After nearly three weeks without a blog post (I swear I was on vacation for some of that time), this is my second of the day. Watch out.
A couple of tidbits:
Today is the first anniversary of a fun day around VOSD headquarters: Last year on this day The New York Times ran a front-page story about us and the movement of local nonprofit news outfits. The story changed things for us. For one, we reached a whole new audience here in San Diego that didn't know about us. And since then my buddy Scott Lewis and I have been fortunate enough to be invited to great discussions around the country to talk about what we do, learn from the smartest people around, and help others create similar organizations.
We here at VOSD are having the time of our lives trying to build an organization that does meaningful stories and engages San Diegans in important conversations. Thanks for making it all possible with your readership and your support.
I'm putting together an institutional plan right now for how we cover wildfires in the future. We're proud of our coverage of the 2007 fires but, as a young organization, we were in large part just flying by the seat of our pants to be honest.
I'd like to get your help: I'm interested in hearing if there's anything that a news organization should provide that wasn't available during the last two wildfires, or stories you would've liked to see get done.
We leave the constant reports of road and school closures and public announcements to those who can do that the best. What we are going to focus on is going out to find the best human and nature stories we can and hold public officials accountable by fact-checking their statements and keeping tabs on their actions.
What else would you like to see get done? Thanks.
Lastly, we're not the only ones with a long, drawn-out football stadium search. And we don't have the only team that's speculated to covet Los Angeles. Things are erupting in the Twin Cities, too.
While two whistleblower complaints at San Onofre nuclear plant made big newslocally today, the plant has been dogged by numerous safety issues in the past, as our in-depth piece from former Los Angeles Times energy reporter Elizabeth Douglass found earlier this year.
From her story:
Mistakes and management problems continue to mount at the San Onofre nuclear plant, despite an unprecedented executive shake-up and a year-long effort to convince federal regulators and an industry ratings group that things are improving.
... Still, internal reports and Nuclear Regulatory Commission assessments indicate that the plant's shortcomings include a degraded safety culture; falling behind on preventive maintenance; allowing equipment to become less reliable; not finding, analyzing and fixing problems adequately; not providing employees with sufficient training and written procedures to prevent mistakes; and lagging well behind its peers in worker safety.
Those problems have led to falsified fire watch records and caused such problems as a loose battery connection on a safety system to go undiscovered for years.
The news today only added to that. From the North County Times:
Two career San Onofre employees have charged that top managers at the nuclear power plant retaliated against them after they reported a willful violation of federal regulations by a plant welder who helped make steel containers that hold highly-radioactive spent uranium fuel.
We have the honor of hosting Shain Abbasov, a 34-year-old journalist from Azerbaijan, for two weeks. He's in process of opening a nonprofit, online only news organization in his home country called Hayatimiz.org -- or "Our Life" -- and is learning how we operate as part of a program of the International Center for Journalists.
He sent me along some observations yesterday that impacted me, and I asked if I could share them with you. He kindly obliged:
It is 2 pm and I am sitting in the very center of the newsroom of small voiceofsandiego.org, an online publication that is located in a cozy neighborhood that once served as military base in California. The small team of young journalists is working in this newsroom -- almost all of them are from different parts of America, some arrived here just a few months ago.
Despite my 15 years experience in journalism in Azerbaijan, this trip has already taught me much. First, the voiceofsandiego.org is a completely new experience. The team of eleven journalists produces stories and features every day that are interesting to read even to me, someone who is not particularly interested in San Diego’s politics and local problems. The folks are efficiently using new technologies -- Twitter, blogging -- another brand new experience for me. Here I had to accept how strongly Azerbaijan’s journalism is lagging behind American journalism and how much new technologies local media are using in its work.
Yesterday I shadowed Liam Dillon, who covers local politics and government for the voiceofsandiego.org. We spent more than seven hours together, first at the Mayor Jerry Sanders press briefing and then following debates in City Council on local important issues -- construction of the new central library and managed competition act.
While Liam asked questions, drafted story at his laptop and tweeted online, I have gotten chance to receive firsthand experience on how US democracy functions these days.
It is not my first time in the U.S. I spent six months in Washington, D.C. back in 2003-2004, however in San Diego I could witness literally democratic mechanisms and traditions at a local level. Here are some things that fascinated me a lot -- the transparency level of city authorities; the level of participation of ordinary residents in decision-making on local issues; openness of the City Council's meetings when anyone could attend and express his/her opinion. It is interesting to be a reporter here -- you never know how the City Council members would vote on an issue in advance. Needless to say that the practice in my country -- Azerbaijan -- is completely different.
And finally my impressions would not be full without a few words about San Diego as a city. So far I have not had many chances to see the city. But what I have already seen is nice -- the city is beautiful and could remind someone Tel Aviv or Barcelona. I still have ten days to explore the city, its media and traditions ...
The latest edition of VOSD Radio is up on the right-hand side of this blog to steam or podcast. Scott Lewis and I give you the rundown on the gripping story of the Miracle Man, the latest on City Hall's dubious claims on water, and a possible flip-flop on the mayor's plan for outsourcing.
The show also airs on AM 600 KOGO at noon on Sundays.
Since we began doing the weekly Q&A years ago, we've often struggled with how to make what is often a long and complex discussion in person a readable one on the page.
Our Q&As were basically transcriptions of conversations between our reporters and the subjects. That, admittedly, made them hard to slog through sometimes.
So, we're trying something new. Beginning last week, we began treating them more like we do an article than a transcription. (I wrote this last week but was in Alaska for a conference and didn't get a chance to publish it until now.)
Just like in a news article, our reporters will select the most important and fair answers and present them in a compelling and engaging way. The format will look the same with the bolded questions and the answers following them.
However, the answers likely will be shorter. Some questions and answers might be skipped or rearranged to provide a logical flow to the conversation. This will be especially helpful in instances when our reporters have to return with follow-up questions or when conversations get off track.
We don't take the task lightly and understand how important it will be for us to be fair, honest and complete when editing the conversations. Please contact me if you ever have any thoughts or complaints about the new format or any other aspect of our content at andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org.
Also, we're going to start soliciting questions from the readers/users of the site before we go into the Q&As, so be on the lookout each week to see who we are interviewing and if you have anything you'd like to ask them.
Vicente Calderon, the editor of TijuanaPress.com, joined me on this week's edition of VOSD Radio. We talked about the latest from Tijuana, including improvements being made to the city's water infrastructure, the recent killing of police officers, and the overall safety picture.
The show's available to play or podcast on the right-hand side of this blog. VOSD Radio also airs every Sunday at noon on AM 600 KOGO.
The latest episode of VOSD Radio is up on the right-side of this blog for streaming audio or podcasting.
Scott Lewis and I broke down the mayor's big speech and gave a special combined Hero/Goat of the Week. With the city facing a key turning point, we note that the mayor has a tremendous opportunity to either be a hero or goat.
Sam Farmer has a pretty good gig. He's the NFL writer for the Los Angeles Times. And there's no team in Los Angeles. So rather than doing locker room quotes and press conferences all week, he pretty much writes about whatever he wants.
Today he has this must-read Q&A for anyone interested in the Chargers' push for a new stadium. The topic: An update on efforts to bring a pro team to L.A.
A highlight:
What's the big question for an owner considering such a relocation?
It boils down to this: Is the cost of privately financing an $800-million stadium, giving up a piece of your team and possibly paying a large relocation fee better than what you have now?
That's the leap of faith someone will have to make.
Which teams are most likely to relocate?
San Diego is the front-runner because the Chargers have a window each year to get out of their Qualcomm Stadium lease without the threat of a lawsuit. They also want a new stadium and haven't been able to get one done there.
Jacksonville can't get out as easily, but the Jaguars are in a dire situation. Even when they tarp thousands of seats, they can't sell out their games. Others who potentially could relocate down the road are Minnesota, St. Louis, Buffalo and Oakland.
For a local perspective of where this thing is headed, check out Liam Dillon's update on thevarious stadium options for the Chargers.
An Editor's Note to keep you up to date on what's happening here:
There's a new nonprofit online investigative outlet launching in Orange County and it's got a familiar name: Voice of OC.
So are we expanding? No, but the concept is.
Voice of OC is completely independent of us and has a different board, staff, mission statement, etc. But it is being modeled after voiceofsandiego.org and the name is a tribute to that.
It's being spearheaded by Norberto Santana Jr., a former reporter at the Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune, who's a friend of mine and a respected colleague. Scott Lewis and I provided him with advice along the way and shared with him our countless learning experiences in our nearly five years of voiceofsandiego.org.
We believe strongly that the nonprofit model will be an important pillar of in-depth and public-service journalism. The media companies we've come to rely on in for communities across the country are experiencing very well-documented financial turmoil and have had to cut back. As they've done that, people in those communities have come to realize that if they want to see a competitive, thriving media market and want to ensure that civic-minded reporting flourishes, they'll need to fund it the same way they fund so many other public services in their community -- through a variety of sources that include philanthropy.
That means some things are being done differently than they used to. The Center for Investigative Reporting just launched California Watch with foundation money, and distributed their first series last week to publications all over the state, including us. Santana's seed money comes from a labor union, but he says he and his board are working hard to diversify it before they launch later this year.
There are amazing experiments and innovations happening all throughout this country right now as the media world evolves rapidly. Start-ups and legacy media organizations are working hard to keep up, and some are succeeding and some aren't. It's a fascinating time to be doing this.
We wish Santana and Voice of OC the best of luck.
Want to take part in a cool new way of helping us report?
We're working with The Extraordinaries to get you more directly involved in the reporting process.
Through both an iPhone app and a widget on its website, you can identify water wasters throughout San Diego, take a picture of them, and report the water waste directly to us with the location included.
It's got some kinks to be worked out (right now the app says Mayor Jerry Brown instead of Sanders and we want you to report all water wasters, not just government) but it has the potential to play a great role in connection residents and reporters for the good of the community.
The company itself is fascinating. Check out their about us page to read more about what they're doing.
Finally, the latest edition of VOSD Radio is up. Lewis and I offer some banter and background on the latest in the Chargers stadium push, as well as the Hero and Goat of the Week. You can podcast it or stream it from the player in the right-hand column of this blog.
In what was billed as a major speech, Mayor Jerry Sanders today stressed the need to continue to push ahead with a bevy of major projects despite the city's ongoing financial troubles.
"We cannot allow our judgment to be clouded by the defeatists who think the only response to a weak economy is to abandon our aspirations," he told the lunchtime assembly organized by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.
He pointed out that the city was forced to cut $175 million through three rounds of cuts in the last 12 months and suggested that his streamlining efforts, the long-delayed privatization measure and the reevaluation of outside contracts could help protect the city's finances.
The mayor offered no new overall financial plan or a larger vision about how the city would deal with the collision of the general economic climate and its own structural budget imbalance.
With plans in the works to build a new City Hall, downtown library, and expanded Convention Center, the mayor used the speech to throw his full force behind the projects and take on those who have urged the city to focus on solving the day-to-day financial issues that have dogged it for years.
I'm fully aware that, in times of economic upheaval, some people want government to stop in its tracks.
They think progress was all right for previous generations, but it’s taken us about as far as it can.
This kind of thinking is nothing new in San Diego.
Virtually every major project in the city has encountered opposition from groups who have no faith in tomorrow, who view all progress with suspicion, who don’t believe we deserve to be a great city.
If these people had their way, we’d still be riding ferries to Coronado.
There wouldn’t be a Mission Bay, or a trolley system, or a vibrant downtown with homes, shops and restaurants.
We might not even have clean water piped into our homes.
Sanders promised the city would pay its full pension bill, however failed to acknowledge the efforts within his own administration to get the pension board to lower the size of that bill by changing its accounting.
The speech came 11 months after his last major financial speech, which was an emergency address delivered to the Taxpayers Association last October.
This week's edition of VOSD Radio is up and kicking in the right-hand side of this blog, so stream it or podcast it or just celebrate it. Scott Lewis and I analyze the latest news in the housing market and the many factors at work in the local economy right now, and we break down the revelation of a 70-person committee convened to help Mayor Jerry Sanders plot out his remaining time in office.
And we offer up the latest Hero and Goat of the Week.
A Staggering Swindle, a comprehensive and riveting mortgage-scam investigation by voiceofsandiego.org, has been chosen as a finalist in the investigative reporting category of the 2009 Online News Association awards.
"We were regularly awed, inspired and delighted by the quality and innovation evident online today," said Anthony Moor, co-chairman of the awards committee and deputy managing editor of The Dallas Morning News, in a press release.
Part One focused on how Bay Area-man Jim McConville used rented identities to buy 81 San Diego-area condos and pull more than $12.5 million from the deals, leaving a trail of ruined credit and mass foreclosure in his wake. Part Two showed how the real estate financing system remained vulnerable to greed and deception despite the well-publicized efforts to clamp down on the easy-money excesses of the housing boom.
The other finalists in the Investigative Reporting, Small Site category are:
The Chauncey Bailey Project, a consortium of media outlets -- led by the Center for Investigative Reporting -- that sought answers to the killing of Bay Area-journalist Chauncey Bailey.
The winners will be announced Oct. 3 at ONA's annual conference.
So go there and comment away. (Many of their posts still appear in the This Just In news blog, but that doesn't have comments.) Remember, comments containing name-calling, unsubstantiated allegations or personal attacks aren't allowed.
That just leaves one reporter who doesn't have comments on his blog: Rob Davis. Send him an e-mail if you'd like to see him enable comments: rob.davis@voiceofsandiego.org.
The latest edition of VOSD Radio is up on the right-hand side of the blog for podcasting or streaming. We put it up a bit late this week -- my apologies, it was a busy one this week.
This week, we dive into how Superintendent Terry Grier's pending departure has touched such a nerve in San Diego, and award our Hero and Goat of the Week.
The latest edition of VOSD Radio is live up on the right hand side of this blog, where you can stream it or podcast it.
This week, Scott Lewis and I pick up on his blog trail and wonder if a Convention Center expansion is the best use for the city's next $750 million. Also, we delve into a recent story showing that people with medical-emergencies didn't know about SDG&E's shut-off plan. And, of course, we deliver the Hero and Goat of the Week.
Why did you decide to cover that? How did you get the idea to investigate this? Why do you still edit every reporter's story with a red pen and a clipboard?
Get the answers to all of your roiling questions about what goes on inside voiceofsandiego.org at The Clipboard -- alongside the analysis, insights and updates on the most pressing local news -- from editor and (still sometime) reporter Andrew Donohue.
Listen to voiceofsandiego.org's radio program on AM 600 KOGO: Latest Episode (November 8): Scott Lewis and Michael Zucchet talk about the city's budget
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Why did you decide to cover that? How did you get the idea to investigate this? Why do you still edit every reporter's story with a red pen and a clipboard? 
