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San Diego Union-Tribune passes on NYT’s Issa story, readers react

avatar by Published Aug. 23, 2011 11:13 am Updated Aug. 23, 2011 11:25 am

San Diego Union-Tribune | Union-Tribune Letters | New York Times
The New York Times’ Eric Lichblau wrote last week “most wealthy members of Congress push their financial activities to the side, with many even placing them in blind trusts to avoid appearances of conflicts of interest, but [Republican congressman Darrell] Issa may be alone in the hands-on role he has played in overseeing a remarkable array of outside business interests since his election in 2000.” Issa’s hometown newspaper — the San Diego Union-Tribune — says it “decided not to publish the original [NYT] story while the Times reviews Issa’s complaints” about the piece. Some Union-Tribune readers are unhappy about that. One says:

I find it interesting that the Union-Tribune never reproduced the original article in any shape, way or form on Mr. Issa in the Times, but has devoted almost an entire page to his rebuttal.

How would your readers know what the original questions posed by the Times were if they never read anything about it?

I would say the Union-Tribune is pandering once again to its political base of extreme Republicanism, which we have witnessed in the past.

Another reader, who brings up Howell Raines and Jayson Blair in her letter, thanks the Union-Tribune for declining to run the Times piece. “I know you are going to take some flak for it, so I want you to know that your response is professional and appropriate.”

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  • http://signedoffsandiego.com Balboabolt

    I quit going to SDUT web site since they switched to face book, we have a home at http://signedoffsandiego.com, and we now probably get more comments than SOSD

  • Anonymous

    BYW, according to DEI’s website,  the acquisition by Charlesbank Capital Partners was completed in June: http://www.directed.com/Company/PressReleases/2011/20110621.aspx?SiteId=2
    and Issa is not listed as a member of the Board of Directors (which would not seem to be unusual since it’s now owned by someone else): http://www.deiholdings.com/Management/Directors.aspx.
    It would also be of interest to know if Issa’s foundation retained their interest in the company after it’s acquisition by Charlesbank Capital Partners.
    Just a couple of other things that could have been mentioned in the “Watchdog Journalism” story.

  • Anonymous

    Let me clarify for you. I read the story. That’s where I found out Issa sold the company in before his 2000 election to Congress. I incorrectly referred to “the story” in my previous comment when I should have written “your comment” instead. My original response, and criticism, was to your very first comment in which you said : “We do fairly substantial Watchdog journalism, including this piece on Issa’s company underpaying its tariffs.”
    YOU called it Issa’s company in your comment, which you now say was a careless reference, and that was the point of my comment.
    The article states that these under payments were discovered in 2010, but not disclosed until recently, which if I read it correctly, which is 11 years after Issa sold it. the article states that Issa said he was aware of the misclassifications and participated in efforts to resolve them. As I said, I have read the article, carefully, and nowhere in it do I read specifically when these violations OCCURRED, only that it was “for years”. and no violations were discovered before 2006.
    So with a headline of ” Company Issa founded underpaid tariffs” I would expect to read of Issa’s involvement to a greater extent then just “he was aware of the misclassifications and participated in efforts to resolve them”
    How much day to day involvement in the company did he have when these violations were occurring, when was he made aware of them as apposed to when they were made public, did he have anything to do with the internal  mechanism that allowed only half of the required tariffs to be paid in the first place, did Mike Wilhelm work there when Issa owned the company. In short, what did Issa personally have to do with it, other than being aware of the misclassifications and participated in efforts to resolve them. THAT is what I would expect to find in a “Watchdog Journalism” piece, and I simply don’t find it here.

  • http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/watchdog/ Ricky Young

    Did you read the story? It does not call it HIS company. It lists all the facts I put in my comment, above, but does not call it HIS company.  (I called it his company, in my comment above, but that was careless.  The reason we care about DEI is primarily because of the Congressman’s many ties to it, but it is no longer his company.)

  • Anonymous

    Neverth less, despite the fact that "He founded it, he's on the board, his foundation has an interest in the company, and most important, he participated actively in the company's decision about how to handle the unpaid tariffs issue when it arose. " it's not HIS company, which is how it was referred to in the story.

    ________________________________

  • http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/watchdog/ Ricky Young

    He founded it, he’s on the board, his foundation has an interest in the company, and most important, he participated actively in the company’s decision about how to handle the unpaid tariffs issue when it arose. (Oh, and it bear his initials.)

  • Anonymous

    It’s interesting that the article linked to in this comment is about a company that Issa sold his interest in before he was elected to Congress, so it’s really not even “Issa’s company” as was claimed.

  • http://profiles.google.com/sandiegoscribe Bradley Fikes

    Post the proof — preferably with your name attached to it, O Brave Anonymous Troll.

  • Anonymous

    The story is great, Issa is a crook, he should be in jail, so what is your problem? That you’re a right-wing shill?

  • Anonymous

    Mattias is a right wing troll, busy on this site

  • http://profiles.google.com/sandiegoscribe Bradley Fikes

    Interesting detail from the CREW piece: “The Times information appears to be based on the Issa Family Foundation’s 2008 tax filing,
    which indeed reports the foundation bought 18,789 shares in the fund
    for $18,789 in April 2007, and sold them in January 2008 for $375,026. 
    If Rep. Issa’s trade confirmation is correct- and CREW has no reason to
    think it isn’t – then the foundation itself incorrectly reported the
    transaction to the Internal Revenue Service.  The Times’ conclusions were
    based on the foundation’s own incorrect public disclosures.  So Rep.
    Issa’s claim the error was due to ‘reporting errors by the New York
    Times’ is unfair.”

    The paper should comment on whether that tax filing was indeed its source. The lack of documentation and vague language in the original story weakened it considerably, because groups like CREW have to go sleuthing and guessing what the primary sources were. That could have been avoided if the pertinent documents were put online with the story.

  • Anonymous

    Of course he knows that. But, see, every publication, and every human for that matter, is on one “side” or the other. Nobody is actually out to determine facts or truth, they’re only out to pursue political agendas. And so, he’s merely countering one propaganda organ with another — perfectly equal but opposite — propaganda organ. They’re all the same, see, but they’re just on different sides.

    Or at least, thinking that way makes it a lot easier to navigate through life.

  • http://twitter.com/hoystory Matthew Hoy

    This is the lamest, most irrelevant criticism. J-school 101: when you’re doing this sort of article, you should do your best to present the best case possible against the charges being leveled against the individual. Whether the subject of the story will speak to you is irrelevant. It’s part and partial of that whole “unbiased” reporting concept they still teach. Can anyone read that Times article and find where Lichtblau attempted to present a defense or explanation for Issa’s sort-of alleged wrongdoing?

    Shameless self-promotion here: http://hoystory.com/?p=7252

    Issa wouldn’t talk to him for 3 weeks, so Lichtblau couldn’t do basic reporting, like the UT did when it contacted the county tax assessor to find out the purchase price of the building in question?

    If the NYT wants to abandon its facade of supposed neutrality in its news pages, that’s fine. In fact, it’s preferable.

    The original reporting was half-assed. Blaming Issa for any mistakes the reporter made because he didn’t save the reporter from himself is lame.

  • Anonymous

    uh, yes, i see now there were complaints. but aren’t there ALWAYS complaints?

  • Anonymous

    did anyone say the Times story had significant errors in it?

  • Anonymous

    we always make an extra effort to get responses from local people who are the subjects of major stories by national outlets, so holding the nyt story was not unusual for us. in this case, the response we got was that some basic facts were wrong. we have written about some of these same issues in the past, and the numbers we used do not all align with those in the nyt story, so that adds to my caution. there is no news hook here, and no reason to rush in a story where the facts are in dispute.
    the story may well be completely correct, but it is difficult to fact check because the source documents are not always identified. i’d like to see what the times ombud finds.
    – jeff light, editor

  • Anonymous

    Be sure to note the part where Issa turned down repeated requests over several weeks to respond to the allegations. He wisely knew that it would be better to take pot shots after the story came out so that a few problems with the story could be used to discredit the entire story, including the more numerous issues that are true.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know much yet about the NYT story, but you know the Caller is a Republican website, right?

  • jeffrey Prescott

    Push the politics to the side, folks….
    It would be highly unusual for the U-T to publish the Issa story, anyway.
    If they were going to do one on him, it would be by a staff writer.
    That being said….to publish a rebuttal, with no “original” to compare the facts to, is a bit suspect…..
    or just lame/shortsighted.

  • Anonymous

    Ricky he doesn’t read it and neither do I for that matter. But your paper has the right to print what it sees fit. Just because the NYT prints something doesn’t mean everyone else has to  shut up and fall in line. It is not as though the NYT has never been wrong. They do report with from a well established viewpoint.

    And since anyone with an Internet connection can read the Times if they want, what is the problem? Read the Times story and shut up.

  • http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/watchdog/ Ricky Young

    Do you read the U-T, or are you making assumptions based on your perception of our demographics? We do fairly substantial Watchdog journalism, including this piece on Issa’s company underpaying its tariffs. http://bit.ly/k6tZGL

  • Anonymous

    The story in question has been heavily criticized — and not just by Issa.

    http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/19/guilty-until-proven-innocent-issa-demands/

  • Anonymous

    FYI. CREW (Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) just published a column commenting on the Issa/NYTimes fight. http://www.citizensforethics.org/blog/entry/setting-the-record-straight

  • Anonymous

    Consider the geography and demographics of San Diego. The Union-Tribune doesn’t want to rile up its advertisers. Like Gannett and corporate broadcast/cable media, its ownership is more about business and infotainment, not actual journalism that might provide new insights and other than merely promoting conventional wisdom and currying political favor.