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Buying the news Reuters news service reports that several television stations — including San Francisco's KRON, channel 4 — have started accepting cash for product placement on their news programs, a major journalistic taboo. For example, the recent KRON 4 Morning News segment "Australia Week" was paid for by Tourism Australia. Bay Area residents turned out in force to protest the Iraq War on the third anniversary of the US invasion. Tens of thousands marched on March 18 (including "Joe America," above, in San Francisco), while on March 20 students demonstrated on local campuses, and protesters against torture and other US human rights abuses targeted Sen. Dianne Feinstein's SF office and blocked the intersection of Montgomery and Market Streets until their arrests. Events continue March 23 in Berkeley with a forum on whether President Bush is guilty of war crimes.
Snuffing fires Driven by complaints from neighbors, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area has quietly been taking steps to ban bonfires on Ocean Beach. In February the GGNRA held a poorly attended public meeting to discuss solutions, which included installing permanent fire rings, implementing a beach curfew, and requiring permits. But each of these would involve more money and personnel, which the agency says it doesn't have. Before Supt. Brian O'Neil makes the final decision in May, the agency is taking public comments. "We want to give people time to weigh in and let us know," project manager Rudy Evenson told us. The comment period ends April 15. To comment, call (415) 561-4723 or e-mail rudy_evenson@nps.gov. (Hunter Jackson) Unlikely ally The union representing workers at the San Jose Mercury News is teaming with investor Ron Burkle to try to buy the paper (along with the Contra Costa Times and the Monterey County Herald). News coverage paints Burkle as a savior who may keep the former Knight-Ridder papers from being sold to some uncaring corporation that would destroy their tradition of high-quality journalism. Yet it's worth noting that the Los Angeles billionaire is fighting bitterly with the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press to keep key records in his divorce case secret. In particular, he noted in one filing, records that purport to show a rather lavish lifestyle "could be very damaging" to his work with labor unions. And in 2005 he had his employees buy up stacks of copies of an issue of the Los Angeles Business Journal that reported on the divorce. The idea, he admitted, was to keep anyone from reading the story, allegedly to protect his child. (Tim Redmond) Pretty victim Without a doubt the death of Ashlyn Dyer, the 27-year-old run down and killed while jogging in the Presidio, is terrible. (The unknown driver responsible for hitting Dyer March 2 remains at large.) But at the risk of sounding cynical, we've got to wonder just a little bit about the media hysterics and überaggressive official reaction to the crime. Mayor Gavin Newsom promised a $10,000 reward, and the US Park Police have pledged another $10,000. And the press has gone batshit about the story, particularly the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran at least seven articles, including a big front-page splash with four photos and a map that ran March 14. Our insensitive question: Would the press and the mayor care so much about catching Dyer's killer if she wasn't blond, young, and beautiful? During the past two years, nearly 200 folks (most of them African American males) have been murdered within the city limits, making this the ugliest epoch in recent history — and damn few of those slayings have received the sort of attention this one has. (A.C. Thompson) Pending trial The Guardian's antitrust lawsuit against the owner of the SF Weekly is moving closer to trial. At a case management conference March 16, Judge Richard Kramer told lawyers for both parties to start preparing for the case to go before a jury. The Guardian is charging that the Weekly and the East Bay Express have engaged in predatory pricing, selling ads below cost in an effort to drive a locally owned competitor out of business. In the first sign that he's preparing to set a trial date relatively soon, Kramer asked attorneys to consider which parts of the case should go before a jury and which could be settled earlier, perhaps with a minitrial before the judge. (Redmond)
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