Since day one, it has been abundantly clear that the San Diego Union-Tribune hasn’t been putting forth any effort to provide unbiased coverage of the 2020 election cycle. Though they’ve made some amends to the candidates they’ve excluded, it’s not enough—they’re still coyly slipping bias into their articles, stripping certain candidates of their well-deserved fair treatment.
Alex Galicia, the Republican Party of San Diego County’s endorsed candidate for the District 1 slot on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, hasn’t received any U-T coverage—until now. The Union-Tribune finally decided to acknowledge more than four of the eight candidates running for the seat, but their coverage of those who didn’t fit their narrative was lackluster, to say the least.
The cover photo of the most recent article on the race only included the four candidates that the U-T had interviewed previously. In the caption, all four were mentioned by name as “the candidates running for San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1.” One of those four, Sophia Rodriguez, hasn’t even met the criteria that the U-T implied they were using to determine candidate coverage.
The author of the piece, Gustavo Solis, acknowledged that Sophia Rodriguez was one of the five candidates who hasn’t raised $10,000, yet still elected to give her a primetime slot. An interview, cover photo, and extended coverage is an awful lot for an “unserious candidate,” if one uses the arbitrary standard of seriousness forwarded by the Union-Tribune. When confronted by the obvious bias implicit in all of this, Solis seethed:
Don't call me a biased journalist. The article mentions that a Democrat and independent candidate also raised less than $10K. I didn't single Galicia out in a negative way. Maybe a better question to ask is why hasn't the party done more to support its official candidate?
— Gustavo Solis (@JournoGoose) February 20, 2020
While it’s true that Alex Galicia is quoted briefly in the article, Solis conveniently withholds the fact that one must read 31 paragraphs into the story to actually learn anything about him. But Solis is a Serious Journalist™ writing seriously about serious topics that must be taken very seriously. Or perhaps he’s just a hack who refuses to acknowledge his obvious bias and becomes irate when questioned about it.
When looking at this in the context of the cover photo, caption, and fundraising “threshold,” it’s clear that this is poor, biased reporting. While this has become commonplace over at the Union-Tribune, it doesn’t excuse the implications it could have on the election.
While the U-T doesn’t want to give any coverage to Galicia, you can learn more about him at AlexForSanDiego.com and connect with him on Facebook.
