Patterico's Pontifications

2/19/2005

Jack Dunphy Inside the Tent

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 2:44 pm



I just got off the phone with L.A. Times Sunday Opinion Editor Bob Sipchen. We had a wide-ranging and very interesting on-the-record conversation about the paper’s admirable “Outside the Tent” feature. I expect to post the results of that interview within the next few days.

In the meantime, Sipchen authorized me to say that tomorrow’s “Outside the Tent” feature will be by LAPD officer and National Review Online contributor Jack Dunphy. Dunphy strikes me as a courageous pick, and someone who will not pull any punches. The selection of Dunphy, along with the previous selection of critics like Hugh Hewitt and Mickey Kaus, confirms my opinion that this feature is for real.

Keep an eye out for my post about my interview of Sipchen. We touched on several interesting topics, and I think you’ll find it very insightful and illuminating.

Susan Estrich Begins New Anti-L.A. Times Web Site

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 9:46 am



Susan Estrogen (name slightly altered for comedic purposes) has begun a new anti-L.A. Times web site called LATimesBias.org.

Thanks to commenter “furious a” for the tip. “Furious a” says that Estrich is “preparing to tread on your turf.” To “furious a” I say: thank you very much for the compliment — but: nonsense!

While I am always amused and complimented when people think of L.A. Times criticism as “my turf,” that is far from the truth. Many others — such as Hugh Hewitt, Mickey Kaus, Armed Liberal, and Xrlq, just to name a few — have done an excellent job of taking this paper to task in the past. In the case of Hugh and Mickey, they bring to the table their credentials as real journalists, which is something I don’t have.

So I claim no monopoly on criticism of the L.A. Times. Nor would I want to. For one thing, this paper’s monopoly is a huge part of its problem. Do you think a newspaper could get away with this if it had competition? For another thing, I have often said that no one person can document every biased article printed by this paper. They have an army of reporters and editors. We need an army of bloggers to keep an eye on them.

It’s not clear exactly what Estrich plans to do with this web site, but I bet it will be interesting. Estrich was, don’t forget, the campaign manager for Michael Dukakis. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that she is (or will be) blind to the paper’s liberal bias — and when she sees it, her commentary will enjoy a certain added credibility on the issue. For example, recall Estrich’s blistering criticism of the hit job the paper did on Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So I welcome Susan Estrich to the world of regular L.A. Times criticism. As I said when Ken Reich began his Take Back the Times web site, I am not worried that any other web site is going to displace yours truly as your favorite critic of the paper. But I am always happy to welcome others to the party.

UPDATE: The LATimesBias.org web site is currently unavailable. No word on whether this is a temporary outage, or yet another web site critical of The Times that never really got off the ground.

UPDATE x2: It’s back up.


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