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U-T’s culture wars

The long-predicted sale of the Union-Tribune by Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong to vulture fund Alden Global Capital heralds an almost certain change to the once-mighty San Diego paper, including no more editorial endorsements of state and national politicos. Speculation about the U-T’s future has been swirling since at least February 2021, when the Wall Street Journal revealed that Soon-Shiong was “exploring” dumping both the LA Times and the U-T.

“The options being considered include an outright sale of the entire company, bringing in an additional investor or transferring management of the properties to another media group, people familiar with the matter said,” the Journal reported.

“Mr. Soon-Shiong has also considered selling or transferring management of the San Diego publication to another company, possibly Alden Global Capital Inc.’s MediaNews Group, which owns several papers in the areas between the two cities.” The story brought a fierce but selective February 19, 2021, rebuke from Soon-Shiong on Twitter: “WSJ article inaccurate. We are committed to the @LATimes.” With those words, for those in the know, the die seemed cast.

Looks like we won’t have Patrick Soon-Shiong to kick around any more.

During Soon-Shiong’s stewardship here, news and opinion in the U-T veered from the Republican line dictated by prior owner Doug Manchester — and during decades of previous control by conservative Jim Copley and his widow Helen — to a brand of liberalism verging on the woke. The coup de grâce for the local GOP appeared to arrive in early May with the sale of TV news outlet KUSI, owed by Republican benefactor Mike McKinnon, to chain broadcaster Nexstar for a relatively paltry $35 million.

But the advent of newly crowned U-T owner Alden stands to upend San Diego politics once again. Gone may be the paper’s crusade against county jail deaths, widely credited with forcing the early retirement of Republican ex-Sheriff Bill Gore. Democratic politicos like now-disgraced Nathan Fletcher, who got plenty of good ink from the U-T while his checkered past went unscrutinized, could face a rougher future. While infamous for gutting newsrooms, Alden is not especially known for sharing its political opinions with readers, but hints abound. Before last fall’s mid-terms, word surfaced that Alden had decided to change its editorial policy.

“Unfortunately, as the public discourse has become increasingly acrimonious, common ground has become a no man’s land between the clashing forces of the culture wars,” said an Alden chain-wide editorial cited by the New York Times on October 6, 2022. “At the same time, with misinformation and disinformation on the rise, readers are often confused, especially online, about the differences between news stories, opinion pieces, and editorials.”

The Times went on to report that “the editorial said the newspapers would continue to cover political races but would ‘no longer endorse in presidential races or the increasingly nationalized contests for governor and senate.’” Though the statement said Alden papers would continue to endorse in local races, some critics went unmollified. “There is one thing Alden’s ban on endorsing candidates in presidential, senate, and gubernatorial races would do: quiet all those left-of-center endorsements,” opined Howard Saltz, an ex-newspaper editor and journalism professor, in an October 13, 2022, post on Poynter.org. “Let’s not kid ourselves: The spectrum of opinion on most newspaper editorial boards runs the gamut from liberal to liberal. Kill all endorsements, and you muzzle those darn lefties.”

On top of that, Alden’s MediaNews Group, which now runs the U-T, has shut down online comments on its websites, Axios reported on July 6. “MediaNews Group Executive Editor Frank Pine said all MediaNews Group publications removed the commenting widgets from their sites on July 1st because ‘open comments can be difficult to moderate, and the discussion can sometimes be overwhelmed by spam, vicious political feuding, or even worse, hate speech. We take our Fourth Estate responsibility to facilitate public discourse very seriously and we believe increasing polarization is not good for our democracy. In that respect, this decision is in line with our previous move away from national political endorsements.’”

Toni’s U-T press pass

Democratic state senate pro Tem Toni Atkins, favored by endorsements and friendly coverage from the Union-Tribune under ex-owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, continues to pile up special interest money for her planned 2026 bid to become California’s Lieutenant Governor, filings show. On July 9, she received $5000 from United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 135 PAC. Noted the U-T’s endorsement of Atkins on February 20, 2020, in a state senate seat primary race in which she was unopposed: “The editorial board has had its policy disagreements with Atkins over the years, but we acknowledge how effective she is at advancing her agenda.

Toni Atkins, friend of the food worker? Or just their union?

In one high-profile case in 2017, we opposed Atkins’ effort to implement single-payer health care in California with a vague bill that didn’t detail how to pay for the costly shift. Luckily, she lost that one. But Atkins’ skillful support of a 2019 bill introduced by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, that set a higher standard for when police could use lethal force in California, was crucial to it becoming law. The list of good laws she’s helped pass is long.” Though the editorial didn’t mention it, the 2017 editorial against Atkins appeared the year before liberal Soon-Shiong bought the paper and sharply altered its political direction.

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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