Category: Media

By JW August

Eric DuVall could be called the Bard of OB.  But it’s not just the locals who may think that.

A blue ribbon panel of professionals from press clubs across America awarded DuVall “Body of Work” award for a series of stories for his column, “A Page from History,” which he writes for The Point Loma – OB Monthly. The Monthly is owned by the MediaNews Group, which also owns the San Diego Union-Tribune.  His work is also published in the Beach & Bay Press, Point Loma Magazine and publications, including here at the Rag.

He is a prolific, careful, thoughtful, writer who paints pictures with his words and evokes humor in his storytelling about the historical and cultural identity of Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

He was honored along with some of the region’s best communicators at the 52nd annual San Diego Press Club Awards held in Kearny Mesa at The Encore Event Center, formerly the historic XETV 6 studios.  San Diego’s Press Club has one of the largest memberships in the country and receives entries from all across the San Diego media landscape.

One last book sale!  Can you help on Sunday set up or take down? Give Laura a call/text/or email and let her know if you can help.

Laura says:

Set up time is from 11 to 12 on Sunday, Nov. 9th.  Meet at the Annex (4817 Santa Monica) and we will schlepp the trolleys and tables over to Vignettes.

By Frank Gormlie, OB Rag Publisher/ Editordude

I want to extend my personal congratulations to Shane Harris, the new owner and publisher of the San Diego Monitor and Business Journal, and to warmly welcome him to the local news media community in this town.

Shane has a distinguished record of civic leadership and of advocacy for civil rights. He has been a powerful force for justice, and has spoken out for so many whose voices are too often silenced. Now he will become a force for the mission of journalism, which is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

A new television pilot shot around Ocean Beach and featuring local musicians, “End of the 8”,  will have a public screening. It will be at The Harp — 4935 Newport Avenue in OB. Doors open at 6pm, screening at 8. Wednesday, October 29, 2025.

From La Prensa San Diego News Desk / October 22-23, 2025

A local Superior Court Judge has ordered the City of Chula Vista to pay over $500,000 to the law firm that represented La Prensa San Diego in its successful lawsuit over the release of videos recorded by police drones.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2021 seeking the release of Chula Vista Police Department drone videos, was upheld for the second time by the California Supreme Court on August 14th, ending over four years of litigation.

On October 9th, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal awarded attorney Cory Briggs all of the legal fees and costs his firm incurred in the case since May 2021, when the lawsuit was filed, plus she granted Briggs a 1.5 multiple on his fees as reimbursement for having taken the case on contingency.

Bacal also weighed the fact that the case created a new precedent as a matter of “first impression” that went before both the Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.

In 2018, Chula Vista’s police department became the first law enforcement agency in the country authorized by the FAA to fly drones beyond visual line-of-sight of the operator as part of a pilot program to help create a safe process for drones to be used as first responders to reduce emergency response times and increase officer safety.

Three years after the program launched, LPSD requested copies of police drone videos from just one month —March 2021— for an article on how the program was going and, specifically, to see how CVPD was using their drones.

Chula Vista’s then-City Attorney, Glen Googins, rejected the request for videos,

by Ernie McCray

We as a country
should keep alive
the brief firing of Jimmy Kimmel,
remembering it for what it was:
a vicious attack
on his Freedom of Speech,
the most precious right
of citizens of a free society,
taken from him
on the whim
of a president
who lives in fear
of any negative words that are spoken about him
or spoken about anyone or anything
that represents him.

By Scott Nover / Washington Post / October 15, 2025

The nation’s military and defense journalists exited the Pentagon in unison Wednesday afternoon, having had their accreditation revoked after refusing to agree to the Defense Department’s new restrictions on their newsgathering activities.

The new rules, which among other things bar reporters from soliciting information that the government hasn’t authorized for them, prompted journalists from The Washington Post and dozens of other outlets to turn in their press credentials and decamp for possibly the last time during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure.

More than 30 members of the Pentagon press corps walked out of the building together before the 5 p.m. deadline, crossing a foot bridge and descending a long staircase that empties out on the northeast end of the five-sided building.

“This is a sad day for those who support a free press,” said Nancy A. Youssef, a staff writer for the Atlantic and a longtime Pentagon correspondent. “But I’m incredibly honored to be part of a press corps that stuck together and was committed to protecting our First Amendment rights.”

By Csaba Petre

Monday afternoons at the height of rush hour, from 4:30 to 6:00 PM, a special effort is underway this month on the Taylor Street bridge above the 8 freeway: a group of intrepid and experienced protestors has been making their voices heard in support of Prop 50 specifically, and pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian sentiment in general.

Prop 50, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act, is a California ballot measure concerning congressional redistricting.  It authorizes temporary changes in district maps, with the intent to negate gerrymandering moves by Texas Republican lawmakers to favor their party. The new maps would last through 2030 after which the state commission would adjust district lines based on the next US census.

On October 6th, those driving east were treated to a vibrant banner with large red lettering, hung on the fence above the overpass, with the golden hour sunlight illuminating the pro-Prop 50 message “fight fire with fire”.

By Dan Weisman / The Escondido Grapevine  / October 12, 2025

San Diego’s got sunshine, surf, and—who knew—synthetic journalism.

Lately, a site called San Diego City Wire has been popping up in social feeds and search results, dishing out “local” tidbits about home sales, city meetings, and “community happenings.”

It looks like any of the old-school weeklies that used to land on your porch in a blue plastic bag. The headlines are tidy, the writing reads like your cousin’s Facebook recap, and the “About” page chirps about connecting and informing the community.

What could possibly be wrong?

Well, let’s start with the part they forgot to tell you. There’s no newsroom, no reporters, and nobody in San Diego actually writing those stories.

The Chicago Connection Nobody Mentions

Dig a little and you find that San Diego City Wire  is part of a national operation run out of the Midwest by a fellow named Brian Timpone—a onetime journalist turned automation entrepreneur. His company Metric Media, along with sidekicks Locality Labs and Franklin Archer, has pumped out hundreds of look-alike “City Wire” and “Times” sites from Maine to Maui.

By Bernie Sanders / Reader Supported News / October 12, 2025

Trump is rapidly moving us toward authoritarianism. While the country focuses on Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional ICE raids, his threats to arrest political opponents, the militarization of our cities and his crackdowns on universities and law firms, it is important that we not ignore what is happening to the American media landscape.

In recent years, a handful of media conglomerates have increasingly owned and controlled what the vast majority of Americans see on television, hear on the radio and read in newspapers. But it is not just corporate ownership of broadcast and print media.

As internet use explodes, we are also witnessing the growing concentration of ownership of our social media platforms. Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on earth, owns X, formerly Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg, the third wealthiest man in the world, owns Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram. Jeff Bezos, the fourth wealthiest, owns Twitch, along with the Washington Post. And Larry Ellison, the second wealthiest man in the world and a key Trump ally, recently purchased Paramount, which owns CBS and other outlets. It has been reported that Ellison is planning to acquire CNN and is working with Trump in an effort to control TikTok.

San Diego U-T Editorial Board / October 10, 2025

On Oct. 3, a U-T editorial was posted that said the San Diego City Council’s decision to delay adopting huge water and sewer rate hikes at a meeting in which several members decried the high cost of living was a hollow gesture. Our warning: Even after a bait-and-switch campaign to force 226,000 homeowners to pay far more for trash service, the first-ever parking fees at Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, and the adoption of costly “dynamic” parking rates downtown, elected leaders were just getting started in trying to raise revenue by any means necessary. Doing so was an easier way for them to deal with their chronic overspending than taking on public employee unions by freezing compensation, utilizing technology to downsize the city work force or using “managed competition” to provide services more cheaply.

A day later, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera confirmed we were correct. At Politifest 2025, sponsored by Voice of San Diego, he called for the city to charge fees to tourists who wanted to go to Mission Bay and Torrey Pines Golf Course, and to add to the taxes already paid by owners of second homes and vacation rentals.