The San Diego Union Tribune has been around for a long time. A very long time.
150 years is a long time but that’s how long ago it was when the first edition of the newspaper began in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War.
Obviously, the city of San Diego was very different back then. But when it began as a newspaper that many decades ago, it began as a newspaper with a mission.
According to current Editorial Director of the Union Tribune Matt Hall these are the words used then to describe it: “a faithful chronicler of today and a future reliable historian.”
Now today 150 years later, the Union Tribune officially has a new owner.
And on Monday, the first day that L-A bio-tech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong was officially in charge of the Union Tribune and L-A Times, his message to readers sounded much like that original message to the newspaper’s readers in San Diego 150 years ago, saying they are dedicated to “truth, integrity, journalistic independence, and storytelling that engages, informs, educates and inspires with care and compassion. “
In today’s angry and politically-charged social media driven world of information in which we live….when even the meaning of such words as facts and truth are being debated, those are encouraging words from the new owner of two major American newspapers.
Especially at a time when trust in the news media and in almost every other institution in America is being questioned.