Andrés Martinez chat transcript

Moderator1: Hi everybody. This is Tim Cavanaugh. We'll be spending the hour with Andres Martinez, editorial page editor of the LAT.

Moderator1: Let's start out with a question from Larry.

larry: Mr. Martinez, I understand why you have added right-wing op-ed columnists. However, why do you continue running people such as Max Boot and Jonah Goldberg whose opinions have been consistently wrong?

Andres Martinez: well, we have columnists who write from various ideological perspectives. Without knowing your particular issues with these two columnists, I can assure you many readers feel our more liberal columnists are "consistently wrong."

Gabriel: I am a Mexican born naturalized American, who is very appreciative of the work this paper does in covering issues regarding Mexico. But I want to ask Mr. Martinez why the paper took so long in taking a more critical role of losing candidate AMLO. I feel the paper gave him a break for too long.

Andres Martinez: Well, I do like Lopez Obrador's first name (Andres). I assume you are talking about coverage of the former Mexico City mayor on editorial page, not news pages. I am not sure we were too late to be critical. We were troubled in April when he refused to debate. It's true that earlier we thought it was counterproductive to ban him from the race.

JW: Mr. Martinez, can you give me a brief idea of what you think makes for a good commentary piece that the LAT might consider publishing? Should it be regional or national in scope? Based on a trend?

Andres Martinez: We strive to offer an interesting mix of topics on op-ed page, ranging from local to foreign. Often the best pieces focus on a hyper local issue but broaden it to identify larger trends people throughout the region can relate to. Also, I should add that we are blessed with hundreds of submissions a week!

zombie: Andres are you religious, christian, and is that why the editorial page has tilted godward?

Andres Martinez: Wow. How have we tilted Godward? (could i be scoring points upstairs without realizing it?!)

Spencer: I've tried submitting numerous texts re: City Council, and can't get a reply, yet "what's her name" writes completely idiotic articles about why Danny Bonaducci joining Adam Carolla's radio show is a bad idea. That, following pieces about phallic symbols. How can Joe Citizen respect the Times when we are stunted in writing pieces and the Times wastes important space on Danny Bonaducci and similar subjects?

Andres Martinez: Well, I am sorry your numerous texts haven't made it in, and I do appreciate your sending them. But I'd dispute the notion that popular culture isn't a subject fit for an op-ed page.

evera: Are you going to bring community voices? It's a shame if you don't because the current columnists have no clue.

Andres Martinez: I am not sure what you mean by "community voices." We do try to run op-ed page commentary from people from all walks of life, though we can probably do better at bringing in fresh voices. We used to have a Sat. "voices page" but we now try to weave those pieces into our everyday work.

JW: Have you considered expanding Sunday's Current section? Or, is it on the chopping block? I enjoy reading it but would like to see an increase in shorter pieces and less of the 2,000 word tomes. Just my opinion.

Andres Martinez: I appreciate the plug for Current! Nick Goldberg does a great job editing it. I would love to expand Current (maybe you and I can start a grassroots campaign!). In the meantime, we are thinking of new features that will be shorter, improving the overall mix of pieces.

zombie: How could the editorial board promote handing over the fifth largest economy on earth to a "steroid-abusing, pot-smoking, woman-groping, son of a Nazi, washed-up movie star?" to quote The Simpsons...

Moderator1: Zombie, there's a question outstanding for you: What godward tilt are you referring to?

zombie: n/m

Andres Martinez: Because he is doing a good job... (and I say that without buying into your characterization of rainier wolfcastle). Also, are [we] now the fifth-largest global economy? These things always fluctuate with exchange rates, and I thought we were closer to 8th or 9th... but you made my day.

shakeel: Mr. Martinez...first off welcome to town, if you're new to the area. Secondly, this is a great idea and you'd keep it up. Thirdly, a question ... are we leading ourselves into yet another war in Iran ... thx to Judith Miller then ... how's LAT planning to be responsible and critically question the warmongers?

Andres Martinez: Thanks. I've now been in LA over 2 years, and I love it... still lots to explore, though. And yes, we will do such chats routinely with various folks from our opinion pages. As for Iran, I don't know where we are headed, but it does seem that the administration will have a far tougher time crying fire in a theater next time.. without facing far more scrutiny from the media, the Congress and our foreign allies. It may even be the case that the president's credibility is so low that he may have a hard time getting anyone to notice if and when there really is a proverbial fire out there.

Mitchell Young: Any chance of some balance on immigration issues? There is plenty of academic work out there on the restrictionist side, Borjas, Sum etc. I suppose Brimelow would be asking too much.

Andres Martinez: The newspaper's position on these matters is pretty clear, as expressed in our editorials. We think the U.S. economy has a need for more legal immigrant workers, and our denial of this fact has contributed to the problem of illegal immigration. On the op-ed page, however, we do try to present all sides of a pressing policy debate like this. One of our columnists Erin Aubry Kaplan just cited Borjas favorably in a piece last month.

Senor Frog: Mr. Martinez, why so many East coast writers, experts, university professors etc. when this coast is rife with talent? Old reflex or true problem in finding local voices?

Andres Martinez: Hmmm... that's an interesting one. California has some of the best universities in the world, I agree, and I am not sure I agree with you that they are underrepresented on our pages. All things being equal, I do prefer CA-based voices.

evera: Do you ever pick up the phone and a call a resource and ask them to submit an op-ed piece on an issue that's "hot"?

Andres Martinez: Yes, we have a number of op-ed editors who commission op-ed pieces, often asking experts (though too often on the East Cost, according to SR Frog -- isn't that a bar in Mazatlan, btw) and asking them to react to some news event on a tight schedule.

Mitchell Young: I was of course speaking of the op-eds, not unsigned editorials. And while it's great that an author cites Borjas, that really doesn't balance a whole piece by, say, Doug Massey. Thanks for answering though.

Andres Martinez: I think we could use more rigorous economic-based arguments on both sides of the immigration debate, so your point is well taken.

shakeel: Would you agree that the "media" (along with others) gave a free pass to the Administration ... Isn't [the] media going to question the warmongers whose mantra yet again takes lead position in today's paper (Israel sounds alarm on Iran's nuclear efforts).

Andres Martinez: I think in a post- 9/11 environment, "the media" may have been a little complacent. That said, the LAT editorial page (before my time) did oppose the decision to go to war (as did other major editorial pages). Also, bear in mind that at the time of the debate, plenty of officials from the Clinton administration were seconding what the Bush administration was saying about the WMD issue. Also, Saddam himself was involved in a high-stakes poker game, bluffing and pretending that he did have WMD -- as his own generals believed. SO things aren't always so black and white. btw, we did run massey

Andres Martinez: (this is to mitchell young) in the summer of 2005...

zombie: godward the support of a fundamentalist christian group buying KOCE instead of a college because there are enough public television stations.... i.e.

Andres Martinez: Ah... well, that was more a decision based on the auction process, not the identity of the parties...the Christian group made the highest bid, I seem to recall, in an auction for public property.. and it's not like people in OC are deprived of public broadcasting. I'm afraid that is not much of a godward tilt. But I do not want to dodge your earlier, more personal question... I am religious to the degree that I do believe there is a God, but I am not terribly religious in terms of my church attendance record and such. The editorial page strongly believes in the separation of church and state.

Moderator1: Allow me to throw a question out there: Do you think the era of the unsigned editorial--which is really bound up in a sense of institutional authority few people believe in anymore--may be coming to an end.

Andres Martinez: you're fired, moderator... shouldn't your question be a softball?!

Andres Martinez: It's actually a question we get a lot, and it's a good one. In an age when we are awash in "chatter" -- ie, information coming at us from all sources -- I think there is a value in having authoritative filters that provide a conceptual framework through which to interpret events. You don't have to agree with that framework, but it's still useful, I think, to react to it. It is true that people don't believe in institutions the way they once might have, but that just means we have to work harder to make our work speak for itself on the merits, and be more consitent and transparent. Lastly, I find that too much of opining these days is nakedly partisan, and we try to take positions based on enduring principles, not the tactical partisanship of the day.

zombie: Nope not as long as people have an opinion to express and an identity to conceal.

zombie: Andres... the paper is sinking fast...help, please.

zombie: and I just like having a choice of stations and the Christian group's offer was in some dispute as I understand it.

Andres Martinez: I don't agree that the paper is sinking fast. Somedays, given all the angst, it feels like we are sinking slowly... but in reality, this paper still packs a lot of entertaining, interesting and useful news and commentary every day .. for only 50 cents!!

evera: What's your take on LA's mayor? He definitely loves his personal appearances but has he done much during his reign, in your opinion? Did he make a mistake taking on the education issue?

zombie: Sports as front page news..The Envelope...?? Please....

Andres Martinez: I don't think Mayor Villaraigosa erred in taking on the education issue. On the editorial page, we encouraged him to do so. Major city mayors will inevitably take over schools, it enhances accountability and better governance. Schools are the issue people most care about when it comes to local government, and so it makes sense to make the mayor responsible for schools. And it has worked in NY and Chicago, among other places. That said, the mayor's plan was unduly convoluted, in part to reflect complicated reality that school district is larger than city. On the whole, though, I feel Villaraigosa has done a great job of raising expectations for the mayor's office. We will see if he can deliver.

Moderator1: We have time for a few more questions:

Sobchak: Last year the editorial page took on traffic and homelessness as signature issues. How's that going?

Andres Martinez: Those remain perennial concerns. And we will keep at it

Mitchell Young: That's the point -- Massey's position is pretty much open borders (actually its more complicated than that, but this isn't the place). So in an ideal world Massey would be balanced by a Borjas or maybe two Masseys to a Borjas. I was pleasantly surprised by the editorial today on deporting criminals -- I'm sure that was painful to arrive at.

Andres Martinez: It wasn't painful at all to arrive at that conclusion, I can assure you. And I would love to run op-eds by George Borjas.

Senor Frog: Thanks for answering (and yes, I'm a bar in Yucatan!) I will nuance my earlier remark and say that there are more and more local experts involved in the pages. But I often find myself wondering why there is [in] my local paper someone like Jonah Goldberg, who's syndicated and seems to be everywhere, when you could perhaps find a local conservative guy fond of pop culture closer to home. I mean, if you go get people on the East coast, they'd better be really worth it because there are a lof of great experts, bloggers etc. here. ¡Salud!

evera: Are there going to be any changes or any significant additions to the op-ed section on latimes.com? I've heard that the website is undergoing some design changes, which is long OVERDUE! Fyi, the website is HORRIBLE!!!!

Moderator1: Ouch

Andres Martinez: If newspapers were slow to take the Internet seriously, I can assure you everyone here at LAT has now gotten (that) religion. On the opinion pages, we will be offering a lot of online-only content... more editorials, columns, reponses, chats, dialogues, you name it. Thanks.

Sobchak: Can I rephrase? What are this year's top local issues you'll be opining about?

Andres Martinez: This year we will be focusing on the infrastructure debates, now that CA has passed all these multi-billion-dollar bonds, how should money be spent? Also, we will soon be raising a lot of questions, and attempting to answer them, about our county government, and whether it's capable, as designed, to effectively provide services to its 10 million residents.

Moderator1: Well, we're at a 63-minute hour now, so we'll wrap up now.

Moderator1: Thanks a lot, everybody, for joining in.

Mitchell Young: Thank you two for your time -- very 21st century