The San Jose Mercury News has become a victim of its own ideological homogeneity. The San Jose Mercury news was once a great bastion of journalism. Described in the 90′s as “a middle-of-the-road political cast slightly tilted to the Democratic side”, the paper more recently leans decidedly right. Throughout the 80′s, 90′s and early 2000′s, the paper reigned as one of the best in the country. It won two Pulitzers, first in 1986, again in 1995, and then it scored three Pulitzer finalists between 2001 and 2005. But the awards stop there, as the paper slid from balanced journalism to become the de facto Chuck Reed / Sam Liccardo political campaign vehicle. Reed took office in 2006, the year after the newspaper’s accolades ceased.
As evidence of the downhill spiral, the daily got scooped on the biggest San Jose story of recent times. A small local paper first broke the George Shirakawa scandal, a story which culminated in the influential county supervisor spending time in the slammer for gambling and corruption.
The Merc fell in love in with Mayor Chuck Reed, lost its way in a lovesick daze, and slowly but surely got sucked towards the Right Wing Democrats. The newspaper’s writers became close friends with one faction of the city government. Scott Herhold was observed advising Liccardo on how to run his mayoral campaign over a personal lunch. It all happened under the guise of being liberal, after all Santa Clara County leans democrat with a margin of 2:1. Between attrition and hiring, the Merc let any diverse opinion writers slip away until everyone had the same point of view. On the important local issues the journalists and editors speak with a unified voice: anti-union, pro-charter school, small government. The problem is that everyone at the Merc leans the same way. They are racially homogenous, ideologically identical. The lack of diversity is appalling, and let’s face it, boring.
The Merc has to change. The all white editorial board is a dinosaur. They need new blood, they need to add Spanish speaking Latinos and they need Asians. I hear the same story so often, “I let my subscription lapse, The Merc’s a joke these days.” Here’s an idea to bolster their falling subscriptions: get some diversity, let diverse columnists duel on important issues. Imagine a pro-charter and a pro-public school advocate hammering out the issues in parallel dueling columns.
Who was the Merc’s last Pulitzer prize nominee? Daniel Vasquez, a Latino. Earth to the all white editorial board – it’s no coincidence.
Brett Bymaster is an education advocate and community activist.
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