of $69,495, per ZipRecruiter.com.

Meanwhile, unionized reporters at Alden’s Southern California Newsgroup have conducted a one-day protest, says a December 14 message on X, the site once known as Twitter, by Emily Holshouser, a scribe at the Los Angeles Daily News. “Tomorrow, my colleagues and I at @SCNGguild are walking out of work to advocate for a fair contract. I make ~$40k a year after taxes. That is insane considering the amount of stress, danger, and expectations reporters are under to do our job. And some make less!”

Added her colleague Brian Rokos: “If there is any big crime news in the Inland Empire on Thursday, you won’t hear it from me. SCNG reporters are on strike today because of low pay and unfair labor practices by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. AGC has been dragging its feet in negotiations for two years.” The Union-Tribune isn’t part of Southern California Newsgroup, it’s been reported, but instead reports directly to MediaNews Group, another Alden-controlled chain, keeping it union-free.

Bry redux

Ex-San Diego City councilwoman Barbra Bry, who lost a race for San Diego mayor and later another for county assessor, has been low-profile of late. But she has been cleared by California’s Political Fair Practices Commission of suspicions that she illegally used her city council seat to benefit her wealthy husband Neil Senturia’s investment in Deckard Technologies, Inc.

Patrick Soon-Shiong enjoyed a little Truth to Power. Will Alden?

Deckard offered its services to city governments, promising to root out miscreant short-term rentals, one of Bry’s favorite targets during her council tenure. Questions arose when Bry’s leaving office statement of economic interests, filed on January 4, 2021, disclosed she had been a consultant to Deckard, for which she got $10,000 to $100,000 a year from 2018 through 2020, per the filing. Reached by phone at his office that February and queried about the matter, Senturia declined comment and abruptly terminated the call.

Two months later, Bry quietly amended her original disclosure, labeling the Deckard consulting as being done by her husband Senturia and his Blackbird companies. Bry’s updated disclosure identified money gleaned from Deckard as “spouse or registered domestic partner’s income.”

Now, in a September 25 letter to Sacramento lawyer Richard Rios, recently posted online by the FPPC, the agency’s senior counsel Artin Berjikly declares that Bry’s city council actions did not violate state law. “The Enforcement Division found that Bry did not have a material financial interest in Deckard Technologies, Blackbird Ventures, and Blackbird Special Projects because they are the separate property of Bry’s spouse, and Bry did not derive any financial benefit from the business entities,” the missive says. “Additionally, Bry’s participation in governmental decisions did not have a material financial effect on the spouse’s business interest in these entities.

Therefore, when Bry voted in July and October of 2018 while a council member for the City of San Diego, regarding the short-term rental ordinance, there was no material financial interest which would have led to a conflict-of-interest on either Bry or Bry’s spouse.”

Adds the letter: “Additionally, the relevant Statements of Economic Interest filed by Bry were amended to reflect the business interests as belonging solely to Bry’s husband.”

Meanwhile, Deckard continues to clean up with local governments across the country. In a July 7 dispatch from Texas, CBS News reported, “The more short-term rentals a city has, the more they pay. For context, Fort Worth initially signed a $35,000 one-year contract with Deckard, while Grapevine’s contract was $3000 for a year.

The city of Plano told CBS News Texas they’ve paid Deckard $46,000 to date: the original one-year contract was for $24,500, but the city recently paid for more features and services.” Deckard’s success has drawn pushback from some property owners, per the story. “The Fort Worth Short Term Rental Alliance accused Fort Worth of spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to have Deckard Technologies surveil citizens.”

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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