Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Diego Union-Tribune editor Karin Winner crusading for "Sunshine Week"

This year's Sunshine Week a different story.

— A year ago last month, San Diego Union-Tribune editor Karin Winner was fiercely crusading for "Sunshine Week," an effort by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to focus attention on the problem of getting stubborn government agencies to open their records to the public. In a "Dear Readers" letter on the front page of the Sunday U-T, Winner boasted that "we shine white-hot spotlights on your government." She went on to list all the things the U-T was doing to mark the occasion. "Throughout these pages this week, we will bring focus to your right -- an individual's right -- to access government. We offer specific help tomorrow with a full page in the Metro section that tells you where you can get certain information and how to go about obtaining it." Concluded Winner, "During Sunshine Week, I urge you to contemplate the freedoms we all often take for granted. Think about the responsibilities that come with them: To act. To search out information. To hold those who represent you accountable. To vote. As journalists, we are privileged to report on the democratic process -- and we believe our watchdog role is the most meaningful of all."

Sponsored
Sponsored

This year's Sunshine Week, however, was a different story. There was no editor's message, no articles chronicling heroic efforts the U-T had taken to uncover public records nor special webpage advising the citizenry how to make their own Public Records Act requests. The U-T's only reference to Sunshine Week was contained in a small midweek editorial suggesting that the newspaper had given up the good fight. "The news on this front is not particularly good.... Unfortunately, politicians sometimes get away with defining any push for openness as a media power play. Instead, this effort should be seen as crucial to democracy. The less we know about our government, the more incompetence and corruption we can expect." ... Meanwhile, a high-powered advertising sales exec has departed Copley Newspapers, owner of the U-T, to become vice president of advertising for the Baltimore Sun, owned by the troubled Tribune Company of Chicago. Linda Hastings had been publisher of Today's Local News, the U-T's home-delivered freebie that was once supposed to provide an antidote to the main paper's declining circulation numbers but ended up turning into an expensive albatross. Hastings had been recruited by Copley from her own publication, Loot, a weekly classified vehicle distributed on 2700 newsstands in New York City, reports Editor & Publisher.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans

— A year ago last month, San Diego Union-Tribune editor Karin Winner was fiercely crusading for "Sunshine Week," an effort by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to focus attention on the problem of getting stubborn government agencies to open their records to the public. In a "Dear Readers" letter on the front page of the Sunday U-T, Winner boasted that "we shine white-hot spotlights on your government." She went on to list all the things the U-T was doing to mark the occasion. "Throughout these pages this week, we will bring focus to your right -- an individual's right -- to access government. We offer specific help tomorrow with a full page in the Metro section that tells you where you can get certain information and how to go about obtaining it." Concluded Winner, "During Sunshine Week, I urge you to contemplate the freedoms we all often take for granted. Think about the responsibilities that come with them: To act. To search out information. To hold those who represent you accountable. To vote. As journalists, we are privileged to report on the democratic process -- and we believe our watchdog role is the most meaningful of all."

Sponsored
Sponsored

This year's Sunshine Week, however, was a different story. There was no editor's message, no articles chronicling heroic efforts the U-T had taken to uncover public records nor special webpage advising the citizenry how to make their own Public Records Act requests. The U-T's only reference to Sunshine Week was contained in a small midweek editorial suggesting that the newspaper had given up the good fight. "The news on this front is not particularly good.... Unfortunately, politicians sometimes get away with defining any push for openness as a media power play. Instead, this effort should be seen as crucial to democracy. The less we know about our government, the more incompetence and corruption we can expect." ... Meanwhile, a high-powered advertising sales exec has departed Copley Newspapers, owner of the U-T, to become vice president of advertising for the Baltimore Sun, owned by the troubled Tribune Company of Chicago. Linda Hastings had been publisher of Today's Local News, the U-T's home-delivered freebie that was once supposed to provide an antidote to the main paper's declining circulation numbers but ended up turning into an expensive albatross. Hastings had been recruited by Copley from her own publication, Loot, a weekly classified vehicle distributed on 2700 newsstands in New York City, reports Editor & Publisher.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Next Article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader