There is a lot of talk about the news business these days, and a lot of talk about the people in the news business.
In San Diego in recent months, there has been a lot of talk about the people who are the owners in the news business.
Specifically the new owner of the San Diego Union Tribune. He is Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, whose purchase of the Union Tribune and the Los Angeles Times is expected to become official by the end of this month.
Questions and concerns have been raised in San Diego about this new owner what it could mean to local news coverage in San Diego.
Will this bio-tech billionaire be good for the news business and good for news consumers at a time when newspapers are struggling across the country. And will this Los Angles based owner give little attention to his San Diego newspaper and most of it to the L-A Times and possibly even merge the two papers into one with most of the focus on l-A?
Based on an interview with John Wilkins in the Union Tribune this past weekend that would seem to be unlikely.
In the interview, Dr. Soon-Shiong says : ”San Diego is an important city… “a community in its own right with its own vibe and feel…so this is not an L.A.-driven San Diego paper, if that’s the concern. It cannot be because that would defeat the purpose.”
For those of us in San Diego, those are encouraging words. A local community needs more local news sources, not fewer. Especially at a time when stories about fake news have become the big news about the news.