UT-San Diego Recycles Two Week Old Story on Front Page

From San Diego Free Press

The story on the front page of Thursday – July 5th –  daily newspaper looked familiar. So familiar, in fact, that I initially thought the paper had lifted it—at least in part—from some other local source, possibly the Reader or KPBS. The article told the tale of an ascendant duo of mystery writers, Michele Scott and Andrew E. Kaufman, who recently discovered quite by accident that they lived within a quarter mile of each other in Jamul and have now decided to collaborate on a book. The lede to the story was so memorable (“Fresh from the freaky-but-true files:…) that I went ahead and searched the web, thinking surely there must be some kind of plagiarism going on. But that turned out not to be the case. What I discovered was that the story was originally published in the UT-SD on June 19th. In other words, the paper was re-cycling the news. That’s one way to save money, I guess. UPDATE The UT has told Poynter.org that the story was only published online June 19th. That still doesn’t explain away recycling a two plus week old story and putting it on the front page of your print edition. It’s called a NEWSpaper, not a recycling bin for online features.

Homer Simpson Not Responsible for San Diego Fireworks Flub… They’re calling it a “premature ignition” and assuring us that an investigation is underway, but whatever you want to call it, last night’s big bay fireworks show was a bust. Three of the four barges in San Diego harbor simultaneously detonated their whole load of fireworks, sending massive balls of fire into the sky lasting about fifteen seconds that could be seen for miles away. And that was it. The rest of the show was cancelled, mainly because, well, there wasn’t much left to show. I’m sure it will be a perennial (here’s the video for those of you who missed it) YouTube hit. Councilman Todd Gloria tweeted a promise that this sort of thing would never happen once downtown was part of his district.

Meanwhile over in Ocean Beach… the Big Bay burst was clearly visible over Point Loma, and the massive crowd on the beach just assumed that it was part of the show. After all, there were so many “unofficial” fireworks displays going on prior to the annual exhibition off the OB pier, that hardly anybody questioned the fireballs and the booms that followed them. Despite a plea from OB Rag editor Frank Gormlie to keep the annual marshmallow fight off the streets this year (it does create a rather ‘unique’ mess the following day), thousands of people along the entire length of the beach began pelting each other with white cubes of fluff within seconds after the “official” finale of the pier show. It must be experienced to be believed. I got away with only minor stickiness.

The Tea Party is coming! Congressman Brian Bilbray and perennial candidate Nick Popaditch will be leading a rally in front of the San Diego County building Saturday morning, hoping to gin up support for repealing the Affordable Heath Care Act. Here’s hoping that they have a peaceful demonstration, because, after all, us taxpayers/consumers don’t want to get stuck footing the bill for any emergency room visits that might ensue.

Conspicuously absent from today’s local paper is any mention of the emerging scandal regarding GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s offshore accounts in a Bermuda-based entity called Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd., which has been described in securities filings as “a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney.” The story, based on reporting in this month’s Vanity Fair magazine, is significant because of it’s implications regarding Romney’s truthfulness in disclosing his real net worth and just how much in taxes he avoided paying.

Also missing from today’s paper is coverage of the recount underway in Mexico’s Presidential elections, triggered by allegations of massive irregularities in the vote count. Of the 143,000 ballot boxes used during last Sunday’s election, 78,012 will be recounted, according to an official with Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute. The UT-SD did run an Associated Press story yesterday on page A-10 about Mexican voters who received gift cards for their support of the winning Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

San Diego City Beat is not amused…. A report by SD Reader’s Don Bauder about changes underway at UT-SD’s sport department has the alternative weekly’s editor wondering on twitter why they didn’t get mentioned thrilled* about making a reputed list of “enemies” of the local daily fishwrap. (UPDATE: A reliable source now tells me that City Beat was, indeed mentioned) (*I made that part up, I don’t know if he was thrilled, but I would be) Money quote:

Following the highly controversial firing of sports columnist Tim Sullivan, Lynch has allegedly been holding so-called “fireside chats” with newsroom departments, warning employees not to talk to “our enemies,” including the Reader, Voice of San Diego, and the 919 Report, a newsletter that goes to more than 500 former and current news employees of the U-T (now called UT). However, my sources say that Lynch’s chat with the sports department, which was supposed to come first, has not yet taken place.

But the best reaction on twitter came from San Diegan Dale Peterson:

If I subscribe to the U-T, but also read @voiceofsandiego, Reader, & City Beat, am I eligible 4 a “black list” U-T discount?

Not everybody is sad about Andy Griffith’s death… Sometimes the ever cheeky Wonkette blog gets stories handed to them on a platter, like this weekend when they decided to take a cruise through several far right webs sites’ comments about Andy Griffith’s passing at age 86. You see, Mr. Griffith was, horror of horrors, a “Democrat” who’d actively supported the Obama campaign AND the Affordable Health Care Act. Those transgressions earned him special honors from the mighty righties. We’ll share just a few, just to give you the flavor:

So long Andy [smiley emoticon] You are a total sell out to this great nation. You are a communist piece of garbage and you will not be missed. — Truthbeliever2

Sadly, my first thought when I saw the headline was “if he’d passed away at age 82 I would have missed him so much more” … Now, I only feel angry the old shill didn‘t live another year or two so he’d have to face a “death panel” before kicking it. The old bastrd died too soon to reap what he helped sow. I feel cheated that we’ll never get to hear him lament his decision to be a wh0re for the socialist DNC. — Wool-Free Vision

So how did that Maobamacare you were pimping a couple of years ago work out for ya? Gee did the death panels keep you waiting too long? — Sweetrae

Griffith was a total communist and hated this country. He was a bitter resentful person as Libs usually are. He was wasting air that someone else deserved. I won’t miss him in the least. — el_texicano

I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org

 Editor: This is an edited version of Doug Porter’s daily column The Starting Line over at San Diego Free Press.