VoiceofSanDiego.org Doug Manchester, the hotel owner who bought the San Diego Union-Tribune last month, tells KUSI one reason for the purchase: "Local newspapers need to be a cheerleader for what's right and good for the country, such as promoting the new stadium or whatever," Manchester told KUSI, according to VoiceofSanDiego's Rob Davis. "I felt that there's been a lack of that here in San Diego. And so that's one of the motivations." Davis notes that newspaper CEO John Lynch also mentioned the football stadium in an interview he did right after the paper was sold, although he said in another interview that the new ownership wouldn't try to dictate news coverage.

New overnight:

• New San Diego Union-Tribune boss former radio exec John Lynch is committed to print for at least a decade. His editorial mission, in part, is "to be a cheerleader for all that's good about San Diego," Lynch tells the paper. "It's news information, but it's also show biz. ... You get people to tune in and read your site or the paper when there's an 'Oh wow' in the paper." (Voice of San Diego)
• A New York Times editorial supports C-SPAN's call for cameras in the Supreme Court during its hearings on the health care law. (The New York Times)
• ABC's Christiane Amanpour accepted the 2011 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism at Arizona State University on Thursday. Speaking with students just before the ceremony, she said, “I feel like I’m a warrior for international news in the U.S." (ASU)

In case you missed it:

• Twitter is monetizing the Occupy Wall Street movement better than news organizations, says Michael Comeau. For example, "at that top of each [#OWS] stream is @Verigreedy a.k.a Stop Verizon Greed, a promoted Twitter account for the Communications Workers of American Union, which is engaged in a public battle with telecommunications giant Verizon (VZ) over worker wages and benefits." (Minyanville)
• A Florida county commissioner uses an alias to comment in online news forums. "Using an assumed name removes the risk that comments are dismissed for partisan reasons," Norm Roche tells Poynter's St. Petersburg Times. (Sound familiar?)

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."