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THE PEANUT GALLERYAguirre's Fully Focused Nightmare

By Seth Hettena


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Monday, Nov. 19, 2007 | For a sleepy public affairs show, Full Focus has generated more news and attention by being taken off the air than it ever did while it was on television. The nightly half-hour show was watched by less than 1 percent of the viewing audience when the management at KPBS, San Diego’s public broadcasting station, unceremoniously pulled the plug in August. But Full Focus has continued to haunt us ever since. Maybe it’s mad at us for watching Access Hollywood instead.

Full Focus may have only attracted 13,000 viewers a night, but they were an influential, civic-minded group, and some contributors were upset that the show had been so abruptly yanked off the air. The station’s general manager, Doug Myrland, didn’t help matters when he told contributors where they could stick it.

Seth Hettena

"Just because you give a contribution or pay taxes doesn’t give you the right to decide -- or even influence -- what goes on the air and what doesn’t," Myrland wrote on the station’s blog. "Listeners and viewers get to decide only if they want to watch or to listen."

The controversy attracted the attention of San Diego’s city attorney, Mike Aguirre, who had been a frequent guest on Full Focus. Aguirre’s investigation, however, managed to turn KPBS into the victim, a First Amendment martyr even. Instead of asking meaningful questions about how the station is run and what it is doing with contributors’ money, Aguirre set out on a foolish quest to uncover the sinister conspiracy that he -- and only he -- saw lurking in the halls of local public broadcasting.

The typical conspiracy theory involving public broadcasting stations like KPBS is that they are run by a bunch of Prius-driving, tofu-eating, perverted, godless liberal eco-weenies. Aguirre, however, believes that KPBS is being secretly run by the same Hummer-driving, backroom-dealing, cigar-smoking developers who hate forces for change in San Diego like the one the city attorney believes himself to be.

Aguirre fired off a series of requests for documents from KPBS. The city attorney wanted to know 1) why the station canceled the show; 2) how the show chose guests for its weekly "Editor’s Roundtable" program; and 3) the details of the relationship between KPBS and Copley Press, which owns The San Diego Union-Tribune.

KPBS meekly complied with Aguirre’s requests, turning over documents and e-mails about its internal programming decisions. Material relating to internal news-gathering decisions is usually protected by the First Amendment, but KPBS is owned by San Diego State University. That makes it a quasi-governmental organization subject to Aguirre’s requests under the California Public Records Act.

In October, before all the facts were in, Aguirre produced an 11-page report that reached the conclusion that Robert Kittle, the bow-tie wearing editor of the Union-Tribune’s editorial page, which frequently criticizes the city attorney, "appears to control 100 percent of the televised public affairs programming produced by KPBS."

Absurd is the word that comes to mind here, but even assuming it’s true, so what? If it wanted, couldn’t KPBS put Kittle on television all day? Why is it the city attorney’s business if Kittle reads Elmo his editorials in the morning, cooks with Martin Yan in the afternoon and goes on Rick Steves' travel show to complain about the French?

Last week, Aguirre called a press conference and, to his credit, announced he was reversing course and withdrawing the requests. In a show of candor, Aguirre conceded that it was not appropriate for an elected official to be the one making these requests, even though he was entitled to the information.

"I don’t want to do anything to in any way invade the province of the media, even though it might be warranted in this case," Aguirre proclaimed after weeks of investigation.

So what was this whole thing about? "What the whole issue is about is the role that the very conservative establishment newspaper plays in whether we have a fair public broadcasting system," Aguirre said. "The only real source of discussion of local issues on television has been ended."

What about the local CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates? "They don’t have the kind of discussion that Full Focus had."

How does this fall under your jurisdiction, exactly? "It falls within the jurisdiction of the City Attorney’s Office to protect the public. The public has a right to know what’s going with its local public television station because that station is raising money from the public. We have a consumer protection role to play."

Going in, I had thought that I would be troubled most of all by a city attorney who was willing to trample over the First Amendment to investigate the demise of his favorite local news show. But that wasn’t what bothered me most. Nor was it the silly and meaningless conspiracy Aguirre was after. No, what bothered me most was the second purpose of the news conference.

The second purpose of Aguirre’s press conference was to lambaste Alex Roth, a Union-Tribune reporter whose stories about the city attorney have become critical lately.

"As has been his previous practices, Mr. Alex Roth has engaged in unethical behavior in violation of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists," the city attorney said. "Mr. Roth did not seek truth and he did not report it." Interestingly, Roth, who is one of the paper’s best reporters, attended the news conference but Aguirre refused to acknowledge him or answer his questions.

What prompted this attack was Roth’s Nov. 15 story about the Full Focus investigation. What about the article was so terrible? Well, nothing actually. What Aguirre found unethical were the questions that the reporter had posed to one of the named sources whom he quoted (accurately, as I confirmed later). Although he won’t speak with Roth, Aguirre spent his day re-interviewing the reporter’s sources.

Aguirre even saw evidence of a conspiracy in the way Roth’s story was structured. The whole article, he said, had been "orchestrated" by KPBS, Roth and his editors. How did Aguirre know this? Somehow Roth had gotten hold of a letter Aguirre sent to KPBS. Isn’t it possible he asked for a copy?

"Just knowing how Alex operates and how his editor operates, it’s my belief that is not what happened," the city attorney said.

I'm at a loss here. Maybe the nefarious structure of the article will be clearer to me if I hold it up to a mirror to read it.

Despite all the fuss, not much has changed at KPBS. Full Focus remains off the air, and Kittle continues to appear on both television and radio on "Editor’s Roundtable." That speaks volumes. Aguirre can’t even intimidate the local public broadcasting station. I mean, if you, as an elected official, can’t bully a bunch of eco-weenies, what good are you?

Seth Hettena, a San Diego-based freelance journalist and author, writes an occasional column "The Peanut Gallery" about local media and journalism. You can e-mail him at seth@sethhettena.com with your complaints, thoughts or stories about San Diego reporters.




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Comments so far on this story:



1. The wheels wrote on November 18, 2007 7:50 PM:
"are off the wagon, and that wagon is Aguirre. How, exactly, do local Democrats put up with over 50% of their central committee voting to give this beclowned city attorney its early endorsement? Does party really trump everything with these folks? Are they so afraid that this nonpartisan office might end up in Republican hands that they won't take a chance on even another Democrat winning the seat? Care to answer anyone? And don't throw Casey Gwinn at me - he ruined the office and hurt the city because he was an single-minded demogogue, among other things, not because he was a Republican. Aguirre has been 100 times more destructive. Answer, Democrats."

2. Billy Bob Henry wrote on November 18, 2007 9:28 PM:
"The VoSD is starting to resemble the UT......with Mike hit pieces coming out almost daily......"

3. La Playa Heritage wrote on November 18, 2007 11:29 PM:
"Bring back Full Focus."

4. Simple Guy wrote on November 18, 2007 11:53 PM:
"I am shocked, and somewhat dismayed, to find myself having points of agreement with Mad Mike, our paranoid City Attorney. He is right that Full Focus was the only television program that had any substantive discussion of local issues, and it is a travesty that KPBS canceled it. And not only that, Mikey was right on supporting toilet-to-tap over the mayor's objections too! OMG! Am I actually an Aguirre supporter????? No, I just checked, pigs aren't flying in to Lindbergh Field, monkeys aren't flying out of my a**, and hell is still well above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. All is still right with the world, and Mike Aguirre is still the most embarrassing elected official since Duke Cunningham. But even the blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut!"

5. Ian Trowbridge wrote on November 19, 2007 12:24 AM:
"My problem with this piece is that the author proclaims Alex Roth to be one of the U/Ts best reporters. What criteria were used to make this assertion? My only recollection of stories written by Alex Roth are the negative spin he puts on everything Aguirre does. The City Attorney does make absurd mistakes such as the call for complete evacuation of the entire city during the recent wildfires but overall he has made important contributions uncovering incompetence and worse at city hall. I can think of many U/T reporters who do a better job than Alex Roth."

6. Mel wrote on November 19, 2007 8:05 AM:
"After reading your story, I can't tell if Aguirre's requests violated the First Amendment.But I don't blame him for being suspicious.First Focus cncellation was closely followed by cancellation of left leaning talk radio by KLSD. Why is Editors Roundtable televised by Cox when Kittle is on and not televised when Kittle is not on ? The Union Tribune is a big corporation.Cox is a big corporation. KLSD is owned by Clear Channel,another big corporation.Looks like they decide what San Diegans hear and read. How about that "right wing conspiracy" ?"

7. Norman wrote on November 19, 2007 8:36 AM:
"Since he soooo good at critical "investigative" writing, why doesn't Alex Roth write about our Mayor, "I am not an oaf". What has the mayor done or tried to do to get the taxpayers out of the pension mess. Where was the UT, Full Focus, Voice etc. when Casey Gwinn (who collects a bountiful pension from my city) was raping our city? HUH?"

8. Larry wrote on November 19, 2007 8:51 AM:
"It appears that slop has now spilled over to the peanut gallery. What a shame."

9. jad wrote on November 19, 2007 8:59 AM:
"Gosh BBH, it seems just about everyone is printing hit pieces about your pal on a daily basis now...I guess that the Vast Right, Middle, and Left Wing Conspiracy is growing, eh?"

10. Christopher Hall wrote on November 19, 2007 10:06 AM:
"Seth, you are trying to downplay the manner by which the local establishment operates, trying to dismiss the connections between the power brokers and their intentions to control political power, land use and their money. This article is less about Aguirre than it is about Alex Roth, Kittle, and their players in other big media, little ol' KPBS and their establishment appeasers. Now as we are coming into an election year, the media has to buttress it's credibility when it backs big-time establishment players, and this hack article is the opening salvo. I hope the voiceofsandiego.org doesn't play this lame game anymore than it has by printing this junk."

11. Omni-Potent wrote on November 19, 2007 10:26 AM:
"Aside from pompous rhetorical questions and random egotistical soliloquys, what's the point of this article? VoSD has jumped the shark on the Aguirre issue."

12. Jim wrote on November 19, 2007 10:39 AM:
"They aren't hit pieces if they are true. Mike Aguirre the Clown has to go."

13. Rock On wrote on November 19, 2007 11:51 AM:
"Can someone point out one thing Alex Roth was wrong on regarding Aguirre? Unlike you Aguirre supporters who have never spent any quality time with the man, those of us who actually have worked with him understand how Roth's articles only scratched the surface about the true Aguirre. BBH, if you really are an attorney, why don't you go work for your hero. The City Attorney's office is always looking for qualified lawyers, since they can't keep many for very long anymore. You can be at the "tip of the spear" as part of Mikey's Pension Strike Force Team. But I guarantee you'd be changing your tune in less than 6 weeks working over there. So all of you Aguirre supporters keep on drinking the Kool-Aid of conspiracies around every corner while our fine City sinks further into the abyss."

14. Francine Foraday wrote on November 19, 2007 12:08 PM:
"What a disappointing column. Since when is KPBS a "quasi-governmental organization?" It belongs to San Diego State University -- a public institution -- and it solicits funds from the public for its operation. But information about KPBS' operation remains sparse, though we know there are close ties between the station, the Union-Tribune and other conservative establishment figures in the city. We should know much more, and if Aguirre is now not the one to inquire, how about newcomer "media reporter" Seth Hettena or the U-T's hitman, Alex Roth, doing the legwork? Apparently that won't happen anytime soon. Re-read the remarks of BBH, Simple, Ian, Mel, Norman, Larry, and Christopher: people don't have to think alike to recognize piling-on."

15. Charles Foster Kane wrote on November 19, 2007 12:28 PM:
"Why does it matter if the UT gives money to KPBS? Because giving money equals clout, either to influence what goes on the air or what stays off the air, no matter what Myrland says. Even you at Voice ought to be able to figure that out; other media owners would agree to my assertion, at least in private. As for Full Focus and Editor's Roundtable, both programs had sufficient influence to help shape elections in SD and to promote a business-friendly and status quo enhancing message toward a voting bloc that doesn't read the UT. Copley covers her bets by throwing money at KPBS, which promotes itself as a First Amendment martyr. The reality is something far more underhanded, undermining Gloria Penner and all she touches. Get real, children; media is thought control, and the UT at least understands that. You should too."

16. Steve K wrote on November 19, 2007 1:07 PM:
"This strikes me as an unusual use of the First Amendment--protectin Mr. Myrland's right to not be questioned about eliminating a public interest show from a PBS station. I'm not saying he doesn't have the right, but is this really a First Amendment case? I do miss Ms. Penner's Full Focus segments."

17. Fuzzy Bunny wrote on November 19, 2007 3:09 PM:
"Full Focus was an excellent program - it will be sorely missed (especially not being able to see Amita Sharma and Rebecca Tolin)."

18. The Roaming Gnome wrote on November 19, 2007 4:03 PM:
"With this program gone, perhaps Mike should start his own show on one of the public access channels. I just wonder how much taxpayer money has been spent chsing these windmills by our local Don Quixote?"

19. LCb wrote on November 19, 2007 9:58 PM:
"If I had to choose between the UT buying influence, or our city atty forcing his influence via intimidation tactics, I choose the former."

20. Scott wrote on November 20, 2007 3:51 PM:
"Anyone who bothered the read the stories a couple of years ago in SD City Beat about KPBS and Bob Kittle would know that the U-T doesn't boss KPBS around at all. Kittle didn't like that KPBS' Editorial Roundtable included the editor of City Beat and strongly suggested KPBS bring in someone else. KPBS told Kittle, in a very nice way, to go take a hike. If Kittle couldn't get KPBS to make a simple choice in guests for one show, it's stupid to think the Kittle or the rest of the UT brass could get KPBS to discontinue an entire TV program. Fact is, few people watched Full Focus, whether it was good or not. The only ones to blame for it going off the air are the general public."

21. Norman wrote on November 22, 2007 10:16 AM:
"Isn't your article old news? I think the voice better ask David Copley for some donations so you can hire some more writers. Specifically ones that will address what our mayor is or isn't doing. Specifically the pension mess or doesn't the voice feel capable of tackeling such a story? Our city is in a financial mess and it wasn't Aguirre who got us there. According to Moody's, our city's credit rating are on "negative outlook/watch". Does the Voice think that our Mayor can reverse those credit ratings without confronting the pension benefit mess hanging over our City? Write on important stuff that are going to tax the people of this city for a long long time. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all!"

22. Billy Bob Henry wrote on November 22, 2007 10:51 PM:
"21. Norman wrote on November 22, 2007 11:16 AM: Does the Voice think that our Mayor can reverse those credit ratings without confronting the pension benefit mess hanging over our City?.........ARE you KIDDING me??? Sanders CAN’T and WON'T fix the pension scam. He has been in office almost a FULL TERM< and he hasn't done diddle squat. San Diego is going BANKRUPT- that is the fact of the matter. We have HUGE pension deficits, with tons more of these scam pensions coming online every year-and it is only going to get worse.... we should file BK NOW!!! Actually we should have filed it before the tobacco lawsuit funds were GIFTED away to city employees via their pension fund"

23. Hopeful wrote on November 22, 2007 10:51 PM:
"Norman/Pat Flannery...Why don't you just ask Sanders out on a date? Your obsession is alarming."

24. Laurie Macrae wrote on November 23, 2007 1:05 PM:
"I was one of 1/2% that faithfully watched Full Focus. I miss it. But I frequently found myself wondering if Mike Aguirre had a "special" relationship with Anitha Sharma as she seemed to interview him so frequently and adopted his terminology (i.e. "illegal benefits")to describe the war he waged against the unions. Mike Aguirre got a lot of good publicity from Full Focus. If, in the end, he got skewered, it was on his own petard, so to speak, because he so consistently misrepresented the facts and performed so poorly in every aspect of his job and in court."

25. myearth wrote on November 23, 2007 4:27 PM:
"If Voice went after all the worthless, corrupt politicians in San Diego, I could stomach all the invective about Aguirre. But you don't. What's up with that? As for KPBS, I don't know who influences it, but I suspect it's the local politican machine. I've given to public radio all of my adult life, but I won't give a dime to them. There are some real bad boys out there. Go after them. Aguirre may be misguided, but I don't think he is corrupt."

26. BBH, learn to count wrote on November 24, 2007 6:10 PM:
"Sanders has not been in office nearly a full term. It's just over half of a full term. What, are you 19 years old, one of the instant gratification, have it now generation? This financial disaster is not amenable to quick fixes. Even your beloved bankruptcy would take years to get out of. So quit your mindless belly aching and have some more kool aid."

27. Billy Bob Henry wrote on November 24, 2007 8:10 PM:
"24. Laurie Macrae wrote on November 23, 2007 2:05 PM: I frequently found myself wondering if Mike Aguirre had a "special" relationship with Anitha Sharma as she seemed to interview him so frequently and adopted his terminology (i.e. "illegal benefits")to describe the war he waged against the unions... ...... They ARE ILLEGAL BENEFITS, to everyone but the welfare queens sucking the life out of this City thru the pension scam ........"

28. myearth wrote on November 26, 2007 10:38 AM:
"I think people were expecting more from Sanders because he came in as a "strong mayor." Perhaps you could tell us what he has accomplished in two years. And of course people are going to be frustrated when they read that the retirement pay of over 100 city employees in $140K up."


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