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SDFP Journo Doug Porter Awarded 1st Prize for Prop Z Coverage

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Last night, July 11, the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists held its annual journalism awards banquet at Bali Hai on Shelter Island. Loren Nancarrow, Fox 5 anchor and environmentalist received the Journalist of the Year award. Awards were then presented by Carol LeBeau, retired 10News anchor and Marty Levin, retired KNSD/Channel 39 anchor. The full spectrum of the media- newspaper, magazines, online, radio and television– was reflected in the awards.

Prolific SDFP writer and editorial board member Doug Porter received first place in the Daily Reporting and Writing category for his coverage of Prop Z. Freepers Annie Lane, Rich Kacmar, Anna Daniels, Andy Cohen, Doug and Doug’s daughter Haley waited expectantly to find out whether he had garnered a 1st, 2nd place or honorable mention. Doug was surprised at the 1st place award; the rest of us weren’t surprised at all.   [Read more…]

Mayor Filner: DO NOT RESIGN

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By Frank Gormlie

For the last twenty-four hour news cycle, San Diegans have watched stunned as three Democrats have stepped forward and publicly called for Mayor Bob Filner to resign. Donna Frye, Cory Briggs and Marco Gonzalez all sent letters to Filner – and the media – in the last couple of days calling on the Mayor – who has been in office all of seven months – to step down.

Briggs and Gonzalez are both attorneys involved in litigation against the City of San Diego. Donna Frye, of course, is the former City Councilmember and the ‘woman who should have been mayor’. Frye actually won a three-way race a few years ago for mayor in her write-in campaign, but was not sworn in due to the ballots being questionable.

Frye and Gonzalez alleged sexual harassment charges in their letters – although no details were given – whereas Briggs cited other issues, mainly around the latest Sunroad controversy.

The three are holding a press conference, today, Thursday, at 10 a.m. to outline more details it is assumed. The San Diego Free Press will have a reporter present who, hopefully, will be writing up a report later this morning.

In the meantime, thoughtful Democrats and progressives have had their worst nightmare materialize. Their darling – the most liberal mayor of San Diego in history – is on the ropes. Will he resign? Can he weather this crisis?

At this point – we urge Mayor Filner NOT TO RESIGN.   [Read more…]

MemeMedia: Channel 10 and Filner

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Tea Partying at Ch. 10

By Bob Dorn

For a cool $212 million, E.W.Scripps picked up Channel 10 KGTV from McGraw-Hill in October 2011. Ever since then the station’s news operations has been just another kennel for the right wing’s dogs of war.

The purchase by the Scripps chain automatically put Clear Channel Communications into management of Channel 10s news operation, because that Texas-based mega-corporation (1200 radio stations) also manages Scripps’ 10 television stations. Clear Channel, of course, is most famous for carrying the radio caca-phony of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and the master of patriotic hate, Rush Limbaugh.

Of course, a television station in mellow San Diego can’t be expected to put flamethrowers like Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity on video news, particularly not when its present and immediate past is and was decorated by the likeables Kimberly Hunt and Michael Tuck and the fools, Regis Philban! and Harold Greene!! , the latter made famous by Will Ferrell’s deadly embodiment named Ron Burgundy, in Anchorman.   [Read more…]

Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Congressman Scott Peters Faces a Tough Reelection Battle

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By Doug Porter

It’s hard to imagine why anybody would want the job of Congressman these days, let alone mount an early balls-to-the wall campaign for the job, but Republican Carl DeMaio is taking no chances. After all, the legislative body is less popular than cockroaches, having passed a mere 15 pieces of legislation so far this year.

This week the former City Councilman and failed Mayoral candidate spent a day trumpeting the fact he’d raised nearly half a million dollars for his campaign in one month.   [Read more…]

A Mindful Walk Down Sunroad Lane

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By Norma Damashek

To tell you the truth, these mindful walks can give me a headache…notice and let it go… notice… let go…

When I started these walks it looked like letting it go would be the hard part.  Turns out the noticing part is worse — because what I’ve been noticing is really screwy.  In fact, it stinks.

I notice that while Republican voters no longer dominate San Diego elections, the city’s entrenched wheeler-dealers (still predominantly Republican) persist in manipulating, controlling, and subverting city government, the news media, and public opinion.   [Read more…]

Stayin’ Alive

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dornlogoBy Bob Dorn

More people name FOX News as their avenue to the truth than any other network, according to Gallup, which released its study yesterday (July 08).  Of course, most people simply told Gallup that they watch television in general for their news (55%) but FOX was specifically named by 8 percent, without prompting.   Perhaps surprisingly, CNN was volunteered by 7%.

FOX News viewers are almost twice as likely as CNN viewers to be 50 or older, and 94% of them say they are — or lean toward being — Republican.  And, gasp, the venerable polling organization actually says in its findings that FOX fans are  “much more likely to be white, Protestant, attend church weekly, and to earn $75,000 or more per year.”

(for more, gallup.com)   [Read more…]

Another Zombie Voter Story Bites the Dust

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By Doug Porter

One of the central themes of right wing activism since 2008 has been responding to allegations of voter fraud with increasingly difficult “voter id laws”.  Actual voter fraud cases are hard to come by, so allegations are used instead to drum up concern.

One of the most outrageous claims during the 2012 election cycle was made by Kevin Schwedo, the director of South Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles, who said on January 11, 2012, that more than 950 residents were recorded as having cast a vote after their reported death date.

Republican Rep. Alan Clemmons was quoted during a legislative hearing on the matter, saying, “We must have certainty in South Carolina that zombies aren’t voting.”  And that’s all it took for the zombie voter meme to take off with the right wing media.

INSIDE: FILIBUSTER FIGHT? FILNER’s FIRST LADY IS NO MORE, BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A FIRE ENGINE?   [Read more…]

If the Story Was “Mayor Walks on Water”, the UT-San Diego Headline Would be “Filner Can’t Swim”

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The Watchdog Yips at the New Public Library

By Doug Porter

It really is true that no stone can be left unturned in UT-San Diego’s quest to denigrate Mayor Bob Filner. This week’s “Watchdog” example involves a reporter with a questionable background, a moving company and an abysmal level of ignorance on the subject of libraries.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with such things, the main branch of San Diego’s Public Library is moving into a new building. Not only are collections and reference materials long-buried in the bowels of the old building being cleaned up and rediscovered, additional genealogy collections from archives throughout the region are being merged into the new facility.

Moving the contents of the old location into the new digs is a huge task, and it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that a company specializing in such tasks was retained to handle the job.  After all, you wouldn’t want two guys and a moving van moving a collection that includes thousands of rare resource materials, many of them unique to the region.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Torrey Pines State Park and Gliderport

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By Annie Lane

Torrey Pines State Reserve is a scene I will never tire of seeing. Striking colors, views and wildlife surround easily accessible paths making the excursion enjoyable for hikers of all skill levels.

On this particular day, we ended our outing at the Torrey Pines Gliderport (a short drive), where we ate lunch at the Cliffhanger Cafe and watched paragliders and hang gliders flying among the birds. The food was decent, and made all the better by the scenery. We also met two of the birds from West Coast Falconry, who were hanging out cliffside with their trainers and would fly alongside them while they went paragliding.   [Read more…]

Mexican Journalist Marcela Turati: “Don’t Abandon Us”

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In the past 10 years, at least 17 journalists have disappeared and 72 have been killed. None of them have been solved.

By Marcela Turati /Global Investigative Journalism Network

Journalist Marcela Turati has gained global attention for her compassionate and committed reporting on the victims of Mexico’s drug wars. An investigative reporter for the magazine Proceso, she is co-founder of Periodistas de a Pie (Journalists on Foot), a network that supports journalists covering issues such as poverty and human rights. The Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, in choosing her for the 2013 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, called Turati “a standard-bearer for the journalists who have risked their lives to document the devastating wave of violence in Mexico,” and saluted her “courage… journalistic excellence and leadership.”  

On June 25, Turati gave the keynote speech at the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. During a lengthy talk, in sometimes halting English,  hundreds of journalists sat silent and fixed on her words. Turati’s message to her colleagues was straightforward: “Don’t abandon us.” 

  [Read more…]

KNSJ Goes on the Air with Filner, Frye Speaking Out

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By Bob Dorn

Several hours into its maiden voyage yesterday, July 04, radio station KNSJ-fm, broadcasting live from Balboa Park’s World Beat Center was pleasantly interrupted by his honor, the Mayor of San Diego, Bob Filner, looking lean and I’m not saying mean, because he was among friends there.  Real friends.

Floyd Morrow, former San Diego city council member and Marine who had promised the station Filner would show up, grabbed Filner in a hug.  The mayor had no bodyguards hovering nearby nor tightsuits with clipboards and iPads in hand surrounding him, and he was relaxed.

Spontaneous hoots of encouragement echoed through the giant old water tank that Worldbeat Africanized and made its home decades ago, and which, for this Independence Day, was the broadcast studio of KNSJ.   [Read more…]

Pumping Up Filner’s Flaps for Fun and Profit

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By Doug Porter

City Councilman Kevin Faulconer joined the flail on Filner fray today with a UT-San Diego op-ed chock full of the sort of doom and gloom spin that would do Karl Rove proud.

‘The sky is falling!’ He says, ‘The streets are full of potholes!’ And…(my favorite)… ‘Bankruptcy looms!’

Yes indeed, citizens, Faulconer tells us, the Mayor’s ‘Bullying’ is taking a harsh toll at City Hall.  You, the people, are ‘unheard victims’.

Gosh, it sure is coincidental about how the word ‘bullying’ (used in the print edition headline) has been showing up on the GOP’s playlist lately.

Is the Mayor feuding with smaller sized children? Has he actually threatened anybody with harm? Are the ‘victims’ of this maniacal madman weak and defenseless?   [Read more…]

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