I’m writing about New Times‘ coverage of CalCoastNews and the Tribune‘s coverage of … well, each other and the controversy between Paso Robles City Manager Ty Lewis, who filed a $2.2 million complaint with the city in August that argues City Councilmember Chris Bausch created a toxic work environment and that CalCoastNews reporter, owner, and co-founder Karen Velie is conspiring with Bausch to publish lies about Lewis and tarnish his reputation.
Whew! How meta is that? Is there any wonder why some people have lost faith in the Fourth Estate when there’s a public slap fight between a blog and a “daily” paper that only prints an actual newspaper twice a week?
Sensationalism sells, baby, and if it bleeds it leads, and according to retired CalCoastNews co-founder Daniel Blackburn, “CalCoastNews readership has doubled in the past three years while The Tribune reportedly has been bleeding readers.” Bleeding readers! Bleeding!
Blackburn also asserted that The Tribune was for sale, but not so according to Tribune Editor Joe Tarica, who called the claim “simply false.” Come on, boys. Play nice!
Apparently, The Tribune has forgotten George Bernard Shaw‘s old adage, “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”
Cal Poly political science professor Michael Latner says the public tit-for-tat spat is further sensationalizing the Lewis/Bausch controversy: “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.”
At least The Trib is trying to do some investigative work—it’s just reporting on its own reporting, which is weird and causes the whole point of the work to get lost. How much coverage is too much coverage?
CalCoastNews‘ rep is checkered. Velie “breaks” some stories, but as far as I can tell, her adherence to journalistic ethics and thorough vetting of her sources is spotty at best or missing altogether. The rumor mill is alive and well over there. No actual investigative reporting necessary!
Someone needed to call her out. But it’s just dragging everyone down, man. And the truth is that her rabid readers don’t give a shit.
She and Blackburn were found guilty of defaming local businessman Charles Tenborg in a 2012 news story and ordered to pay him $1.1 million in damages. Not being found guilty of libel is sort of job No. 1 in journalism. Job No. 2 is to report the verifiable facts. Of course, that’s not always what happens. See Yellow Journalism.
“In the first elections in this country, the Federalists and the anti-Federalists were producing newspapers for the purposes of influencing public opinion,” Latner said. “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.
As an opinion writer, I wouldn’t know anything about that … incredible BLOODBATH!
Speaking of outrage, all those Morro Bay citizens working to stop Texas-based Vistra Corp from building a battery energy storage system at the location of the old power plant are feeling pretty vindicated since the Vistra-owned battery plant in Monterey County caught fire on Jan. 16, leading to 1,200 evacuated residents, temporary closure of Highway 1, and endangerment of the nearby Elkhorn Slough.
Now the Morro Bay City Council has enacted an urgency ordinance to stop future battery storage facility applications. Of course, that will have exactly zero effect on Vistra’s current plans. After voters approved Measure A-24, which effectively stripped the council of jurisdiction over the land in question, Vistra simply bypassed the city council to apply directly to the state for approval. A-24 was a result of a former council that voted to approve Vistra’s plans in 2021, and one of the members of that council is 30th District Assemblymember Dawn Addis, who’s now backpedaling so fast she looks like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk.
Her proposed new bill, AB 303, would remove battery storage facilities from the California Energy Commission’s Opt-In Certification Program—or AB 205, the same program that Vistra is using to bypass Morro Bay. How’s all this working out for you? My head’s spinning! Addis’ proposed law wouldn’t outright ban battery storage from the state but instead return authority to local communities and limit where facilities could be built. Sounds like great public policy.
Speaking of nothing to see here, move along, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong recently “transitioned” the school’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) into the University Personnel division in order to—get this!—”further improve our effectiveness, efficiency, and culture.” Talk about Orwellian doublespeak! Interesting timing with tRump’s order to disband “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government,” calling them “discriminatory.”
Considering Cal Poly’s long history of racist incidents, spinelessness is not a good look. Δ
The Shredder is not on fire. Hand it a match at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 9, 2025.
Bausch isn’t “kind of evil,” he’s pure, insane orange clown posse evil. Cultists who demonize their opponents can’t be reasoned with, and their goal is to infest our institutions and destroy democracy from the inside. Our tax dollars are paying the settlement for his malfeasance.
Velie would have fit right in on the staff of Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner back in the day.