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In Appreciation of Mike Aguirre, Our Biggest Critic

Whether you love him or hate him, San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre is good at grabbing headlines by grabbing issues of public concern.

This week, he issued a report entitled, " KPBS Abrogated its Duty to Maintain Objectivity and Balance in its Local Public Affairs Programming by Cancelling the Full Focus Program (PDF) ." I want to be among the first to thank him.

Oh, I don't think he makes a very good case against the station. Even his bold display of KPBS' internal emails fails to substantiate anything approaching an abrogation of balance and objectivity. In fact, I'm afraid Mr. Aguirre may have embarrassed himself and his office for pressing what appears to be a personal vendetta against an editor for the Union-Tribune who frequents our air.

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For readers who don't have the time to digest Mr. Aguirre's report, you should know he establishes several facts: that KPBS operates as a public service with funding from various sources, that KPBS is obliged to an ethical code defined by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and (among others) the Public Broadcasting Service , and that KPBS cancelled its daily television public affairs program in August. &

Where Mr. Aguirre departs from the facts is in his assertion that the cancellation amounts to a violation of ethics. Taking Full Focus off the air was certainly a loss for our community -- because he's right when he says it was one of the few sources of balanced, in-depth civic discourse on San Diego television. But it was removed for failing to draw viewers, which amounts to a responsible programming decision, not a dereliction of duty.

But what is even further afield in his report, departing from its very premise, is his concern with a Friday morning radio program, Editors Roundtable .

By switching the topic to KPBS Radio (89.5 FM), Mr. Aguirre completely ignores the significant investment KPBS has made there in its local news, public affairs and news analysis. Editors Roundtable is but one hour among the more than 15 hours a week that we produce to help our region better know itself.

And if the bottom line in his report is to suggest that U-T editorial page editor Bob Kittle is some kind of controlling force in KPBS programming, that's just plain silly. Mr. Kittle certainly informs the producers about what topics he can speak about (the two times per month he appears). And if Mr. Aguirre is upset that Cox Channel Four only seems to cablecast those episodes featuring Kittle (and Tim McClain and John Warren), well then he should take that up with Cox. But Mr. Kittle appears as a guest of KPBS and does so with all due respect for being invited.

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But back to my premise. I want to thank Mr. Aguirre for his time and attention to the matter. It's a legitimate concern that San Diego be covered with depth and objectivity. And it's a righteous position to take -- insisting that a single newspaper editor not dominate the civic agenda of a community. And, frankly, until this, how much time has the average San Diegan spent pondering the ethics and standards of its local media?

Mr. Mike Aguirre deserves our thanks for caring about San Diego... and about the editorial health of KPBS .

Sincerely: Thank you, sir.

We'd have a better city if more people cared as much as you.

-- Michael Marcotte is the news director for KPBS. Please read our guidelines before posting comments.

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See also: Michael Aguirre spoke on These Days about this issue (he appears 28min into the program) .

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