U-T San Diego's New TV Show Asks Political Reporter How He Voted

U-T San Diego’s new television show, UT-TV, debuted this morning.

And the first guest on the show was a timely one: the paper’s political reporter, Craig Gustafson, who was there to talk about the mayoral election. But the first question posed by host B.R. Smith was unusual, given the normal standards of newspaper objectivity.

"Craig, you’re our expert on this matter, on this subject, and so, I hope this doesn’t come across as me misspeaking, but, who are you voting for?" Smith asked.

Gustafson politely declined to answer the question.

"I have already voted but I’m not going to say who I voted for to be fair to each of the candidates," he said.

Then the show’s co-host, Scott Kaplan, weighed in with a reference to the paper’s endorsement of Carl DeMaio for mayor.

"Well that and the paper has already endorsed a candidate and if you didn’t vote for that candidate, it could be trouble city," Kaplan said. "You know what I’m saying?"

U-T San Diego has come under fire since it was bought by Doug Manchester and John Lynch. Critics suggest they will taint their paper’s news coverage with their editorial views.

The newspaper has run front-page editorials endorsing the owners’ plans for a Convention Center along the waterfront. Audio of the editorial board’s interview with mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher showed editor Jeff Light saying they wanted to defeat candidate Bob Filner.

Journalists in San Diego took to Twitter to comment on the new television show this morning.

Even Matt Hall, U-T San Diego's new columnist and former political reporter, weighed in.

The U-T owners have said they plan to expand their television show to a cable channel in the future.