Patterico's Pontifications

2/13/2005

My “Outside the Tent” Piece in the L.A. Times

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 6:10 am



My “Outside the Tent” piece in the L.A. Times is up, and can be accessed here.

When I say I could fill the Sunday Opinion section with examples of ideological bias by this newspaper, I’m not kidding. I have done scores of posts about this newspaper. The highlights are collected in three posts: my year-end review of the paper’s performance in 2003, and a year-end review for 2004 in two parts (Part One, dealing with the paper’s coverage of the presidential election; and Part Two, dealing with coverage of other issues).

I think it’s fair to say that the criticism I provide in those posts is more biting than anything you will read in today’s Sunday Opinion piece. Keep in mind: the Times piece runs under 700 words, whereas I have relatively unlimited space on this blog to back up what I say — as well as the ability to provide links for further support of my assertions.

I’d like once again to thank Xrlq, Armed Liberal, and alert reader Hank K. for their detailed and helpful comments, and patient willingness to look at multiple drafts.

Thanks also to Bob Sipchen, Sunday Opinion editor at the L.A. Times, both for inviting me to do this, and for his many excellent suggestions and edits. I’m not sure whether the “Outside the Tent” feature is his brainchild, but I can tell you that his edits were fair. Although I have been very critical of this newspaper, I respect the editors’ decision to open themselves up to criticism like this. I hope the “experiment” continues indefinitely. Newspapers can benefit from feedback like this.

By the way, I’m hoping to interview Sipchen soon about the origins of the “Outside the Tent” feature, the guidelines that participants are given, and what he envisions for it in the future. I hope anyone reading this blog for the first time today will bookmark the main page and check back for that interview.


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