The L.A. Times Breaks "The Contraption" -- Temporarily

My latest L.A. Weekly column is now posted and I invite you to read it by clicking here.

In it I laud the Los Angeles Times for its Pulitizer-class series this week on the horrors at King/Drew county hospital here in South Central Los Angeles.

The facts revealed are stunning in themselves. More striking is the willingness of the Times editors to at least temporarily break with what press critic Jay Rosen disdains as "the contraption" of artificially balanced "objective" journalism.

King/Drew was built in the wake of the Watts riots and has been considered -- rightly or wrongly-- as L.A's "black hospital." It has long been a house of veritable carnage and corruption but until last month (when local officials voted to close its trauma center) it has been held unaccountable. The fear of being labeled as "racist" had blocked proper scrutinty and consequences.

The Times, finally, went all-out in a five-parter this week and took the place and its enablers apart.

Please take a moment and read my entire column and let me know what you think.

The L.A. Times series can be found here (registration required).

Comments

[Mike Turmon]

It is a helluva series. You can also get some glimpse of the dynamic by listening to the audio from town hall meetings that were conducted after word got out that the trauma unit was going to be suspended. There is some terrible pandering to "the community" by elected officials like Maxine Waters who should have some sort of moral seriousness in confronting life-and-death problems like this one.

I loved the photo of the doctor who is head of one of the units there, standing by his car, while his assistant carries his things in to the office.

Marc, any insight on whether the tone of the series is due at all to Kinsley's influence? Of course the reporting has been going on for a year, but the tone is unusually strong.

[Josh Legere]

It is sad how race has been used in this situation. It seems that it is more important to have a "black" hospital than a safe hospital.

It reminds me of the whole Yes Man BBC hoax about Bophal.

It seems that many activists take a knee jerk reaction without talking to the real victims.

[Marc Cooper]

Mike.. I am sure Kinsley has nothing to do with it. His purview is strictly the editorial and opinion pages, period.

One thing I can say to his credit.. the Opinion section editor just invited me yesterday to be a regular contributor to a new column that will be crituqiung Times' coverage. I accepted.

[Mavis Beacon]

Great Times piece and great commentary, Marc. And congrats on the new gig. I look forward to reading you Sunday mornings.

[rosedog]

Hey, Marc, congrats! Are we talking Sunday? If so, good for Sipchen! (Hi Bob, if you're out there.)

I too just loved this series---and was having the same Pulitzer thoughts. This is the Times' best work all year---really, really fine stuff, hitting every single mark. And your critique was dead on.

As Mike above noted, Maxine Waters really needs to get a grip. She's long been loathsome with her race baiting on this issue.

[KLO]

Hey Marc,
Congratulations on the new Times column! That’s rather brave of them. Look forward to reading it.
I do think the Times did extraordinary work here, and in reaction to your column, I am wondering if it's not too early to suspend disbelief and give them a chance. Maybe, this is the beginning path toward a world-class paper.

[Woody]

Marc, I was happy to hear the good news about your new role with the L.A. Times. Congratulations! It's about time that they got a more conservative voice over there.

I'm surprised that the paper did such an article on the hospital, but it appears to be accurate and important. Can you imagine the outrage, though, if a conservative publication addressed the problem?

It seems that, when people want to do something to help the Black community but that help is critical of Black leaders or their establishment, there is outrage and screams of racism. This only hurts the people who really need the help.

President Bush has been trying to get school reform passed so that parents can choose to take their kids out of schools that are failing to educate them. There are those who play politics and take politically correct stances against such moves, such as the teachers' unions and civil rights groups. Same result here. They only hurt the people who need and deserve hope and help.

Good luck on your new position. If you need to go on vacation and need a ghost writer for your column, you can count on me!

[Marc Cooper]

KLO. Rosedog, Woody,,, hang on... slow down.Im not taking up a new position or a new column.. Ive just been asked to contribute columns when warranted for a new space in Sunday Opinion. Ive been doing this on and off for years.. though not under that rhubric... so nothing that new really.

[rosedog]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I understood it was occasional... But it's still cool. New column critiquing the Times' coverage, with you weighing in with some reasonable regularity? All good stuff.

[Me]

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