Conflict between Paso Robles city officials has produced story after story for two local media outlets since last August.
That kind of constant coverage can lead to something Cal Poly political science professor Michael Latner calls “grift,” or over-dramatization. While it’s more common with national media, Latner said that local news outlets around the country have become a part of that grift. He expects sensationalized news from online publication CalCoastNews, but he said that The Tribune is following suit.
“The goal of journalism should be to get the truth, and that sometimes requires calling bullshit. I think that we are long past this sort of ideal typification of journalism being sort of an objective reiteration of facts,” Latner told New Times.
Last October, The Tribune reported that Paso Robles City Manager Ty Lewis submitted a $2.2 million complaint with the city in August claiming that City Councilmember Chris Bausch had created a toxic work environment. In the same complaint, Lewis accused CalCoastNews reporter, owner, and co-founder Karen Velie of working with Bausch to publish lies about him and tarnish his reputation.
Paso Robles denied the claim in September, and both CalCoastNews and The Tribune have continued to report on the issue and the details of Lewis’ claim, sometimes publishing multiple stories a day. CalCoastNews has often responded to allegations made in a Tribune story and vice versa.
While The Tribune has been participating in the grift, Latner later said that the paper is investigating certain angles of the story well.
He said the grifting phenomenon isn’t new when considering media’s history.
“News media in the United States got its start primarily as partisan propaganda pieces. And so, if you go back even as far back as the founding of the Republic, in the first elections in this country, the Federalists and the anti-Federalists were producing newspapers for the purposes of influencing public opinion,” he said. “On the other hand, I would say that what we’re witnessing here is an example of what’s going on in lots of places in the country, in that there’s really an absence of actual local journalism, and this is what’s replacing it—sensationalist news.”
Latner said that CalCoastNews has long sensationalized and dramatized stories and that’s what the publication is known for.
“Grifters like the CalCoastNews, they’ve gone from being, you know, a fairly decent set of investigative reporters when they were first founded to what you see today,” he said, referring to reporter Velie being found guilty of libel in 2016.
Story time
Velie posts most of the content for the publication and has followed the conflict between Bausch and Lewis since last March, when she wrote that Lewis had chastised Bausch for mistreating staff and Bausch had apologized.
In December, Velie launched a three-part “Eye on Ty” series dedicated to covering Lewis. In it, she examined the details of the complaint itself and responded to allegations made against her, publishing the last piece in the series on Jan. 15.
Velie did not respond to New Times’ request for comment before publication.
The Tribune publishes updates on the controversy in its “Reality Check” series, a platform used to answer public questions, Tribune Editor Joe Tarica told New Times.
“The importance behind it is really public service journalism for the residents of Paso Robles, because what we’re seeing up there … accusations of a conspiracy between a sitting city councilman and a member of the media, that is really unusual, not something that I can really point to seeing in the past anywhere,” he said.
Following the story closely since October, The Tribune has published updates about a missing audio recording that it has said could highlight whether Councilmember Bausch’s workplace behavior is toxic.
The Tribune has published at least five articles related to the audio recording. Its Jan. 14 story outlines a March 2024 meeting where Paso Robles Mayor John Hamon, Lewis, and Bausch met to discuss city staff concerns about Bausch’s behavior at work.
According to the article, Bausch recorded the conversation alongside CalCoastNews reporter Velie, who has said she happened to be in the same vicinity as the meeting and recorded the conversation as well. This is the meeting that kick-started her coverage of the issue last year.
Later in January, Velie published what The Tribune alleges is altered audio of that March meeting, prompting The Tribune to investigate the audio down to the decibels.
Last October, The Tribune requested a copy of the original recording from the city under the Public Records Act. The city denied The Tribune‘s request, saying it couldn’t find it, and The Tribune threatened to sue the city if it wasn’t turned over.
Amid the threat, in early January, Bausch agreed to search his personal phone for the recording, according to The Tribune.
Tarica told New Times that they are now currently waiting to see what comes of it.
“What happens after that?” Tarica said. “It really depends on what we see. So, I can’t really predict what we might do.”
Political science professor Latner said that in a perfect world, the media’s purpose is to hold officials accountable, and in that regard, he found The Tribune‘s coverage to be “admirable.”
“On the one hand, they’re certainly doing their job right. I mean, the reason that freedom of the press is in the first article of the Bill of Rights is because democracy simply cannot function without a functioning press and a functioning media,” he said. “Because it’s the primary way that we know what politicians are doing, right?”
Call and response
The Tribune‘s allegations against Velie prompted retired CalCoastNews co-founder Daniel Blackburn, who was also involved in the 2016 libel suit, to scold The Tribune in a Jan. 7 opinion piece.
“Once upon a time, most newspapers existed to provide the facts, keep an eye on government, and inform readers for the betterment of the community,” he wrote. “Not so much today. In San Luis Obispo County, The Tribune appears to exist for a different purpose entirely: to prostitute itself for the benefit of a shadowy cabal intent on destroying a competitor whose purpose is to provide facts and inform the community—CalCoastNews.”
Blackburn defended Velie’s reporting and accused The Tribune of writing “puffery pieces.”
“Velie is guilty only of practicing old-fashioned gumshoe reporting and for 16 years or so has been beating the crap out of the [Tribune] in reporting of important community news and never hesitating when the digging got messy.”
Blackburn told New Times via email that he only had one statement on the matter.
“From its first day of operation in 2008, CalCoastNews has been the target of the county’s corrupt core—people who have reason to fear any examination of their activities,” he said. “The news site’s daily production for the last 16 years should be ample evidence of its professionalism and fact-based reporting. CalCoastNews readership has doubled in the past three years while The Tribune reportedly has been bleeding readers. The Tribune is currently for sale.”
Tribune Editor Tarica responded via email, “The Tribune is not for sale, and any reporting to the contrary is simply false.”
Political science professor Latner said the engagement between the two has sensationalized the situation even more.
“If you get into a fight with a pig, you’re going to get shit on yourself,” he said. “And so, there’s some aspect here in which this is probably not going to be great for The Tribune‘s reputation.”
According to Latner, the media’s responsibility is to get to the truth through good investigative journalism, and what The Tribune is doing well is looking at a reporter who has been found guilty of “manipulating information.”
“I mean, clearly identifying and pointing out the behavior of Velie and the other folks at CalCoast, I think is important, right? I mean, this is a repeating pattern. CalCoastNews has been involved in libel lawsuits before,” he said. “That’s relevant, particularly given that, you know, CalCoast is such an aggressive machine in terms of trying to persuade public opinion.”
But he also argued that amid all the stories and back-and-forth between publications, the actual story has been lost.
“You’ve got, sort of, newspapers attacking each other, but the goal should be to think about and to write about why this is important, right? What are the political consequences here? What’s actually going on?” he said.
Tribune Editor Tarica said that the publication is just trying to uncover facts, and he doesn’t consider it to be a part of the overarching story.
“We’re not a player in this. We are covering a story. We are looking for facts and we are looking for the truth,” he said. “We’re just trying to get the entire thing for the people of Paso Robles, so they know what’s going on with their city government.”
Amid the constant coverage, Paso Robles City Manager Lewis told New Times he’s retiring. During a closed special city meeting on Jan. 27, Lewis and the city reached a mutual settlement following Lewis’ $2.2 million complaint in August. Lewis’ last day at the city was Sunday, Jan. 26.
While the media coverage has affected his life both personally and professionally, he told New Times that he doesn’t regret filing that complaint in August.
“I’ve really grown to appreciate the unique role that the media has within any community. And you know, it serves as a watchdog, it serves as a champion, it can serve as a critic. All of those things can coexist, kind of at the same time,” he said. “I’ve been on all sides of that during my career, and certainly having attention focused on you as intensely as it has been over, you know, however many months it’s been now, is not always fun, that’s for sure.”
He said that what The Tribune has produced is fair and forthright.
“Certainly, The Tribune has received its share of criticism over the years on how it approaches many different topics,” he said. “Just speaking for myself, I’ve had nothing but the highest amount of respect for them in their approach to my coverage.”
He doesn’t feel the same way about CalCoastNews.
“I don’t think that they’re even in the same league or in the same level as … The Tribune,” he said. “I’m not a big fan.”
City Councilmember Bausch told New Times that the coverage has required him to respond to requests under the Public Records Act—in response to The Tribune’s request for the March recording.
After all the coverage, Tribune Editor Tarica said the goal is to get a complete picture of everything that happened.
“Maybe we’ll see enough records that we can have a good idea of exactly what happened and how it all unfolded,” he said. “Maybe we won’t.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at lhanson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 9, 2025.
CalCoastNews has always been sensationalistic, click-chasing trash. “Dead man eaten by mountain lion!” Not true. “Teenager bullied into suicide!” Not true. You cannot compare the Tribune’s coverage of the Paso Robles events with CCN’s, you can only contrast it. The Tribune fairly concluded that a lawsuit involving a City Manager and a Council Member–one that ultimately involved other politicians and a local scandal sheet–was newsworthy. I agree. But the Tribune does not print wild accusations and rumor as fact: That is the CCN style–always going for shock over truth.
This article is trash. Karen Velie was never found to have libeled anyone. Libby is an extremely poor reporter. The Tribune is to news what a crack addict is to good health. I was one of the people slandered, smeared, libeled and defamed by Ty Lewis, the Halls have completely walked back their claims, Michael Latner is totally ignorant. He has never talked to me about this story and as far as I am concerned he is talking about something he knows very little about.
The reporters for the Tribune have done excellent investigative journalism. They have done their due diligence and have shown their work and methodology every step of the way throughout their reporting. This is what professional investigative reporting looks like.
The followers of CCN seem to be a cult that continually spreads misinformation, gossip and propaganda from their made up rumors, mixed with misinformation they pick up from COLAB, CCN, and nationally, Fox Trump State Media. They are not a newspaper, they are a sensationalist’s tabloid.
What Jerry Lehrer writes is just what the CCN cult keeps saying over and over again, without any evidence, but with a lot of emotion, rage and hate, just no evidence. And Ms. Velie and CCN were found guilty of libel and fined $1.1 million but have not paid.
Ms. Velie seems to be a destructive sensationalist that loves to gossip about others, like Mr. Lewis, to destroy their reputations, and to get her cult all riled up, with no real evidence.
It is a condition called “projection” where a person projects the type of corruption and/or falsehoods they are doing, and yells that their opponents, their enemies, are really doing it, instead of themselves, without any evidence. But many times showing that their rumors are falsehoods.
Projection is one of the many traits of malignant narcissism, which Trump also suffers from. Religions say that gossip is a sin. And rage and hate are addictive, yet, as someone called it, “Cult Coast News” thrive on their rumors, hate and rage, with no evidence.
There is a term Carl Sagan used for those who get caught up in cults. Carl calls it being “bamboozled.”
That person that called CCN, “Cult Coast News * ” had an asterisc, as in the label that needs to be next to CCN’s name in print, which I agreed with.
And for or those who get caught up in cults, Carl Sagan said:
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If weve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. Were no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. Its simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that weve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark