Problems of local media in Rancho Santa Fe

Credibility. Quality. Story judgment.

Small weekly newspapers around Rancho Santa Fe have none and that's why they do not serve the community well.

Go to the Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch and Del Rayo Village post offices any weekend.

Four out of five papers these "Community" publications mail unsolicited to mailbox holders, are in the trash. That's the public voting with its are-you-kidding-me-I-don't-need-more-trash-in-my-mailbox spontaneous commentary.

These papers are FREE. And nobody wants them. Trees are dying for this crap?

The Rancho Santa Fe Review. The Rancho Santa Fe Record. The Coast News. Let's look at the ledger.

CREDIBILITY

1. Rancho Santa Fe Review: 

Stories are published without attribution or bylines. Many of these are written by public relations companies or by the submitters themselves. Often, these stories are tied into advertisements or some other self-aggrandizement without public disclosure. This is sleazy and unethical.

Also sleazy and unethical are attempts by The Review to manufacture or suppress news. The Late Richard Scuba is a case in point. The well-respected local attorney, and past Rancho Santa Fe Association president, was denied the opportunity to run letters critical of Association leadership. Yet, The Review publishes an endless stream of puff pieces kissing up to the Association leadership. 

2. Coast News: 

As with The Review, numerous stories are published without disclosure, but are written by public relations officials, official officials, or even the same group they are discussing. This is disgusting, also unethical.

What's more, the paper runs at least one, and sometimes several, stories and photos per issue about the publisher's wife without disclosure. Come on. Is this "paper" a vanity platform and if it is don't pretend to be providing people accurate information. What use are you?

Speaking of inaccurate information, Coast News changes its banner to Rancho Santa Fe and calls itself "The Ranch's Best Source For Area News". As they say on "Saturday Night Live" REALLY. REALLY. The paper comes out twice a month, but the date on its masthead is set inaccurately to a week ahead. So, they even lie about the date. Incredible.

3. Rancho Santa Fe Record: Give me a carpet. Give me a bagger. Give me a postcard-sized piece of...

Ethical mishmash. I must qualify tis critique with my own role as former editor of the paper. I won the prestigious statewide journalism award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for covering the Witch Creek Fire. I was laid off by former publisher Brendan Ruff on Nov. 2, 2007, the day I returned from the fire.

Ruff moved the office to La Jolla, eventually hired several more editors and publishers, shrunk the size of the paper to a 3x5 postcard size. The paper has no interest in the community nor any local editorial coverage aside from a few profiles and features. There isn't even a visible way to contact anyone at the paper. Nobody there lives remotely near the area and nobody cares in the least about what is happening locally.

QUALITY-STORY JUDGMENT-ETC...

What these hack non-journalist poseurs all have in common is a lack of direction, lack of understanding about what to present. They are lazy faux journalists who do not question authority nor anything anyone says. 

The laziness and lack of order extends to visual presentation. Each is an amazing technicolor mixture of clashing headlines, bizarre fonts, poor quality photos, no graphics and poor writing. Web sites are minimal to the point of nonexistent. As for story selection, an amazing number of stories take place without coverage due to incompetence and laziness. 

IN SUMMATION:

The Review bills itself as "award-winning". Aside from some sham awards for advertising display, what have they won? Not for actual journalism because they are a bad joke, a money-losing vanity publication presented by what's his name, the publisher. The others don't need to bill themselves as award-winning. Their level of journalism is so low, they will never have to worry about that label.

In coming weeks, as the fancy strikes me, I will discuss their coverage in real-time, so the community can appreciate what is real and what is fake.

--DAN WEISMAN

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