S1: Welcome to KPBS roundtable. I'm Scott Rodd. San Diego County is rolling out the state's expanded conservatorship law. That means adults with severe addiction can be involuntarily detained or ordered into treatment.
S2: The concern has been that there are , you know , increasing challenges in our communities that are often very visible to the community of people suffering with mental health and addiction challenges on the street.
S1: Then we hear what the new year could mean for the future of housing , production and transportation in the region. Plus , on the roundup , we look at recent media trends heading into the new year. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. A state law passed in 2023 made significant changes to California's conservatorship system , the first change of its kind in more than half a century. Under the new law , Senate Bill 43 adults with severe addiction can be involuntarily detained or ordered into treatment. Governor Gavin Newsom argued expanding conservatorship would be a key tool for addressing the state's homelessness and drug addiction problems. But counties around the state expressed concern about meeting the increased demand for services. San Diego County delayed implementing the new law until this year , but the lack of treatment beds and facilities remain a concern for many. Here to talk about all of this is Lisa Halberstadt , senior investigative reporter at the Voice of San Diego. Lisa , welcome to roundtable.
S2: Thanks for having me , Scott.
S1:
S2: So a police officer , um , pick somebody up who is seen as a danger to themselves or others or is gravely disabled. Um , and it starts out on what's often called a 5150 hold for up to 72 hours. The concern has been that there are , you know , increasing challenges , um , in our communities that are often very visible to the community of people suffering with mental health and addiction challenges on the street and feeling that , you know , there's not enough urgent action to try to address this crisis. Um , and so proponents of SB 43 have thought that there needed to be an expanded definition , um , of who was eligible for a conservatorship to treat the people who have been left behind. And so what Xb43 does is it expands eligibility for Conservatorships , or often even just those initial 72 hour holds for people who have severe substance use disorders. Previously , this had just applied to people who had mental health conditions. So now , um , police officers initially typically do these , uh , they'll be able to pick up people who also have , uh , substance use disorders , perhaps in addition to a mental health condition. Um , what this new law also did is it expanded the definition of gravely disabled to include if a person's , uh , mental health or substance use condition is impacting their ability to keep themselves safe or to get necessary medical care.
S1: In recent years , before the passage of Senate Bill 43 , has demand for substance abuse treatment increased in San Diego County.
S2: So , as I'm sure many of your listeners are aware , we have had an opioid crisis that has been impacting San Diego County and communities across the nation , and that has absolutely increased demand for both outpatient and residential treatment programs.
S1:
S2: Um , but there's been more of a struggle when it comes to residential treatment. Um , what I've been hearing for the past few years now is people are often waiting weeks to get , um , a bed in a residential treatment facility or a detox facility. And this has been extremely hard for the providers that are providing these services as well , because people are calling day after day , sometimes to try to get a bed and it's not available. And often folks , you know , maybe one day they will really be interested , maybe after , um , you know , some sort of situation that comes up , they decide they really want to try to access treatment. And what what we're finding in this system the past few years is that treatment is not available on demand. Um , so and this has been an issue that's been coming up a lot in discussions about SB 43 two that right now the treatment capacity isn't there to serve people who are voluntarily trying to seek , uh , treatment. So there's a real concern about if there's anything that will further increase demand , what that means for the system and for the people who want and need treatment. Right.
S1: Right. And that was my next question. Coming back to Senate Bill 43 , this new conservatorship law , as it's rolled out in San Diego County. How might that strain these already overburdened treatment facilities.
S2: So I think that you just might have more people getting in line in some capacity for the same programs. But I think it's important to talk about the concern that came up initially with this new law was really about , um , people being brought to local hospitals on holds , um , you know , just flooding into local ers. And typically what the prediction was is that especially for those folks that were coming in with a substance use disorder within , um , a day or less even , they would be sobering up. They may no longer be eligible for a hold. And then the question would be , how do you connect that person to some sort of treatment , especially if it's determined that they qualify for residential treatment or they want residential treatment , because that's just not available on demand right now. There is also a real concern and continues to be a concern about people who have health issues that might not make them good fits for existing programs. Um , or , you know , even just more broadly , uh , various mental health programs. People that we're talking about , people that might have even very common health issues like mobility challenges or incontinence , um , or people who have more serious health issues. There's been a question of , could these people , um , end up spending more time waiting in a hospital and making it so others who may be waiting for treatment for other health issues aren't able to as quickly access a bed in the E.R. or an inpatient , um , behavioral health bed. Uh , so there's a lot of concern about how this bill would affect. Rather law now would affect multiple levels of care. Um , and whether the system could respond to treat people who often are especially uh , complex and , and have special needs that historically , you know , hasn't been able to haven't been able to access care in the community.
S1:
S2: The county has also been updating contracts with hospitals to ensure that they can treat people with substance use disorders , because both of those levels of care hadn't really been designed to get proper reimbursement for people with substance use disorders. Um , and then the county has also gotten a contract with at least one local hospital to have folks be treated who may be placed on longer term holds and need hospital care. Uh , the county's also talking about a lot of other possibilities. For example , they are looking to add what they call recuperative care beds in the new year that typically have been places where homeless patients can go to recover after they've been treated , and in the hospital who don't really have a safe place to recover after the county's behavioral health director has said that these programs could really be a good transitioning resource for people who may , after a little extra recovery time , be able to succeed in other programs.
S1: You know , the county Board of Supervisors decided to delay implementing the new law until this year. You know , as I mentioned at the top , it was passed in 2023 , but the Board of Supervisors decided to push it off for a year , which was allowed under the law. It does occur to me , though , that , you know , this planning , was this happening in 2024. It seems like over the past year was the time to get the planning done , and now would be the time to have all that stuff set in place as anyone raised issue or questions with that.
S3: So with the county's behavioral health.
S2: Director would say , is there was actually a lot that happened over the past year. Uh , the county , uh , through contract with Jewish Family Service , uh provided a series of trainings to law enforcement. There were lots of conversations about the potential impacts of this new law. And through those conversations , the county's behavioral health director has said they're not expecting this huge flood of new 5150 holds , though they are thinking that there will be probably a 10% increase in the first year of implementation of SB 43. So he would argue that they the county did really use that runway to try to prepare.
S1:
S2: I would say the top thing I'm hearing is just this continuing concern about gaps in voluntary care options for people that are trying to seek care on their own and struggling to get it. And this argument that , you know , really the county should be building and and the state should be building out the treatment system for people for who voluntarily would like to access care before trying to force more people into care. I've also heard concerns about civil liberties and that certain populations , for example , some concerns about the homeless population or people of color perhaps being disproportionately targeted for holds. But I also will say , I hear that , uh , from some advocates that they're actually quite excited that SB 43 is taking effect and that they see possibilities , that there are some people who may finally access care that you know , who may come in through these broadened definitions. Um , but , you know , I would say overall , there's a lot of wait and see how this is going to look. There's a lot of uncertainty.
S1: Well , we do know that some counties did roll out SB 43 last year. They didn't push it off. They didn't delay it. What were those counties and what was their experience like. Because I'm sure that might shed light onto how it's going to roll out here in San Diego County.
S3: So the one.
S2: I know the most about is San Francisco. They were the first , I would say , are one of the first in the state to implement SB 43. Um , and the San Francisco Chronicle , the newspaper up there had done a story looking at the impact in the first year , and they reported that there was a 30% spike in people who were seeking residential treatment and a 29% increase in temporary conservatorships. Um , and that conservators in San Francisco were describing situations where patients were often still ending up in these situations that SB 43 was designed to try to address. If people just repeatedly cycling between the street and ERS and jails. The county , however , has said County of San Diego has said that when they've looked into some of these discussions about San Francisco or San Luis Obispo as another place that was an early implementer of xb43 , that a lot of these holds are people that have , uh , co-occurring conditions. So perhaps a good portion of these folks are already coming in on hold or already eligible for holds. And so they're not as concerned about a dramatic spike , but I would say that the San Francisco Chronicle's reporting gave me some pause. When you see that there's been a 30% spike in people seeking residential treatment , when we know that right now there are people that are desperately seeking treatment on a regular basis who aren't able to get it voluntarily.
S1: We'll have to leave it there , but we'll certainly be following your reporting on this topic. It's very important topic into the new year and beyond. I've been speaking with Lisa Halverson , senior investigative reporter at Voice of San Diego. Thanks for joining us , Lisa , and happy New Year.
S3: Happy New Year to you , Scott.
S1: Coming up , we'll discuss the City of San Diego's priorities heading into the new year , including how it'll address a massive budget deficit , the desperate need for more housing , and much more. Stay tuned. You're listening to roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Scott rod. Looking ahead into the new year , the city of San Diego is facing some major challenges. We thought this would be a good time to check in with KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen to see what he's keeping an eye out for in 2025. Andrew , welcome back to roundtable and happy New Year. Hey , Scott. Thanks.
S4: Thanks. Glad to be here.
S1: You've been on this beat now as a KPBS metro reporter for a number of years. Tell us about what you're beaten Tales and some key stories that you dug into last year. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So I cover local government , local politics. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening in those spaces. And in practice , that's really just meant a lot of coverage of housing and transportation policy , because those are some of the hottest issues that we're facing as a society. and together housing and transportation those create. Or you could also say those are climate and environmental policy as well. I did a lot of reporting on traffic safety. 2025 was the year that the city was supposed to eliminate all traffic deaths , which it has failed to do. Um , uh , you know , efforts to to build safer streets with safer street design. Also , um , topics like funding for public transit , which is , um , suffering from chronic budget deficits , still struggling in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic , and then policies to encourage more home building , particularly homes for families with children.
S1: So I want to get to both of those , you know , housing , production , transportation. But first , let's dive into something that's on everyone's mind at City Hall , the $258 million budget deficit with the city of San Diego.
S4: A number that big doesn't just appear out of nowhere and everyone has been expecting the number to be this big or about this big for a while. Um , I can hardly recall almost a single year when the city hasn't had some kind of deficit to close. Uh , but the problem has been that the city has just been papering over those deficits with one time resources. So maybe you underspend in one year , and then you roll over those savings to cover some ongoing expenses. That's just an unsustainable budget practice. And you know , something again , that that city officials and the and the watchdogs at City Hall have been warning about. Um , and it really only works for so long. So , you know , with the failure of the sales tax measure that was on the ballot in November , the city is really being forced to confront reality , and that reality is that it just cannot afford to continue to do all the things it's been doing with the resources that the voters and the taxpayers are providing it.
S1: In that measure , measure E , which failed in November , was a sales tax increase. You know , tell me about it. Tell me about why it failed and why the mayor and the city council members were just , you know , really hanging their hopes on that ballot measure to to help fend off this budget deficit.
S4: Well , there's been broad consensus from the mayor , from the city council , from the independent budget analyst , you know , reports from the city auditor that pretty much across the board , everyone pretty much agrees that the city just can't keep up with the cost of providing the services that it provides. Inflation has hit the city government just like it's hit the pocketbooks of families across America. And so , you know , when you're faced with that reality , you either have to collect more revenue via taxes and fees , uh , and , or you have to cut services. And anyone who's dismissing that as , as a false choice that you can do both , you know , provide high quality services and also have low taxes , which San Diego , frankly , does have comparatively lower tax rates , at least a lower sales tax rate , lower hotel tax rate than other cities in California. Um , anyone who's who's telling you you can have your cake and eat it too , just isn't paying attention or not being totally honest with you. There was an interesting discussion at the recent , uh , recent Budget Committee meeting that I heard , um , and , and it goes back to this issue of equity that the city tries to , you know , provide the resources to the neighborhoods that need those resources most. If you look at the results from measure E , it was really the lower income neighborhoods in San Diego that were most likely to support this sales tax increase. And probably you could assume it's because they see the value in that public spending. The higher income neighborhoods , in contrast , were the least likely to support this tax increase. And so some on the city council and in the city government are taking that to mean , will these higher income neighborhoods perhaps are less concerned about cuts to city services ? And perhaps when we're looking for , you know , where to cut our services , those should be the neighborhoods to , to to see those cuts first.
S1: And that was my next question.
S4: After that point , there's a weeks long process where the city council negotiates with the mayor and provides feedback as well as the public. Um , you know , the reality historically has been that emergency services and first responders , our police department and our fire rescue department are typically seen as the most essential services that the city provides. I would be surprised if we see , um , major budget cuts or layoffs in those departments. In the past , we have seen the fire rescue department do brownouts. So , you know , some fire stations just don't have staffing on a given day. And I think the mayor and the council are going to work very hard to avoid that scenario. Um , uh , you know , if those are set aside , then that leaves things like parks , libraries , rec centers , um , things that are typically considered less essential. Um , we could very well see reduced hours at those and reduced staffing at those facilities , um , possibly layoffs of city staffers or early retirement packages and then , you know , capital projects. So things like , um , new police and fire stations and new libraries , new offices for city workers , which they desperately need , um , you know , major road reconstruction projects , even clearing storm drains , uh , to prevent flooding those things. I think we're probably not going to see a lot of progress in the coming years.
S1: Mayor Todd Gloria is entering his second and final term as mayor.
S4: He has made clear that he wants to , um , he wants to balance the budget , create a structurally balanced budget in one year. And that's going to mean some really , really tough choices in the next couple of months. Um , some on the council , I think are more inclined to , uh , spread this out over several years , maybe continue some of those past practices of papering over these deficits and , and trying to , you know , dip into reserves or raid this fund or that fund. Um , but , you know , I think the mayor's priority is , um , having an adult conversation with the with the people of San Diego and with the city council about what we can afford. And and that's going to be a hard conversation. So I expect he'll be spending a he and his staff will be spending a lot of time and energy figuring that out. Um , you know , beyond that , I mean , for for his entire first term is his biggest priorities have been housing and homelessness. And unsurprisingly , those are also the biggest concerns of city voters when you when you do polls on these things. So , um , I think he'll , you know , try and continue those policy , uh , areas , reforming those policy areas , um , and certainly trying to expand the city's shelter options in , in the homelessness realm. Um , as far as what San Diegans are expecting from him. Uh , you probably have to ask a lot of San Diegans to get a good idea of what that what they are. But I think what San Diegans should expect from him is for him to make good on his promises. And his promises have been build more housing , expand more shelter options , make neighborhoods more walkable , create more meaningful choices , uh , for transportation , for how city residents get around. Those are the things that , you know , he has said he wants to do and he will do , and that's what we should expect him to do.
S1: Well , let's look at his first term. Uh , Gloria said housing production is one of his big , top priorities.
S4: You know , when you look at other cities in California. San Diego is building more housing or permitting more housing than a lot of other cities that you know where the housing crisis is just as bad. Um , so we've seen increases in permits for new homes each year. Nowhere near the scale , however , of of what's actually needed to meet our housing needs. Um , you know , keep in mind these these numbers that these goals that the state sets for San Diego to , um , to build more housing are not just for future anticipated growth , are also making up for lost time. San Diego had decades where we had a growing population , a growing economy , and our housing production just was not keeping pace , particularly in the city of San Diego. A lot of the growth was just outsourced to the suburbs. And as we all know , I think in San Diego that has pretty devastating consequences on our air quality , on traffic , on , you know , our general quality of life when you have to drive , you know , an hour and a half to get to your job or to , you know , and , you know , however long to get to the grocery store. So you know , when you when you drive around the city and you see these apartments under construction , you might be tempted to think , well , it seems like we're building more housing. How is this how can this not be enough ? When you take a cold , hard look at the data and and you take a look at the pricing , the costs of housing , um , were still more or less just treading water. So there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in that area. And then just more specifically in the realm of housing , the real shortcoming that I think we see is in family sized homes , uh , homes , apartments with 2 to 3 bedrooms where you can have , you know , where you can accommodate families with young children or multigenerational housing , where , you know , grandma and grandpa are living in the same space with you. Um , 59% of the homes permitted in San Diego last year , in 2023 , rather , um , were studios and wide bedrooms , 59%. So we're building a lot of housing for young professionals and young couples. But when folks start to have kids or , you know , their families start growing , um , there , there's just fewer and fewer options in the city for them to live.
S1:
S4: And those neighborhoods are Claremont and College area. Both have had these plans and these plan updates in the works for many years. So those neighborhoods have been waiting for quite some time to figure out , all right , how much growth are we going to expect here in the coming decades ? Um , and so the city is , is is working on those and those are supposed to come through sometime in 2025. The city is also working on revamping its rules around historic preservation. Now , you might ask why ? What does historic preservation have to do with housing production ? Well , in a in the urban core of San Diego , our most walkable neighborhoods , our oldest neighborhoods , a lot of the housing is pretty old. And under the current rules , if if a if a home is is a certain age or a structure is a certain age , there are extra regulations you have to do in order to figure out , is this a historic resource and do we need to preserve it ? And what does that preservation look like. So , you know , adjusting or updating these rules around historic preservation , at least the proponents of this say that this is a necessary component to the housing conversation. Now , zooming out , I think another thing that I'll be watching is changes to single family neighborhoods , the vast majority of residential land in San Diego , where it's legal to build any type of housing , um , the vast majority of the land is zoned for single family detached houses and , you know , reforming those , adding more density to these low density neighborhoods has really been a third rail in San Diego. Most of the growth has been in areas where apartments were already allowed. And whereas previously you might be able to build three stories , now you can build eight. But the growth in those single family neighborhoods , I think , is something that we're going to have to watch out for and and something that will be also a very difficult conversation with those neighborhoods. A lot of the folks who live there just don't want that type of growth in their neighborhood.
S1: Yeah , we've , as you mentioned , seen some of that conversation already starting to play out. There was some of the discussion with SB ten and some other conversations. So definitely contentious. And as it continues to come up , I'm sure that that debate will stay heated. I want to switch to transportation. Um , and it looks like in 2025 it's going to be an important year for Sandag , the agency that manages transportation projects in the region.
S4: This is sort of a long term , decades long road map for what are the projects and what are the policies that we need as a county to meet our transportation needs ? How can people be moving around sustainably and efficiently ? And the last update was in 2021. So by the end of this year , Sandag has to update its regional transportation plan. It's got a new chief executive. The previous one spent a lot of time and really wanted the the agency to focus on thinking big , you know , megaprojects , um , new rail lines that crisscross the entire county , uh , you know , and all of this is , is really aimed at meeting state requirements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Most of those emissions come from transportation , and most of the transportation emissions come from personal vehicles. So it's really a matter of figuring out how do we get folks around without a car ? Uh , you know , so that so that we can build the future that , that , you know , the state has , has really said this is what you need to plan for. So our new Sandag executive director , his name is Mario Orso. He came from Caltrans. He has been talking about scaling those ambitions back. Uh , you know , they don't have the revenue that they thought that they were going to have. Uh , you know , I think he , he , he wants the agency to get back to focusing on the basics. How do we deliver the projects ? How how do we get things done on time and on budget and , um , and , and , you know , at the same time , there's there's been this long standing pressure , particularly from representatives in North County to , uh , finish some of the long planned freeway expansions that that date back decades. You know , back in the early aughts , in the 90s , they were envisioning more lanes for these freeways in North County. And and , you know , a lot of folks up there still want those done. Now , those are in real conflict with , uh , the climate goals that have been set for , for sandag. And , um , you know , frankly , they're not all that good. Expanding freeways is not a great strategy for reducing congestion , which is what everybody really wants. Um , so , you know , the Sandag board of directors is still taking shape after the elections. They they designate new representatives on this agency. Every city in the county has a seat at Sandag. Um , so , you know , I'll certainly be watching how that board takes shape and also the conversations that they have about our future in transportation.
S1: Well , with some of that tension , some of that conflict , plus another measure that failed to pass another sales tax measure , measure G , which would have brought in some more funding for some of these projects. You know , what does this mean ? What does all this mean for the region's climate action goals ? Looking ahead.
S4: Yeah , it was a half cent sales tax. Most of that revenue would have gone to public transit. Um , so major capital projects , um , upgrading the rail corridor to Los Angeles , for example , and stabilize , you know , moving the train tracks off of the bluffs and Del Mar that are always collapsing and receding each year. Also , some of the basic nuts and bolts infrastructure to our trolley system. The Orange Line needs new tracks , they need new signals , and not to mention , you know , bus and trolley frequencies. So rather than every 15 minutes , the trolley comes every 7 or 8 minutes. Um , those are the things that I think San Diego needs to really make public transit a more meaningful option for folks. Um , but , you know , with the failure of measure G , I think what that means is austerity. It means that these big transportation megaprojects that Sandag had been hoping for , um , are going to be competing against each other for funding , so fewer projects will get funded. And overall , we'll just see less progress in the realm of transportation. What I think the failure of measure G means for the future of transportation is just we're going to see less progress in this area. Um , big projects are going to be competing against each other for the limited pool of funding. Um , perhaps Sandag might be focusing more on bus services , which are cheaper to build than than rail services. Um , as far as our climate goals , I think the biggest threat is that we just don't meet them , that we continue emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And San Diego is just not a leader in the space of of building a more sustainable future.
S1: I've been speaking with KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen. Andrew , thanks for joining us. Thank you. Scott.
S4: Scott.
S1: Up next , we take a look at some media and culture trends from 2024 and where things could be moving in 2025. That's ahead on roundtable. Stay tuned. Welcome back to roundtable. I'm Scott Rod. It's time now for our weekly roundup. Joining me is KPBS , Andrew Bracken. Hey , Andrew. Hey , Scott. Happy new year. Happy New Year to you , too. We're doing something a little different this week since it's the start of the new year. We'll be looking back at some of the big media and cultural stories from 2020. For now , this won't be a comprehensive look back by any means , but rather just kind of a curious collection of trends and stories that stuck with us. So , Andrew , I'm going to let you start it off.
S5: You know , looking back at 2024 , obviously the election is kind of the first thing that jumps to my mind. We earlier we heard from Andrew Bowen. We kind of touched on some of the impacts there at the San Diego level. But you know , it's also the same for for media and how we consume media , and how that played a role in especially the presidential election. I think we all heard about this idea of like the podcast election and the role that certain media played that may not have had such such an impact in previous elections. And I'm talking about , you know , incoming president , President Trump went on , Joe Rogan , which I mean , I think right now that has over 50 million YouTube views right now. That was just like a big got a lot of attention. And on the other side , Vice President Kamala Harris went on Call Her Daddy podcast again , another like , immensely popular podcast that a lot of people , especially younger voters , listen to and watch. So it was interesting to see kind of how that played out , you know , over that sort of like news layer of the CNNs and the MSNBC's and the Fox News is that we've come to , you know , be so familiar with during these election cycles.
S1: And it was interesting to see how especially President Trump was doing this , going on these podcasts where , you know , traditional news outlets were eager to interview him , but you had him going on podcasts like Bussin with the Boys on Barstool Sports and Theo Vaughn's podcast.
S5: Really casual , like kind of chat for long.
S6: Long form. Ones.
S5: Ones. So that.
S1: Last hours and hours Rogan.
S5: Ones like over three hours I think. Right.
S1: Yeah , it's super long. And so you know both candidates went on podcast. Trump really leaned into it. And you know I think the jury's out as to how much it really had an impact on the results of the election. I think a number of people have pointed to it , and at least Trump perhaps being able to pick up votes in a particularly tough demographic , you know , younger voters , maybe younger male voters , harder to.
S5: Get out to vote.
S1: Yeah , who don't always turn out. And that may have convinced or rallied some people in that demographic to vote. But you're absolutely right. That trend jumped out to me , if for nothing else. I think it is a bit of a shift in terms of where candidates may start to place their time and focus and energy as they're running their campaigns , and you may not see them going on some of these traditional media outlets , in part because you know you're going to have some tough questions. Most likely , if you're sitting down with someone from NBC news or The New York Times or The Washington Post. A lot of these podcasts tend to be a little bit lighter. They don't hit them with really tough questions. They're not there to hold their feet to the fire in terms of policy issues. Often they're there to kind of just shoot the breeze. And that's a much easier , uh , that's a much easier time for a candidate than going on to doing an interview with , uh , hard hitting journalist.
S5: But at the same time , there's a lot of risk there , too. So you understand why , like , is the political strategy of it's kind of kind of tricky , like being , you know , doing an interview for three hours , like there's probably a lot of risk there too , you know ? Certainly. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S5: Yeah , absolutely. Um , the other sort of , you know , media election related thing that's been in my mind is just this media ownership and particularly media owners like Elon Musk , Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-shiong from the LA times. They're all , you know , billionaires that own really kind of pretty important media entities. And each of them kind of put their own stamp on the election in right of ways. And I can kind of expand on that. But Elon Musk , we kind of know now is just sort of I think we've talked about on roundtable before , but it's just heavily involved in the Trump administration and is a big part of it.
S1: The New York Times reported that he's literally staying at a cottage at Mar-A-Lago. Like he's literally just like hanging out on Trump's doorstep.
S5: Like footage of him hanging out with President Trump on New Year's Eve. Right. He's just , like , fully embedded. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. The big news during the election cycle , there was , for the first time in a long time , that paper not doing a presidential endorsement. And similarly with the LA times , the same thing. They withheld that presidential endorsement really kind of changed some of the norms behind how we handle elections from these papers of record.
S1: Yeah , and created some uproar , too. And I mean , it should be noted that these three are pretty distinctly different , at least Elon Musk with X formerly Twitter. I mean , it's a social media platform. He's not running a news publication , but definitely a through line here is they're getting they're being very hands on. And I think Elon Musk was sort of hands on from the beginning when he bought Twitter. But it's showing that these billionaires are injecting themselves into the conversation more and wanting to have more of a sway as to what's being put on their platforms , whether it be a social media platform for Elon Musk or a news publication for the Washington Post or the LA times.
S5: And you're totally right. I mean , each case is pretty different. I thought it was interesting. Last month , uh , L.A. times owners Patrick Soon-shiong , he he also announced that they're going to add a bias meter to LA times coverage. And I think that's something , you know , they're going to rely on artificial intelligence. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to work , but basically furthering this thing of just wanting coverage to be balanced and the kind of I don't know , I think he has a lot of concerns with how the public perceives the coverage from that paper. So it's going to continue on , you know , through 2025 as well.
S1: Oh , yeah. It's not going to stop here for sure. But that idea of an AI powered bias meter left has left a lot of people scratching their heads in the industry because , like , what does that even mean ? How , you know , how is this going to quote unquote , detect bias ? And , you know , you can chalk that up to , you know , wanting to have balanced coverage. And I think if you asked anyone in the news industry , yeah , having balanced and fair coverage is important , but putting some sort of shadowy bias meter on stories , I don't think that's the way to really , you know , suss out what is accurate or fair and balanced coverage. I mean , that's why we have professional journalists doing this. That's why we have editors who edit these stories. I just know that that move has left a lot of people , like I said , scratching their heads. All right. I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about Aussie media. You know , some people may recognize that name. It may be completely new to other people.
S5: It kind of came back to me as I was hearing the name , but yeah , you got to explain.
S1: So Aussie media got a lot of attention , a lot of buzz. Maybe five , ten years ago , they were part of this sort of digital group of digital news outlets that were getting not only lots of attention , but lots of investment. And , you know , we're talking about many , many millions of dollars being pumped into this publication. And the name was popping up all over the place , and it was starting to be kind of associated with different big names that were going to do events they were going to do. It was kind of framed as like news coverage with a bit of a smart edge for younger consumers. But it all came crumbling down and in pretty like , astounding Founding fashion. In fact , the founder of Aussie Media was just sentenced to a decade in prison in December after being convicted of fraud. And there's actually a great three part podcast from the Columbia Journalism Review called The Unravelling of Aussie Media. And this actually all started the downfall of Aussie media basically all started when the New York Times published a story a few years ago about how one of the company leaders had impersonated a YouTube executive on a call with Goldman Sachs to get more investment money. And it turns out that that was honestly just the tip of the fraud spirit , Aussie , so to speak , just based on lots of testimony during the whole court proceedings that ultimately , like I said , found the founder guilty of fraud. And , you know , it's a sad end to this media startup that had a lot of promise. But what jumped out to me is that it joins the ranks of a lot of other digital news outlets that have crumbled , you know , or just a , you know , a shell of their former selves. You know , BuzzFeed news was a huge , heavy hitter. They did some incredible investigations , but that's basically toast. Vice had declared bankruptcy a little while back , and they laid off a bunch of people last year , the messenger , which is kind of a flash in the pan. I don't know if you remember that , but that launched with some great fanfare and then imploded last year. Almost immediately , it burned through $50 million of investment in less than a year. So this OZY media story , it in certain ways is a little bit of a blip , but it does to me fit into this broader trend that we've seen in recent years of digital news outlets that had a lot of promise fizzling or flaming out or completely crashing and burning. And it's just sad.
S5: Now , I know we've been talking about , you know , the media , media industry , journalism , and I want to kind of broaden it out a little bit into something I've been thinking about. This Sunday , Hillcrest Landmark Theater is closing its doors , and it's sort of like the most recent local theatre closing up. And it's just something I've been thinking a lot about because I spent a lot of hours at that theater in Hillcrest. And , you know , on the one hand , it's I'm very sad. It's closing. I , you know , have a lot of good memories from there. But on the flip side , like , I realized I haven't been there that much in the last several years. And this is , you know , on the heels of the Cannes closing up a few years ago , um , the Santee Drive-In last year closed , you know , just , I think cinema and the movies , at least how we're watching them has changed so much in the last few years. And it's something that I kind of keep struggling with , of what that means for the power movies or what , you know , cinema going forward. Again , Sunday , they're closing their doors , and it's just gotten me thinking about how much less I go to movies now than I did maybe ten years ago , definitely 20 years ago.
S1: And on that local note , we'll have to leave it there. I've been speaking with KPBS producer Andrew Bracken. Andrew , Thanks. Thanks , Scott. That's it for our show this week. Thanks so much for listening. You can listen to KPBS roundtable wherever you get your podcasts. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays and again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , we'd love to hear from you. You can email us at roundtable at pbs.org , or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brendan Murphy. This show was produced by Andrew Bracken. Brooke. Ruth is Roundtable's senior producer and I'm Scott Rodd. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend and happy New Year.
