Blade-Citizen Is No Place for Opinions, Apparently

While most modern newspapers view opinion pages as open forums, a chance for the public to express itself without restraint, the Oceanside-based Blade-Citizen draws the line at community columnists who endorse candidates.

Just a few days before last Tuesday’s election, editors of the Blade-Citizen’s thrice-weekly Del Mar and Encinitas editions refused to run a piece by regular op-ed columnist Gordon Clanton endorsing San Diego mayoral candidate Peter Navarro.

The stated reason: They didn’t want readers to confuse Clanton’s endorsement with the paper’s.

“Any endorsement done by this newspaper is done by me,” Blade-Citizen Publisher Tom Missett said in an interview Friday, suggesting a philosophy vaguely reminiscent of William Randolph Hearst.

The policy has been in place for many years, Missett said, although Clanton and other columnists were not aware of it. As recently as two months ago, Clanton endorsed specific candidates in the Del Mar elections.

Missett said a “couple” of columns “slipped through the cracks down south” but that the policy has always been enforced for the Oceanside daily.

If the paper endorsed one candidate and a columnist endorsed another, the paper would look “ridiculous,” Missett said. He also pointed out that the paper has little control over community columnists, and he wants to avoid the possibility that a columnist might be open to bribes or exchange “political favors” for an endorsement.

Clanton said he is disappointed by the paper’s decision. The paper refused to print a follow-up column Clanton wrote about the issue, which he titled “Benched During the Playoffs.”

“If it is one of my jobs to argue for the slow-growth, environmental point of view, if I can’t tell people who represents that point of view, then it seems to me there is no follow-through,” Clanton said.

Calls to the editorial page editors of the other major dailies in San Diego County confirmed that no other paper puts similar restrictions on its community writers.

“The op-ed page is a marketplace of ideas,” said Robert A. Kittle, editorial page editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We don’t restrict it to ideas we agree with.”

The Blade does have a wide variety of opinions represented in its columns, Missett notes. He just doesn’t want columnists making endorsements.

To him, it makes no difference that his philosophy is out of step with other newspapers.

“It doesn’t mean they’re right and I’m wrong,” he said. “It’s the way I’ve always done it, and it’s always worked.”

Of the local TV stations, KNSD-TV (Channel 39) offered the most complete Election Night coverage, even though the Klingon Commander headsets didn’t always work and the slick zip-line graphics often backfired.

KGTV (Channel 10) wasn’t far behind, also providing a well rounded package, but Channel 39 earned extra respect by starting its continuous coverage at 10 p.m., while Channel 10 didn’t get going full time until 10:35, although it did lengthy updates throughout the night.

Both Channels 39 and 10 had reporters in Los Angeles covering the statewide campaigns and a full team of reporters at election central.

Channel 39 gave Roger Hedgecock an expanded role this year, which was something of an annoyance. Hedgecock is adept in the role of analyst, but Tuesday he was more co-anchor. He continually talked over Levin, who is easily the most capable anchor in town, and excitedly offered up his opinions, adding a certain tone of arrogance to the coverage.

At one point, Hedgecock said candidate Peter Navarro was “doing better than most people expected, myself excepted.”

Channel 10 countered with the always-steady John Beatty and the uninspiring “perspective” team of Marti Emerald and Herb Cawthorne.

The other network affiliate, KFMB-TV (Channel 8), was an almost-non-participant. While the other stations were presenting results, Channel 8 stuck with the CBS movie “Victim of Love.”

Down the hall, KFMB radio, Channel 8’s sister station, was offering full, comprehensive coverage. But Channel 8 had no analysis, no reporters in Los Angeles, no set at election central. Nothing.

They gave perfunctory coverage to the results in the first part of the 11 p.m. newscast, cutting to poor anchorwoman Susan Peters standing in the midst of the election central crunch trying to do interviews.

During the newscast, Channel 8 ran a scroll of the results with music playing in the background. But that took too long, so they cut if off before showing all the races.

That was it for Channel 8, whose management apparently doesn’t believe an election is “News That Hits Home.” Channel 8 News Director Jim Holtzman did not return a call seeking an explanation of his philosophy on election coverage.

Even the fledgling KUSI-TV (Channel 51) news team made an impressive effort for this all-important primary, which had more open races and unknown variables than most elections. With Cathy Clark at election central and Lionel Van Deerlin and Danuta Soderman doing analysis in the studio, KUSI put together a comprehensive and interesting package, extending the 10 p.m. newscast in order to focus on election results, followed by cut-ins during the Dennis Miller show from 11:30 to 12:30.

It was a wise decision to put Clark at election central, since she is unflappable, although the designer who put a glass window behind her with the KUSI logo stripped across it, giving it the look of a wordy UFO hovering behind Clark’s head, should seek therapy.

The Arbitron ratings for May, released Friday, show Channel 10 again winning all the major news time slots, with Channel 8 slipping to pre-Winter Olympics levels. Channel 39 and Channel 8 were tied at 11 p.m., behind Channel 10. . . .

Watch Channel 39’s incessant slow-motion replays of the now infamous shoving match at election central involving Peter Navarro and Susan Golding press aide Nikki Symington. Look closely at the grassy knoll in the background. See, the second elbow? Yes, the truth will eventually come out. . . .

Channel 8 may not have devoted energy or resources to election coverage, but in an era when network affiliates are deserting charity telethons, Channel 8’s 20-hour telethon for Children’s Hospital raised $2.45 million locally. It was the second-highest total of the 167 markets in which the telethon aired, according to Children’s Hospital spokesman Mark Morelli. . . .

The “Ross Hedgecock Report” teased its audience last week with this incendiary telepoll question: “Do political campaigns involving mudslinging bother you?” Shockingly, the majority of respondents said yes.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

GEORGE STEVENS, LIFEGUARDS AND RICKEY DALE THOMAS

This month’s edition of Channel 8’s “Assignment San Diego,” scheduled to air Thursday at 8 p.m., will include an interview with City Councilman George Stevens, a look at the city lifeguard service and a recap of the Rickey Dale Thomas story.