Shame on you, Channel 8: An OB Media Criticism of Journalistic Mediocrity

By Brett Warnke

In a sloppy, half-baked under-sourced brief, Channel 8’s Abbie Alford became San Diego’s publicist for the worst quarter of Ocean Beach, a vigilante group of homeless-haters.

Characterizing the group in her story as “fed up with troublemaking homeless,” Ms. Alford’s first paragraph claims the so-called “community group” puts “troublemakers on notice.”  She includes a bland statement from Jen Campbell’s office and a series of tactics and quotes by the group as well as a smiling picture of them.

The article and video is a disgrace to local journalism:

Ms. Alford claims on her page that to her, journalism isn’t about stories, it’s about “people telling their stories.”  Yet, no unsheltered people are quoted or interviewed for this story.  Not one. No interviews seem to have taken place on her “hang out” with the group, especially none of the homeless who are harassed, photographed or disturbed by the vigilante group.

As an added insult to people who are house-less, Abby Alford has rendered these people voiceless while emboldening the nastiest clutch of Ocean Beach.  There are also no statistics or context regarding the large and enduring problem of homelessness in San Diego [Ed: Such as that San Diego has the 4th largest homeless population in the nation.]

Ms. Alford writes, “Other neighborhood groups that have formed in the community have also tackled issues with homeless individuals and those who suffer from mental illness.”

She does not give a voice to these groups, instead, as she writes, she “hangs out” with the Trolls, even posting a picture of them on facebook and detailing their increased numbers.  None of the Troll’s critics are mentioned. 

No other community groups are mentioned or interviewed, the reactionaries are given Alford’s microphone.  She supplies no evidence or vile quotes of the Troll’s actions. She does not mention the threats and violent language easily accessible on facebook or by simply asking members of the community or group.  None of this is even mentioned or cited in Alford’s article.

For context:  Ms. Alford’s own tweets include her keen interest in sports and home invasions, in addition to articles quoting President Trump and re-tweets including “Transcript of Trump’s Ukraine call Is Not Word for Word.”  Recently, Ms. Alford also tweets a claim from fire officials that a small city fire began at a homeless encampment. The reporter does not mention that there were no injuries and no structures threatened while assigning blame to homeless people.

Ms. Alford’s beat is as a “general assignment” reporter.  But in looking at her tweets and reviewing her articles, I could not find one reference to a San Diego resident having trouble paying the rent, or being threatened with homelessness, or fearing economic collapse, or facing medical bankruptcy, or handling issues of housing instability.  There are no reports by her in the last 5 months of tweets regarding local citizens demanding increased wages, union rights, renter rights, or challenges to property owners—this in a city where the average rent has spiked to a record $1,887 a month.

Ms. Alford does not mention that the Troll group does NOT advocate for more housing, much needed social services, a need to address San Diego’s income inequality, the affordable housing crisis, the need for rent control, or an end to Vacation Rentals in Ocean Beach.  These root causes of a large unsheltered population would take courage and thinking and not a reactionary vigilantism. Instead of challenging the group’s silly assumptions, its yellow-bellied attack on the victim’s in our city, she transcribes their own narrative and acts as their stenographer by citing their backward claims.

I encourage all of those people advocating for actual structural changes in our community to contact Channel 8.

After reading the article about the Troll group, do you feel your group’s activism is being represented or highlighted on Channel 8? Are your achievements or needs being reported on?

I also encourage you to ask Channel 8 or outlets hastily doing stories on the homelessness questions like these:

1. How can Channel 8 better use their access to support the victims of poverty or vigilante violence, as opposed to being a platform for blaming unsheltered people?
2. Why are poorly-sourced stories allowed to be posted?
3. If “objective journalism” is a model for Channel 8, why are no unsheltered people or their advocates offered a voice?  Why are only harassers and pursuers given the microphone?
4. Why are no examples of the abusive and vicious language from local homeless-hating groups like OB Neighborhood Watch included in Channel 8’s story?  Was the reporter unable to find any material on these comments in her research?
5. Why are no critics of this group’s methods and tactics given space and time in this article, despite the time given for the reporter’s field trip with the Troll group?
6. How can Channel 8 better encourage aggressive, hard-hitting journalism and questioning instead of the breezy transcription of a vigilante group’s talking points and bogus claims without context?

Channel 8 will do better than this mediocrity.  Do you know why? Because, with your advocacy, you could put THEM on notice.