In the News
50 People To Watch in 2008
THIS YEAR’S LIST of folks worthy of keeping an eye on includes sportsters like Trevor Hoffman, Chuck Long and Norv Turner. We’ve included Channel 10’s former Troubleshooter Marti Emerald, who’s shot her hat into the political ring. Gerry Braun’s in the mix—for breathing some new life into The San Diego Union-Tribune. Bill McDannell walked across the country to inspire peace, and nobody seemed to care—except us (find out if he’s about to do it again). There’s much more to entice you to take a look at our list, including a hometown girl who gets to anchor on Fox6 news, the world’s fastest amputee and an Aguirre (but not Mike!).
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Marti Emerald
This former “Troubleshooter” reporter for Channel 10 has entered the District 7 city council race. The primary for local elections is in June, and one of the hottest issues Emerald faces is student housing at San Diego State University. “I’m looking forward to being the troubleshooter at City Hall,” she says. “Once people know their opinions are valued and there is an opportunity to brainstorm, we’ll find solutions.”
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—By Julia Beeson, Tom Blair, Ron Donoho, Adam Elder and Marcia Manna - San Diego Magazine
Former News Reporter Declares Candidacy For City Council
Last Updated:
11-13-07 at 5:24PM
Video Only -- Longtime San Diego news reporter Marti Emerald has left her TV job to pursue a career in politics. She's declared her intention to run for the seventh district seat on the San Diego City Council, which includes the College Area and eastern San Diego.
Emerald announced plans Tuesday to appear before the CSU Board of Trustees and ask that they delay a vote on SDSU expansion plans.
A coalition of community groups are already concerned about how the plans could disrupt nearby neighborhoods.
"I connect with these communities as a taxpayer and a homeowner. We put all of our life savings into a home, and we hope it will grow, we can protect our neighborhoods and make them something that have lasting value," Emerald said.
The CSU Board of Trustees plans to meet in Long Beach Wednesday.
THE PEANUT GALLERY
Dumping the Ratings Hunt for the Vote Hunt
By Seth Hettena
Monday, Nov. 26, 2007 | One day, a young woman driving a taxi in the mid-1970s in Portland, Ore. found herself at the scene of a major plane crash and realized she wanted to know what had happened.
Marti Emerald left taxicabs and Oregon behind and went to Washington, D.C. Emerald freelanced for The Associated Press Radio, covering congressional hearings and the White House for two years before returning to the West Coast. It was her story about the 50th anniversary of the parking meter in 1985 that got her a job at San Diego’s ABC affiliate, KGTV. Emerald, 52, became the Troubleshooter, the station’s consumer affairs reporter and remained at KGTV until September when she left to run for the 7th District San Diego City Council seat.
I talked with her recently about the state of local television journalism and what it's like to go from behind the microphone to in front of it.
Do you miss the newsroom?
Sometimes. During the fires I missed it. ... What I noticed was all these kids now who are doing the news and yeah, I wanted to be there. ... I miss it and I miss sometimes helping the consumers individually, but I know that as a city councilwoman, I’ll be able to help individual people, so I’m feeling good about making that transition.
You won a lot of awards for your reporting over the years. Your stories got picked up by 20/20 and Primetime Live. Did you find that you had to fight to get serious stories on TV news?
It’s a constant maneuvering, it’s a constant fighting for yourself and your story and your cause. I don’t think the public is being entirely served by what they’re getting from the television stations anymore.
Do you think that the focus on ratings is destroying television?
I’ll do my story at 5 o’clock and the next morning I’ll come in and there will be the ratings, broken down in 15-minute increments. If the numbers went down during my 15 minutes when I was on ... somebody in the system will say "Well, let’s not do that story again." It’s very real. And yes, ratings have in some respect brought down the quality of the substance of what we do. You’ve got people who do fine work and are really committed to digging in and doing real journalism, and it’s getting tougher and tougher to do it. Now, is it a downhill slide and there won’t be any recovery? I don’t know.
Is some of this unique to San Diego?
What’s happening is not unique to San Diego. It’s happening all over the country. Every broadcast entity is struggling to get advertising revenue. We see what’s happening to newspapers. They’re folding for good all over the country. And newspapers are now giving their reporters cameras so that they can feed information to the websites. And everything is now being channeled through the Internet where so many people are starting to go.
Newspapers are dying, but television stations remain profitable. Is that profitability reaching the newsroom? Is it being funneled back into the product or is it going back to shareholders?
It really is all about the shareholders. I’m a shareholder. I have stock in McGraw-Hill (which owns KGTV) and I’ve watched my stock divide and grow. Does it filter back to the newsroom? It has but it is filtered back as equipment. Salaries have dropped. They’ve retooled for digital, which is very important because in the next few years, everything is going to be digital. ...When it comes to people, it’s about training younger, less expensive staff to go out and do this stuff.
So the profits are being invested in the infrastructure, but not in developing better stories, or even developing better reporters. As a news consumer, what I see over and over is the promotion on TV personalities.
It’s because historically television viewers have turned to a station because there is somebody they can trust. What is becoming apparent is that television viewers aren’t doing that so much anymore, but we still work on that old model. They try to play up the personality, but behind the anchor is a newsroom that really is operating on a much slimmer budget and is just trying to manage sometimes. ... When you sit and watch, you watch a kid talk about something that they really don’t know anything about and you’re left to wonder, what is the real story? Or how does that relate to me? Why should I care?
Some people might read this and say "Marti’s saying she doesn’t trust the news from her old station."
I’m not saying that. I recognize the resources have changed and there’s a lack of depth. It’s happening at all the stations. All of us old warhorses are going by the wayside, either not being renewed or finding new purpose in life or we just decide this isn’t happening anymore and the salaries keep getting lower and lower. Some people just say well maybe it’s time for me to get out of here. Then they’re replaced by people who are a lot less experienced who are covering the news everyday and fewer resources to be able to get it done. That crunch will affect not just the quality of news not just at my station, but at all of them. ...The idea of the 5 o’clock news or the 6 o’clock news is a dinosaur. It really is going away. The industry is pushing it and the Internet is pulling it.
Was this part of what led you to run for City Council?
I was a journalist, but I was also an advocate and that’s where I really made my reputation here in this community, standing up for people who felt like nobody else was listening. I did it for a very long time, 20 years. ...Then I realized that they weren’t really interested anymore in the idea of going out and fighting for the consumer. It was really about fighting for ratings. I still wanted to serve the public in that capacity. I recognized there was no way I was going to change their opinion so I started coming into the newsroom and wondering where do I fit in? How do I take the passion I feel and the commitment I feel for the community and put it to work again? This was the place to do it.
How does your experience as a TV reporter qualify you for public office?
First of all, being a good listener. I think that’s underrated these days. Knowing how to take a lot of information and figure out the so what about it. That’s really important. Secondly, I’m very good with helping to bring people together. For the last 22 years, I’ve been doing conciliation work, mediation. I’ve had mediation training. Maybe it’s underrated but when you look at what’s going on downtown with people who are not listening to each other, who are not on the same page, who don’t seem to want to arrive at a solution -- that’s the public perception anyway -- I think that’s real important. I cut through stuff. I mean business. Anybody, who’s had to meet as many deadlines as I do, and solve problems like I have, I think I’ll be a good representative for the 7th District.
Your campaign statement says you’re committed to open, honorable government. But some people feel you were less-than-open about your political aspirations when you were considering whether to run and still working as a consumer reporter. You were building momentum while working as a journalist.
It wasn’t a decision that could be made lightly. Whether I worked as a journalist or an accountant or a ditch-digger, I went through the process of getting educated about what I was getting into and making sure it was going to be the right thing for my family and for me. I took the time, but the stories I did had nothing to do with city government. One of the last big stories I did had to do with notary fraud.
What about the stories you did on the Navy Broadway complex. How did you separate Marti the reporter from Marti the budding candidate?
First of all, I am so busy doing my work, I don’t have time to go out and campaign. That’s one thing. I can’t help by virtue of my job that I’m there in the public eye. Really, I wasn’t there all that much when you think about it, because my stories were on just a couple of days a week. And again, I was swamped. So it wasn’t like I was using it as a position. J.W. August, my managing editor, laid this big box on me and said "Here, make sense of this Navy Broadway thing. ... That was my assignment and I did it, and I think I did it well.
Do you think you’ve put your former colleagues at KGTV in an impossible position? If you were the managing editor at Channel 10, how would you cover the campaign of an ex-reporter?
Channel 10 is being very cautious about covering me because they don’t want to be seen to have a bias. I know that the opposition, anytime they make any mention of me, will say "Wait a minute. You’re biased."
You don’t think that your background as a TV reporter will actually hurt you in terms of getting media coverage?
No because I do have credibility with the media here. I haven’t done anything that’s squirrelly or unethical. I’ve been known. Some people say I’m an icon (laughs) which makes me feel very old. I won’t misuse it, I promise. I won’t try to manipulate people with that. I’ve got knowledge about how the system works, how the media works. I intend to use that in any way I can to get good publicity for the campaign and in turn provide good information to the communities.
Will the $75,000 a year council salary be a step up or down for you?
We’re already tightening our belts and finding ways of saving money. It is going to be hard, but considering that the average salary in the 7th District is about $60,000 a year, I can’t complain. The thing about community service: It’s supposed to be in some ways making a sacrifice. This is sounding like a spiritual journey. Maybe it is. I’ve had a really good ride for a very long time. I’m cutting my salary in half basically. I’ve got a beautiful home and I’ve got a mortgage payment and I’m going to find ways to make everything happen. I’m digging into savings and paying some things off.
What’s it been like to go from reporting the news to become a story yourself since you announced your candidacy?
It’s nerve-racking. Being behind the microphone is a whole lot more comfortable than being in front of it. I’ve got a message and I feel comfortable with that. I’m really enjoying this process. Everybody told me "Oh you’re going to hate dialing for dollars. You’re just going to hate all the fundraisers and walking precincts." I’m having the time of my life. I get to get on the phone and talk to people for three, four hours solid, meeting people, finding out what’s important to them, connecting. I love that. And then walking door-to-door. People at the door, even if they don’t like me at the beginning, we find a common place and I’m finding even Republicans want yard signs. There’s an excitement and that tells me I’m on the right track.
— SETH HETTENA, The Peanut Gallery - Voice of San Diego
Seth Hettena, a San Diego-based freelance journalist and author, writes an occasional column "The Peanut Gallery" about local media and journalism. You can e-mail him at seth@sethhettena.com with your complaints, thoughts or stories about San Diego reporters.
FOR NOW, COUNCIL RACE FOCUSED ON A REAL ISSUE
The most hotly contested San Diego City Council race next year is expected to be in the 7th District, the collection of residential communities near San Diego State University.
It is viewed as the battleground for control of the next council by those for whom city politics is combat between (pick one) Republicans and Democrats, Labor and Capital, Good and Evil, Us and Them.
Voters there may find the attention flattering at first. But, sadly, these high-profile, high-spending races often play like Japanese monster movies.
While Godzilla and Mothra fight for control of the 'hood, the residents are reduced to arm-waving extras whose voices go unheard and whose chief objective is not getting flattened.
Why, of all places, is this happening in District 7?
Because that's where Marti Emerald, the former “troubleshooter” reporter for Channel 10, is running for the seat held by lame-duck Councilman Jim Madaffer.
The district has been reliably Republican since TVs were black and white, and Emerald is a labor-loving Democrat. Her name recognition and populist appeal have made her the race's early front-runner; her success would maintain the council's Democratic, pro-labor majority.
At this point, reporters like to point out that council races are technically nonpartisan. Which is like pointing out that tomatoes are technically fruit. If you have to keep reminding yourself of something, it probably isn't so.
Emerald's star power was evident last week, when she attended a community meeting about the district's burning issue: what to do with those pesky San Diego State students.
For some time, the folks who live near SDSU have been in open revolt about the spread of high-occupancy student rental units onto streets they remember as quiet, clean and lightly trafficked.
Their battle cry: “No mini-dorms.”
More recently, folks in Rolando are in an uproar over a proposed 1,100-bed luxury dormitory that would be built a mile from campus.
Their battle cry: “No mega-dorm.”
There isn't a Goldilocks solution in sight, though, no dormitory that is sized “just right.” If anything, opposition to all forms of off-campus housing may only get fiercer.
Which brings us to Tuesday's meeting, at which JPI Developers pitched its mega-dorm idea to the Rolando Community Council. The church-hall crowd was equally mega and, by most accounts, ready to rumble.
Emerald arrived late, but a chair was saved for her in front. And though a line of people waited to speak, some fans yielded their time to her.
Citing her credentials as a consumer reporter, Emerald chastised JPI for committing a “classic bait and switch” by proposing student housing on land where the community already had approved another developer's condo/retail project.
Emerald then announced that, if she is elected, the project will never be built. A correspondent of mine ably described what transpired next:
“After wild cheers, Marti drifted out of the hall in a bubble (like Glinda the good witch).”
Watching from the back, and none too happy I suspect, was April Boling, the Republican choice to succeed Madaffer.
Boling, who is an accountant by profession and undemonstrative by nature, did not try to follow that act.
Later, she gave me her own position on the mega-dorm.
“The previous project that included condominiums would have ultimately ended up in a student-populated facility with little control,” Boling said. “I do, however, believe the current project, which was sprung quite unexpectedly on the community, could stand some adjustment, and that the process over the next few months could improve the project.”
Her answer was logical and nuanced, but unlikely to incite any wild cheers. You can see why Republicans are a little nervous.
Two nights later, there was another community meeting where I watched Madaffer, who can't run again because of term limits, field tough questions about the mega-dorm.
Madaffer urged people to “work with” JPI and give it a fair hearing, which only seemed to irritate them more. He sounded like an Old West sheriff nervously talking down a lynch mob.
Outside the meeting, Madaffer observed that bucking the community on a project this sensitive “would be committing political suicide.”
Until now, the city has looked to SDSU President Stephen Weber to solve this housing problem, and JPI's proposal is consistent with his solution. The SDSU Master Plan states that the school is “working with private developers to provide even more student housing within walking distance to campus” – housing the school wouldn't own, but could manage.
If this is the future of student housing, the next District 7 representative needs to be in the thick of the planning, not reacting to each project as it is unveiled, community by community. And there's no better time for the candidates to define their positions than now.
Before long, this race will be overtaken by money, mail and those annoying recorded phone messages. The political parties will transform it into a debate on their own issues, like gay marriage, health care and immigration.
Anyone with something thoughtful to say about issues that matter in District 7 had better say it now.
—GERRY BRAUN, Union Tribune, September 23, 2007
MARTI'S IN
Marti Emerald, the television news reporter, called today to say she is entering the District 7 City Council race next June.
"I've decided I am running," she said on my voice mail today. "I sent off the papers this week."
Up until today's announcement, Emerald was speculated to be the anointed favorite among Democrats and organized labor in the eastern San Diego district, which includes Tierrasanta, College Area and Navajo.
Emerald and her boss, J.W. August, have said she would have to step down from her position as a professional reporter if she formally declared her candidacy. We'll put in calls this afternoon to check on the status of her employment with 10News.
The only other candidate for District 7, which has a slight Democratic registration advantage, to declare is accountant April Boling, a Republican.
The city of San Diego primary elections will be held June 3, 2008.
-- EVAN McLAUGHLIN, Voice of San Diego, September 5th, 2007
LEWBY-DOO
So I hear Marti Emerald is, indeed, running for City Council. Imagine that. Some of you remembered that I had mocked the idea that she was only considering a run with a promise: If she didn't run, I'd run through the Civic Center Plaza in a Scooby-Doo costume.
Too bad for you she did run. But to show I was serious and give a peek at what you missed, I thought I'd prove I was indeed seriously backing up my claim. Scooby was prepared, but he knew he'd never run.
-- SCOTT LEWIS, Voice of San Diego, September 6, 2007
KGTV REPORTER EMERALD RESIGNS TO RUN FOR COUNCIL
Longtime KGTV-Channel 10 news reporter Marti Emerald has left the station and declared her intention to seek the San Diego City Council seat being vacated by Jim Madaffer next year.
Emerald will run against April Boling, an accountant who has been campaigning for months in the 7th District, which includes the College Area and eastern San Diego.
Local candidates can't formally file papers to run for office until Feb. 6, but many people have submitted forms announcing their intentions and begun collecting campaign contributions. Emerald's initial paperwork arrived at the City Clerk's Office yesterday.
Her decision to leave KGTV-Channel 10 and run for the council was long expected by City Hall observers. It means all four council seats on the June 3 ballot are now officially contested.
Council President Scott Peters and members Madaffer, Toni Atkins and Brian Maienschein must leave office because of term limits.
--M.T.H. ,UNION-TRIBUNE, September 7, 2007
