Media

Eric DuVall: The Story of ‘The Beach News’- Pt. Loma Assembly Tuesday, May 23

May 19, 2023 by Source

Please join La Playa Trail Association for a presentation by Eric DuVall on the “Story of The Beach News” at the Point Loma Assembly, Tuesday, May 23 at 5:30 pm.

Point Loma Assembly is located at 3035 Talbot Street. DuVall is the president of the OB Historical Society – and one of  the best writers on the Peninsula.

The Beach News was an early community newspaper for Ocean Beach and eventually morphed into The Peninsula News in the 1950s. Eric will present some of the great features, funny old ads and shameless boosterism that characterized the early The Beach News.

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Fighting the Spotify Algorithm With Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’

May 10, 2023 by Source

By Emma Peters / LomaBeat.com / End of April 2023

“Sad girl starter pack”
“My life is a movie”
“Chill vibes”

No, these are not phrases spouted out by a ChatGPT- bot attempting to come up with vague internet-esque phrases to assimilate with the youth, but they may as well be. These expressions, which essentially mean nothing without the context of social media, have now permeated the popular streaming service Spotify. It’s a genius marketing scheme—and it’s ruining the way that we listen to music.

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KUSI Being Bought by Mega-corporation and Owner of ‘The CW’

May 9, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

Local San Diego TV media politics might soften up a bit.

The most right-wing news station in San Diego, KUSI, will be bought by media conglomerate Nexstar Media Group, the owner of “The CW.” And KUSI may turn into the CW channel for the area. Or may be merged with Fox5, another TV station here owned by Nexstar. Or maybe both. The purchase of KUSI was for $35 million.

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Web Cam Operator Ordered by Navy to Take Point Loma Cameras Down After Filming ‘Warship Chicken’ Incident

May 9, 2023 by Staff

Barry Bahrami, the man whose livestream caught two Navy ships nearly colliding in the San Diego Bay has been ordered to take the cameras down.

It was Bahrami’s video that showed the near collision of two Navy ships at the San Diego Bay back in November 2022, an incident commonly referred to as “Warship Chicken” which now stands at the center of a new controversy. The Navy Criminal Investigative Service says the camera’s livestream shows military activity in the area, but Bahrami calls, “bologna,” and that he has the right to film.

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Disclaimer to Our OB Rag Online Subscribers

April 25, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

To all our OB Rag subscribers:

The online image that our subscribers receive in their email is only partly from the OB Rag. Below our posts are sponsored ads and even articles.

Yet, we do not have any control over what our subscription service adds to our sub list. The ads are NOT ours – and we don’t make one cent from them. And the sponsored articles are not ours either. Some of them are downright embarrassing.

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‘Through the Lens’ – A Photographic Family Legacy with Randy Dible – OB Historical Society — Thursday, April 20

April 19, 2023 by Source

Through the Lens, A photographic Family Legacy

Thursday, April 20, 2023, The Ocean Beach Historical Society presents: Through the Lens, A photographic Family Legacy, featuring Ocean Beach Photographer Randy Dible, at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. at 7:00 pm.

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Was It Spite that Caused Navy to Force Park Service to Close Down Popular Web Cam at Cabrillo Monument?

April 18, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

A popular web cam at Cabrillo Monument that has provided millions of viewers with a look over San Diego Bay has  been closed down by the Park Service after pressure from the Navy. The live web cam has been on for 10 years and last year had more than 6 million views.

The founder of the webcam and YouTube channel, Barry Bahrami, said he was shocked to learn the Navy had concerns and asked the National Park Service to turn it off. He told CBS8 ,

“This was done in spite. “

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Martin Luther King’s Assassination Changed San Diego’s Media Forever

April 5, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Thousands of miles away, his death changed San Diego media forever.

Many San Diegans don’t know the connections between citizen journalism in San Diego and King’s death. But they exist – ….

Five days after King’s death hundreds of students and some faculty at UC San Diego met in a protest meeting decided to form various committees or collectives and one group of students and grad students wanted to move off campus and publish a newspaper.

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Jury Sides With Former News Anchor Sandra Maas on Gender Equity Pay Over KUSI

March 14, 2023 by Source

By CBS8 Staff / March 9, 2023

It took less than two days for the jury to come to a decision in the civil trial of former news anchor Sandra Maas against KUSI.

The jury was split on the claims but did award Sandra Maas more than $1.5 million for the difference in pay attributed to gender, past and future lost wages, and past and future emotional distress.

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KUSI Tries to Bar Press and Public from Parts of Former Anchor Sandra Maas Equal-Pay Trial

February 3, 2023 by Source

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / February 2, 2023

In a rare move, lawyers for KUSI-TV are asking a Superior Court judge to prohibit news media and the public from attending “portions” of former anchor Sandra Maas’ pay-equity trial starting Friday. Last Friday, McKinnon Broadcasting Co., the Kearny Mesa station’s operator, asked Judge Ronald Frazier to close parts of the civil trial

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Martin Luther King, Jr’s Connections to San Diego Citizen Journalism

January 16, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

In U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) Bono sings:

Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

These lines are about the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th, 1968 – 50 years ago. King was in Memphis where he had gone to provide support and encouragement to 1300 African-American sanitation workers who had walked off their jobs in that city.

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Masked-Up OBcean on Front Cover of the ‘San Diego Reader’

December 9, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

If you get a chance to pick up the Dec. 7 edition of the San Diego Reader, you’ll find OBcean Deanna Polk, all masked up giving the peace sign, on the front cover.

The paper’s frontcover article by Siobhan Braun is all about “How Covid tore San Diego friends and neighbors apart.” Polk is interviewed and spouts a lot of good common sense, but another person interviewed Amy Reichert, a co-founder of the very controversial group ReOpen San Diego, doesn’t. Polk and Reichert are diametrically opposed.

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It’s the OB Rag’s 15th Birthday Today – Oct. 26, 2022 – Here’s How It All Began

October 26, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

That’s right, today and tomorrow are the OB Rag’s 15th birthday! We launched online over the two-day period, October 26 – 27 in 2007.

Here’s how it all started:

It was early October in the year 2007 – George Bush was still president and the war in Iraq was in its 4th year. I lived in a small cottage on the 4600 block of Long Branch with Patty Jones.

I remember watching the news in the livingroom and yelling at the anchors and pundits for parroting the Bush administration’s lies .

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OB Historical Society Presents: The Story of ‘The Beach News’ — Thursday, Oct.20

October 18, 2022 by Source

From the OB Historical Society:

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society: Thurs. October 20, 2022, 7 pm at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. OB, as we celebrate the 100th birthday of The Beach News, OB’s great little community newspaper.

The Beach News started out as a four-page weekly and is THE primary source chronicling the development of the Ocean Beach Community.

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Mayor’s PR Head Takes Swipe at Editordude

September 29, 2022 by Staff

Rachel Laing, director of communications for the City of San Diego and Mayor Gloria’s top PR person, took a swipe yesterday at Editordude of the OB Rag, Frank Gormlie.

In a discussion of local journalists on her tweeter account, Laing took a shot at Gormlie — for some reason.

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OB Rag Fundraiser Tops $3,000

September 1, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

As of today, Thursday, September 1, the OB Rag annual summer fundraiser has topped $3,000 — our goal was $2,000.

The actual figure is $3,121.

On behalf of the OB Rag staff, let me express our sincerest appreciation for the support our community has shown in the response to our request for donations.

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Thanks to Readers and Supporters, the OB Rag Met Our Fundraising Goal!

August 29, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

Over this past weekend, enough donations came in to meet the OB Rag’s fundraising goal of $2,000. This is worth celebrating!

As of this writing, we’ve received $2,176 in donations and pledges.

Without advertising or a major benefactor, we need to rely on readers and supporters to get us through the year — and they — you — stepped up for our annual summer gig.

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More Reasons to Support the OB Rag : the Writers – We’re Nearly 3/4’s the Way to Our Goal

August 25, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

As we wind down the week of our annual summer fundraiser, we can proudly say we’ve now reached three-quarters of our goal of $2,000 — $1480 to be exact.

And to add more reasons for our readers and supporters to donate to keep us goin’, it’s the people, the writers for the Rag. Nowhere else can you find their writings, reportings, observations, poetry and photography.

Geoff Page

Through his reports on the goings-on at the 3 local community planning boards, Geoff keeps the Peninsula informed. His excellent research into the state of the OB – San Diego Pier is unrivaled, and he was the first to determine the pier needed to be replaced.

Ed Decker

Ed has joined the Rag with a monthly “advice” column. You can’t read his superb wit anywhere else.

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Reader’s Rant: American Mainstream Media Are Beating the Drums of War With No Sense of History

February 10, 2022 by Source

By Frances O’Neill Zimmerman

No question Senator Bernie Sanders did a national service by writing this piece for the Guardian. The American press and radio/TV are beating the drums of war with no explanation about past history, so Sanders goes to a British journal to lay out the risks we are taking.

I haven’t seen one word of explanation about NATO’s USA-backed expansion in recent years to the borders of Russia itself.

Instead we hear only that Putin is having a nostalgic fever dream about restoring Russian greatness by reconstituting the old Soviet union.

No mention of any tacit agreement between the USA and Russia in 1990-91 for Russia to accept the reunification of Germany in return for our keeping Ukraine out of NATO.

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San Diego Reader Spotlights Local Online Media, Praises OB Rag for Being ‘Ethically-Conscious’

January 27, 2022 by Source

San Diego Reader writer, Thomas Larson, just had his cover article published under the title, “Where is San Diego’s local news going now?” Larsen interviewed publishers and editors at Times of San Diego, Cannabitch, Voice of San Diego, Union-Tribune, San Diego Community Newspaper Group, and the O.B. Rag.

Larson had generous things to say about the Rag and about yours truly. His last line is worth gold:

The kind of authentic local news groups that need support are those whose back-and-forth between producers and consumers help clarify the intentions of both, and, if possible, cast out the self-interested trolls. I don’t see where else such integrity will come from, except the hand-to-mouth, ad-avoidant, ethically-conscious alternative media.

The entire piece is well worth checking out. We repost Larson’s section on the Rag:

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Newspapers Squandered Their Monopoly-Era Profits and Now Blame Google and Facebook

December 21, 2021 by Source

by Chris Jennewein / Times of San Diego / December 20, 2021

Three decades ago, when America’s local newspapers were at their peak, I attended a dinner for publishers at a mid-sized chain. After dinner, the president rose to speak and asked everyone to clap for one publisher whose newspaper had exceeded a 50% profit margin in the previous month.

At a 50% margin, half of every dollar from subscribers and advertisers went directly to the bottom line. Sure, there was depreciation to account for, and some taxes to be paid, but overall that’s a level of profitability that would make a pharmaceutical company blush.

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Thanks for All the Birthday Greetings

October 28, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

Thanks to all those who gave us birthday greetings, either here, on OB Rag facebook or in emails.

It’s been an amazing 14 years (for earlier commentaries on our beginnings, go here.)

The following is from our “About” page:
About the OB Rag

It was early October in the year 2007 – George Bush was still president and the war in Iraq was in its 4th year. I lived in a small cottage on the 4600 block of Long Branch with Patty Jones.

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County Supervisors to Honor Former OB Rag Writer

October 18, 2021 by Staff

On Tuesday, October 19, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will honor Doug Porter, a former writer for the OB Rag, for all his contributions over the years to San Diego journalism.

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San Diego’s Trump-Loving OAN Network Funded by AT&T

October 7, 2021 by Staff

Here’s a stupefying bombshell bit of news about San Diego’s Trump-Loving One America Network (OAN): It’s being funded almost entirely by the largest telecom company on the planet: AT&T.

The network, with offices in the Morena district, is known for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Covid.

An in-depth Reuters review of court records shows OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr. testified back in 2019 that the inspiration to launch OAN in 2013 came from AT&T execs.

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Why We Can’t All Get Along

October 5, 2021 by Source

By Joni Halpern

Marshall McLuhan was right. “The medium is the message.” That was the popularized theme of McLuhan’s book Understanding Media – the most incomprehensible book I have ever read –and it is quite possible that what I think I understood is worlds away from what he meant.

If I am right, however, that thematic summary helps explain why so many of us Americans cannot find common ground. It’s not our fault we don’t get along. We’re not even the same human beings anymore.

It is ironic that today, we live in the most interconnected world we have ever known.

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OB ‘Whistling Guy’ Appears in Saturday Night Live Skit

October 4, 2021 by Staff

Last weekend’s Saturday Night Live captured the OB “Whistling Guy”, played by comedian Bowen Yang. The “Whistling Guy” – you may recall – showed up at the San Diego County Board of Supervisors back in August and created quite a scene.

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Ed Asner – American Socialist

August 31, 2021 by Source

By John Nichols / The Nation / August 31, 2021

“When we can discuss socialism rationally. It will be as if a heavy curtain has been lifted from man’s eyes.” Those were not the words of Karl Marx or Eugene Victor Debs, though either of those radical thinkers might well have uttered them.

Those were the words of Ed Asner, the actor who became a household name in the role of gruff but lovable Lou Grant, the boss at a TV station, in the 1970s TV comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He then carried the character over, with a new job as a Los Angeles newspaper editor, to one of the most socially conscious programs in the history of television, the eponymous Lou Grant of the late 1970s and early ’80s.

When he died Sunday, at age 91,

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Rachel Maddow Wins in 9th Circuit; OAN Loses Appeal in Defamation Case

August 18, 2021 by Source

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / August 17, 2021

Score one for Rachel Maddow — again.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said a San Diego federal judge was right to throw out a $10 million defamation suit against MSNBC’s top-rated host. The opinion of a three-judge panel was posted three weeks after hearing arguments in a virtual hearing based in Pasadena.

A lawyer for owners of San Diego-based One America News argued July 27 that Maddow should face trial for calling OAN “literally … paid Russian propaganda” in a 3 1/2-minute segment two years earlier.

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Libel Suit Against ‘One America News’ Could Imperil Trump-Supporting San Diego Network

August 16, 2021 by Source

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / August 15, 2021

When the owners of San Diego-based One America News sued Rachel Maddow for defamation, they scoffed at the liberal TV host’s First Amendment rights. OAN lost, and was ordered to pay Maddow’s lawyers $247,000.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. Herring Networks, the OAN parent, will plead constitutional free-speech protections to stave off a $1.6 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.

Another loss could spell bankruptcy. Unlike the six words Maddow uttered in a single 3 1/2-minute MSNBC segment — that OAN “really literally is paid Russian propaganda” —

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The OB Rag’s Second Pandemic Era Summer Fundraiser – Here’s 10 Reasons to Support Us

August 5, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

Our Summer Appeal for Donations During the Pandemic – Again!

Keep the Press Local and Free and Healthy

The OB Rag‘s second Pandemic Summer Fundraiser starts today! Who would have known that when we started our 2020 fundraising campaign, we’d be still wearing masks in indoor public spaces. But here we are. For the last several years, we’ve held one fundraiser a year, in the summer. This week our goal is to reach $2,000 in donations and contributions from our readers and supporters.

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