Comments by sdblogger | San Diego Reader

Anonymous

29 Newspeople, Some of Paper's Best, Take U-T Buyout

The problem with the U-T lies not within the Editorial Department, as you and your other readers suggest. Any smart individual knows that there is a wall that separates the U-T's News division from its Editorial division. The problem is the lack of true leadership. During these times of turmoil in the newsroom and in the industry, those who are inside the U-T newsroom need -- no, make that WANT -- leaders who can make quick decisions that will move the newspaper forward. Instead, we are left with indecisive editors who are afraid to make decisions. Historically, the U-T has always moved at a snail's pace when it comes to change. This is not the time, however, to move at such a slow pace. Being quick and nimble will allow it to catch up with the rest of the market and dominate it again. But decisions are stuck in the upper echelons of the U-T heirarchy, while the newspaper's circulation and more importantly, its credibility and relevance continue their downward spiral. Bad times turn mediocre leaders into great leaders. That has not happened yet.
— January 3, 2008 9:06 a.m.

29 Newspeople, Some of Paper's Best, Take U-T Buyout

Don: A correction to your posted item: Maureen Clancy was not Food Editor. She was considered a food critic/food writer. The Food Editor, Margaret King, did not take the buyout.
— January 3, 2008 8:55 a.m.

SDCERS Does Mea Culpa Over 14 IRS Violations, but DROP and Purchase of Service Credits Still Not Before the Agency

Response to #19 It's called Web 2.0 or the wisdom of crowds, and similar to your ongoing and enlightening online conversation with Don Bauder, the purpose of putting out a draft is to discuss issues, expose bias, and correct factual mistakes. Anyone who is in the business of collecting, sorting, analyzing, and presenting information knows how valuable and important it is to have independent review and validation before final publication. That the city attorney takes advantage of such knowledgeable people as you to find and correct errors is to his credit. God-loving Gwinn, the exemplar for abused spouses everywhere, always had a good cover up while San Diego was being gang raped behind closed doors, whispering to the world, "nothing to see here" and always delaying or preventing access to information. Now look where we are. Battered spouse syndrome shows itself when we attack our rescuers' every flaw, while excusing our attackers' grossest violations. Aguirre may be the biggest a-hole in the world, but at least he's willing to confront the abusers instead of defending them. Step back and look at the big picture. Nobody now denies that the City is in huge financial trouble. If we're over our heads by one billion or two billion is truly secondary to the clear fact that we're drowning. So who is kicking and fighting any attempt to reduce this debt? The same ones who allegedly are there to protect us from getting in trouble in the first place, yet failed to do their job. Yet we'd rather nit-pick and assail the character of anyone except the perpetrators? Everyone has known for years that the DROP is at least questionable, yet we still haven't asked the IRS for its opinion? The same Golding era executives who cooked up the scam are in office, supposedly "helping" the situation? Yep, "Scam Diego" is such an apt moniker. Fortunately, with the ubiquity of online resources for people like you and me who are willing to delve deeper, we can at participate (marginally) by posting to blogs like this. Let's keep up the pressure to get the IRS to resolve all these outstanding questions, even if we know we won't like the answers. And let's open up our government. Why can't the rest of our officials take advantage of the intelligent people in the region by posting their drafts online and allowing all to comment freely?
— January 3, 2008 12:12 a.m.

29 Newspeople, Some of Paper's Best, Take U-T Buyout

Response to post #28: I learned about Kristol joining the NYTimes op/ed columinists from a recent Joan Walsh piece on www.salon.com. I agree that it is a misguided attempt by the NYTimes to provide some more "conservative" balance to the "liberal' Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert...since clearly David Brooks alone isn't up to the task.
— December 31, 2007 6:58 p.m.