Appreciation of a Not-NYT’s Newspaper

Yesterday, I wrote about the partisan news selection by the New York Times. Discussing “Whose Ox Is Gored,” my example was the NYT’s differential treatment of multinationals and charities’ tax schemes, the former being reported and the latter not, the former being a Democrat target and the latter a source of funds and support to Democrats.

Today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, my local newspaper, on its front-page exhibits a different approach, “Comic-Con’s Charity Status Draws Questions.”

The Comic-Con convention in San Diego is the city’s largest. The San Diego Union-Tribune is generally a booster of local enterprise. Yet, the newspaper does not flinch from discussing a sacred cow, to some.

Mention “public charity” to most people and they think of homeless shelters and food banks. Spider-Man doesn't immediately spring to mind.

But the 38th annual San Diego Comic-Con International, which opens tonight, is registered with the federal government as a public charity, placed in the same general category as many schools, hospitals and churches.

As such, the pop-culture extravaganza, which generates about $5 million in revenue each year, is exempt from income taxes and pays less in city traffic-control fees.

That loss of money to government coffers means the public is, in effect, subsidizing an event that has become a massive promotional vehicle for new movies, TV shows, comics and toys.

Some charity watchdogs raise their eyebrows at the appropriateness of it for Comic-Con.

“It is a real stretch to call a group whose purpose is to promote comics via a highly commercialized event a charity,” said Sandra Miniutti, a vice president for Charity Navigator. “How does that benefit the greater good of society?”

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, also wondered about the public benefit. “The people who appear to be profiting are the pop-culture purveyors who have a great marketing opportunity there,” he said.

Comic-Con is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization. Groups in that category may qualify for exemption from federal income tax if they serve the public good, typically through poverty-assistance, religious, educational, scientific or literary programs.

Comic-Con organizers said their event, which last year attracted about 124,000 people to the San Diego Convention Center, qualifies as educational.

“We strive to inform the public that comics are as viable an art form as other art you may find in a museum, or in a gallery, or a bookstore or even a film festival,” said David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for the convention.

The rest of the report is as balanced, and very informative.

Like any news junkie, I’ve had my share of public and private disagreements with the editors and reporters at my local newspaper. However, I’ve often praised several news practices there that should be more widely emulated.

Local newspapers are dependent upon wire services. The San Diego Union-Tribune subscribes to many, instead of one or a few, and often blends together different wire service reports and its own reporting, to provide more complete information.

The editors at the San Diego Union-Tribune have a diverse range of politics and views. Thus, its editorials, columns and reporting tends, not always but usually, to get balanced and subject to fairness.

The investigators and reporters at the San Diego Union-Tribune go where the story is or leads, exposing local Republican conservative Congressman Cunningham’s illicit self-dealings as well as Democrat liberal Congressman Filner’s wife being among his largest beneficiary of his campaign spending.

Good journalism, and the efforts to good journalism, do not as often get a kudos as the egregious. It should, to encourage the good, and drive out the bad.

Thank you San Diego Union-Tribune.