San Diego County civic and business leaders offered advice Wednesday to billionaire doctor and biotech innovator Patrick Soon-Shiong, who has agreed to purchase The San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
Most were optimistic that the new ownership would benefit both the Los Angeles and San Diego regions, but some expressed concern that San Diego’s interests and needs would be overshadowed by those of L.A.
Here’s a sampling of those community voices:
Mary Walshok, associate vice chancellor for public programs and dean of extension at UC San Diego. She included Soon-Shiong in a lecture series at the campus about cancer research:
“Everything depends on the leadership. If the leadership of the enterprise understands, respects, even celebrates the distinctive character of Los Angeles vs. Orange County vs. San Diego County, this could be great for the paper … But if the leadership is one-size-fits-all demographically and economically, we’re going to lose.”
Nikki Clay, board chairman of the Old Globe Theatre. She previously chaired the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce:
“I’d love to have him tour Balboa Park and understand what a jewel it is, meet the mayor of Tijuana. I want him to go down to Ocean Beach for lunch at Hodad’s. I want him to get the local flavor of San Diego and why it’s not LA. San Diego is evolving, so I think somebody that brings an outside perspective is welcomed with open arms.”
Gil Cabrera, president, San Diego Convention Center Corp. board:
“I generally like that we have local ownership and hope it creates long-term stability for the paper, which has been an issue for a long time. With publicly traded companies, you’re more concerned about quarterly profits and squeezing out as much as you can for shareholders, so (private ownership) could mean reinvestment and not so much of a focus on the short-term bottom line.”
Keith Jones, Managing Partner of Ace Parking Management:
“Getting our most coveted news source and product, the Union-Tribune, to be owned by a locally based Southern California person is in the best interests of the paper as it gives us the ability to be more hyper local and regionally focused. I’m excited that the paper is now going to be owned by an entrepreneur who is interested in preservation and enhancement of assets vs. the opposite.”
Hal Fuson, final chief executive and chief operating officer when the Copley family sold the U-T in 2009.
“I’m actually optimistic that this has occurred. This is a kind of local ownership. It’s different than (the Copleys’) was but it certainly is somebody who has the resources to operate the newspaper in a way that will serve the community going forward better than Tronc could, given the trials and tribulations it was going through. There are ways in which I think, if he solidifies The Times, that the resources…can leak over to here and that won’t be a bad thing.”
Jack McGrory, former San Diego city manager and leader of San Diego State University’s Mission Valley stadium initiative drive as well as a member of SDSU’s foundation of major donors and ers:
“I would hope he would be able to put some more money into the paper so we could get more in-depth coverage. There have been major cuts in staffing and what has suffered along the way is a significant cut in the breadth of coverage of local issues. I would hope the new owners would consider increasing that local coverage, especially in government.”
Larry Blumberg, executive director of Fleet Week and founder of the San Diego Military Advisory Council:
“I think the newspaper has to understand the readership. I would hope that the U-T does a fair and respectable job in covering the military and defense and I would hope we would not see any significant changes in that approach.”
Vincent Mudd, chief operating officer of Carrier Johnson + Culture architectural firm and former chairman of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp:
“You don’t want to lose investigative journalism, that’s required. I don’t know if that’s something we have to be afraid of, but we sure don’t want to lose that … I would love to have an entire segment of the paper to just be on research.”
Steve Cushman, San Diego businessman and former port commissioner and San Diego Convention Center Corp. board member:
“My first thought was I am hopeful that because (Soon-Shiong) is a Los Angeles man, this will be the beginning of a discussion about having our local newspaper owned by local people. I’m hoping he bought this to get the L.A. Times and is willing to sell this to local San Diegans. My second thought was, hopefully, that him being a Southern California, he will take more of an interest in the future of our city and be part of the solution and not just report on other people’s solutions. I think shaping policy in the city is an absolutely appropriate role for a newspaper.”
Marco Gonzalez, co-founder and managing partner of the Coast Law Group. He oversees environment and land use, government relation, and election law practices:
“I’d want someone to understand that San Diego and Los Angeles are fundamentally different places by virtue of their history and their populations. The most important thing for someone to understand about San Diego is the influence of Mexico, and over the next 10 to 20 years, I think that’s going to be the biggest evolution of our region — fixing the cross-border movement of people and goods, the environment and quality of life and social issues to the point where the greater Tijuana-San Diego region really becomes harmonious.”
Phil Blair, co-founder of Manpower San Diego:
“I think there are positives of having private ownership and we saw that with the Washington Post, and we now have an owner who can fund the necessary expenses of the Union-Tribune so that it can be the newspaper it wants to be. You can’t cut yourself to greatness. I also caution that owning a newspaper is a public service, and as a private owner he doesn’t see it as his personal P.R. tool.”
Steve Erie, retired political scientist at UC San Diego and expert on Los Angeles politics and regional water policy:
“It’s much better to have a local in charge, particularly one with deep pockets, than to be run out of Chicago where the bean counters reign supreme. The LA-San Diego feud — a lot of that is history. They really are part of the greater Southern California market and are ed at the hip in so many ways, particularly if the local paper is still autonomous but has an infusion of resources.”
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