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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNB 1 TUSTIN TODAY LTR 04-02-90NEVI BUSYNESS N0, 1 -d'qa Q 4-2-90 M Inter - Cans DATE: APRIL 21 1990 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS FROM: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER SUBJECT: LETTER FROM MARK PETRACCA REGARDING TUSTIN TODAY Councilman Prescott requested that the attached be placed on the agenda. WAH/dms Attachment UNIVERSITY OF CALIb ,—ANIA, IRVINE BERJUMM DAVIS IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO o `, SANTA 9ARBARA •SANTA CRUZ SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92717 x*10---t.,�' ,, J� TESTIMONY BEFORE THE TUSTIN CITY COUNCIL Mark P. Petracca March 19, 1990 Mayor Edgar, Members of the Council, my name is Mark P. Petracca. I reside in Irvine and am a faculty member in political science at the University of California, Irvine. I have recently sent each of you a letter through the City Clerk, Ms. Wynn, regarding the Irvine Company and its new advertising outlet in Tustin, the Tustin Today. With your permission I would like to summarize the contents of this letter and conclude with recommendations for Council action. Beware the Irvine Company bearing gifts! Like the Irvine Company's World News, the weekly newspaper in Irvine, Tustin Today is an attempt by the Irvine Company to build community support for its development and land use agenda in the City of Tustin. If Tustin Today follows the path of the Irvine Company's World News --and with the same publisher and managing editor there's no reason to expect that it won't --the citizens of Tustin will be treated to a weekly barrage of the "company line" on matters of interest to the Irvine Company. Last week's edition of Tustin Today is an exemplar of what you can expect from this newspaper in terms of news coverage and editorial policy. Despite its otherwise innocuous appearance, Tustin Today is an effort by the Irvine Company to colonize Tustin politics and Tustin public opinion. Surely it would be more accurate for this paper to be renamed Irvine Today, The Company's News or maybe even Irvine Company Newspeak. The Irvine Company has a history of using its "community newspaper" -- which I would argue is nothing more than political advertising --to influence local politics in Irvine. An examination of that record will give you some idea of what lies in store for Tustin. 1. Like the World News, the publisher, editor, and managing editor of Tustin Today are all direct employees of the Irvine Company. Brien Manning has been with the company since 1982, Tobey Anglin since 1984, and Warren Esterline, your editor, since 1987. I wonder whether any one of these individuals resides in Tustin! 2. Despite their status as Irvine Company employees they will try to persuade you that their newspaper is autonomous from the Irvine Company. As publisher, Brien Manning will expect you to believe that he can receive a hefty executive salary from the Irvine Company and still publish a newspaper that does not reflect the views of his master, I mean employer. If true, this would be news indeed! 3. Jeanne Keevil, editor of the World News, who is also a company employee, believes that the paper always speaks for the "best interests of the community." In the Faustian bargain she has struck with her employer, editor Keevil is convinced that what is good for the Irvine Company is also always good for Irvine. Of course, that's precisely what the company would like you to believe and it's the philosophy that you can expect from Keevil's co-worker Warren Esterline. 4. When public opinion conflicts with the interests of the Irvine Company they are not above taking the expression of public opinion into their own hands --by directing that letters be written by company employees and published in the World News as was the case with the San Joaquin Transportation Cooridor documented by LA Times reporters Pinsky and Frank in 1988. Journalistic ethics at the World News melt in the wake of pressure generated by the Irvine Company for further development and enhanced profit margins. 5. In Irvine, the World News takes an active and highly critical position in relation to city government. In a study of the editorials published by the World News during the past two years I discovered that: (A) The World News never published an article critical of the business community and of course there were never any editorials criticizing the policies or behavior of the Irvine Companny; (B) Editorials about. the Irvine City Council criticized the Council's policies or actions 7310 of the time; and (C) Editorials about the Mayor criticized the mayor 67% of the time. These findings suggest a disturbing imbalance and bias in the editorial policy of the World News, which, when brought to the pages of Tusin Today, is likely to aggravate the already turbulent political environment in Tustin. Of course, remember that editor Keevil thinks that the newspaper always speaks for the best interests of the community. Perish the thought that the residents of Irvine and Tustin might be interested in the radical notion of local autonomy or even self-determination! Why does the Irvine Company want to start a newspaper in Tustin? Isn't not because Don Bren needs the money and it's probably not because they are committed to a free press. Rather, the answer rests in what this newspaper, and I use this term loosely, can be used to achieve. I submit to this Council. that the Irvine Company is interested in expropriating a great deal more from the City of Tustin than your trademark. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with the Irvine Company pursuing its interests in the political arena. It has every legal right to do so. However, I believe that serious ethical and possibly legal problem are raised when under the dubious guise of presenting the residents of Tustin with a free "newspaper" every week, the Irvine Company, in both its news coverage and editorial presentations is really engaged in political advertising to advance it's own interest. If the Irvine Company wants to mail or deliver a paid political cicular to the residents of Tustin or Irvine every week --that's their right, but it is also their legal obligation under the provisions of the California Political Reform Act of 1974, Sections 82000 and 84100 to report such expenditures as political contributions and expenditures subject to public inspection and review. To call a political circular, fully funded by the county's largest landholder and developer, a newspaper is obscene. It mocks the integrity of real newspapers such as the Tustin News, the Los Angeles Times, and The Daily Pil/bt. To call paid political advertising journalism is an affront to all serious journalists and to the very essence of what it means to have a free and open press. In this regard I would urge the Council to agendize this item for discussion and to.consider taking the following steps: 1. Instruct the - City Attorney to take all necessary action against the Irvine Company to preserve the integrity of Tustin's trademark, "Tustin Today;" and 2. To instruct the City Attorney to file a complaint with the California Political Fair Practices Commission pursuant to Sec. 83115 of the Political Reform Act regarding the status of Tustin Today as a political expenditure subject to the disclosure, conflicts of interest, and ballot phamphlet requirements of the Act. There are of course other more innovative steps that could be taken to address this issue at the grassroots level. Thomas Jefferson said that "When the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." I would urge this Council to act on Jefferson's good counsel. Your patience on my behalf is greatly appreciated. Thank you.