Category: Media

By the SD Union-Tribune Editorial Board / June 27, 2025

As expected, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday [June 24] approved a plan to begin collecting its new monthly fee for trash collection — with a base rate of $43.60 a month — from 226,000-plus single-family homes in lump sums twice a year via property taxes. Approved on a 7-2 vote, it was billed as a cost-saving measure that would avoid $18 million in start-up costs and $10 million in annual operating expenses for an in-house city billing system.

But did the seven supporters take seriously the criticism the plan faced? As Steven Cordova, a North Park retiree who owns a small multi-unit building, wrote for U-T Opinion, “The fee becomes part of the secured tax obligation on your property. If unpaid, it’s treated like a delinquent tax — risking liens, penalties and collections.”

The idea that residents should trust a city coming off 30 years of grievous management errors to handle this task well is hard to believe. Nevertheless, that’s the expectation of Councilmember Joe LaCava, who dismissed the idea that this change could imperil any homeowners.

Raul Campillo, one of the council “no” votes along with Henry Foster, struck the proper note of caution: “I have significant concerns about the impact this method could have on low-income property owners, particularly seniors and homeowners on fixed incomes.”

The following link is a critical incident video regarding an officer-involved shooting that took place on May 31, 2025, in OB at Bermuda Avenue and Ebers Street, offered to the public by the SDPD.

By Washington Post staff / June 18, 2025 

What do Americans think about the possibility of launching U.S. airstrikes against Iran, which President Donald Trump threatened this week unless the country dismantles its nuclear program? The Washington Post texted more than 1,000 people on Wednesday to ask.

The poll finds Americans opposing U.S. airstrikes against Iran by a 20 percentage-point margin — 45 percent to 25 percent — with a sizable 30 percent saying they are unsure.

Two-thirds of Democrats oppose airstrikes against Iran but Republicans are not as united, with 47 percent supporting strikes while 24 percent oppose them and 29 percent have no opinion. Independents lean against the strikes by about a 2-to-1 margin, with more than one-third unsure.

Editordude: The Rag’s Paul Krueger broke the story 4 days ago that longtime San Diego Union-Tribune opinion editor Laura Castañeda was fired right after her editorial on ICE raids was rejected by her bosses. Here, KPBS — without a mention of the Rag — interviews her for more details of this saga. 

By Amita Sharma / KPBS / June 17, 2025

The news media’s status as a check on the government is under attack. And in some cases, it’s unfriendly fire from within news outlets.

Longtime opinion editor Laura Castañeda says she’s a casualty. She says The San Diego Union-Tribune fired her last week shortly after managers nixed an editorial on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles. She spoke with KPBS.

Laura, describe the circumstances that precipitated your firing last week from the Union Tribune.

By Paul Krueger / June 13, 2025

Laura Castañeda, a long-time journalist with a distinguished career in print and broadcast reporting, has been terminated from the Union-Tribune Editorial Board after five years as Deputy Editor/Editorial & Opinion.

Castañeda announced her departure on her Facebook page:

“On the same day a team editorial at @sdutOpinion on the ICE protests was pulled, my position as deputy editor was suddenly eliminated. Thanks to the SD community for allowing me to lift your voices. My next chapter TBA. I won’t be silenced and neither should you.”

The U-T’s staff bio of Castañeda, which was still posted this morning, says this:

By OB Rag Staff / June 6, 2025

In a decision that has received international “only in California” news coverage, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that San Diego’s 2024 ban on teaching yoga at shoreline parks and beaches is unconstitutional.

The judgement, which reversed a lower court ruling that yoga instruction is not protected by the First Amendment, clears the way for plaintiffs Steven Hubbard (aka “NamaSteve”) and Amy Baack to resume their free oceanfront yoga instruction.

Dear Rag Readers:

I just got off the phone with Editordude Frank Gormlie. He certainly didn’t sound like a man who just underwent successful bypass surgery. Frank’s voice was clear, and his mood was mellow. But knowing Frank, that mood is transitory: The morning after his surgery, he was irked because the hospital was late in bringing him breakfast. It was an early and sure sign that he’s well on the road to recovery.

By Chuck Dunning / May 30, 2025
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln called this country “a new nation conceived in liberty” guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law …abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.”

In the 1920s, with the advent of radio and later television, Congress realized the enormous potential in these media for the public good. It deemed the airways as belonging to the public. For the right to use them, license holders would be required to operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.”

In 1949, the Federal Communications Commission went a step further and passed what became known as The Fairness Doctrine, requiring radio and television stations to devote airtime to issues of public importance and to present opposing perspectives. But in 1987, the Reagan administration, believing the growth of cable TV and the Internet would guarantee multiple points of view, repealed the Fairness Doctrine.

Today, that guarantee of freedom of the press is under assault like never before.

Institute for Nonprofit News / May 28, 2025

For the first time, local news outlets make up the largest segment of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ member network, which earlier this month reached 500 independent, nonprofit news organizations across North America.

The percentage of local news outlets in INN’s eighth annual Index survey rose to 51% in 2024 from 48% in 2023. Along with this growth in local outlets, INN sees a larger share of newsrooms (52%) covering current news and events on a range of topics. While more than half of newsrooms in the INN Network still focus on deep, explanatory reporting, the proportion of outlets that focus exclusively on investigative news has declined, to 27%.

The differences are most pronounced when compared over the eight years has tracked the field. In 2017, 39% of INN members focused primarily on investigative reporting, and 19% focused primarily on news and events.

“INN’s roots are in investigative journalism. And while many of our members still produce that kind of in-depth accountability reporting, today they also cover topics like local government, schools, housing, and jobs,” said Karen Rundlet, CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, “It’s the type of coverage that’s essential to any healthy, functioning town, or city or county. And local news outlets keep turning to INN to learn how to increase their revenues and their reach.”

By Madison Beveridge / Pt Loma-OB Monthly SDUT / May 25, 2025

Three students at Point Loma’s Correia Middle School were rewarded for short documentary-style films they made for the C-SPAN network’s 2025 StudentCam competition.

Students, parents, teachers, administrators and C-SPAN representatives turned out to honor the young filmmakers at a gathering May 21.

The trio’s works were among nearly 1,700 student entries from across the country.

For the 21st edition of the competition, C-SPAN asked contestants to focus their films on the issue most important to them or their community as though they were presenting it to the president of the United States.

Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye, seventh-graders at Correia Middle School, won second prize and $1,500 for their video titled “One Pill Can Kill,” a look at the fentanyl crisis and how the San Diego-Mexico border plays a role in fentanyl and other drugs entering the U.S.

By Kate Callen

Community college students running an underfunded newspaper in Chula Vista have just taught the nation a lesson about the power of diversity.

The Southwestern Sun of Southwestern Community College has won the Gold Crown award from the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association for being the top collegiate newspaper in North America.

The Sun’s multi-cultural staff are student reporters from working-class and immigrant families. They surpassed peers who attend prestigious universities and grew up in privileged surroundings.

If you badly need a ray of hope in a dark time when journalism and equity are under siege, this might do the trick.

Sun reporters have had plenty of reason to give up. For many, English is a second language. They juggle full courseloads with jobs of 25 hours a week or more to support themselves and their families.

But they are unyielding. “These students do journalism the right way for the right reason,” said Max Branscomb, professor of journalism at Southwestern and a decades-long Sun adviser.