(This article courtesy of the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
San Diego, CA — Cal Thomas's nationally syndicated column will no longer appear in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Thomas, whose column appears in over 500 newspapers, was the victim of an ongoing house cleaning of conservatives at the paper, according to sources.
Thomas is widely considered one of the most eloquent voices in defense of the pro-life perspective. His pro-life columns have frequently appeared in the Pro-Life Infonet and he is a popular keynote speaker at banquets for crisis pregnancy centers and other pro-life events.
Last month, the paper informed Thomas that his column would be discontinued. Bill Osborne, the Senior Editor for Opinion at the Union-Tribune, claimed the decision to drop Thomas's column was due to “budgetary” constraints.
“We always hate to take strong voices out of the newspaper, but the decision to cancel them was based solely on budgetary concerns and the fact we were not using them enough to justify the contracts,” Osborne said.
Cal Thomas refuted Osborne's claim that his cancellation was related to budgetary issues, adding that his syndication company, Tribune Media Services, “offered them a rate cut and I guaranteed enough new subscriptions to more than pay for the column. They refused, making me wonder if cost was the real reason for the cancellation.”
Osborne, asked about Thomas's offer to give the newspaper a discount to carry his column, refused comment.
“We will not get into a debate with Cal Thomas. It does not serve anyone's interests,” stated Osborne. He insisted that Thomas' cancellation “does not represent a political shift in the paper.”
Osborne claimed the Union-Tribune cancelled liberal commentator's Robert Scheer's column at the same time it axed Thomas and offered this as proof that it was a balanced decision. Thomas countered that dumping Scheer's column “is hardly equivalent” because Scheer's column only appears in about 20 newspapers while Thomas boasts a circulation of over 500 newspapers.
Thomas is not the first conservative to be ousted recently by the Union-Tribune. Political Cartoonist and editorial board member Steve Kelley was fired earlier this year. Kelley, who had been with the paper for 20 years and won numerous awards, said that senior editorial staff made it clear they wanted a change and began “trying to make life unbearable.”
Kelley was finally fired in May of this year, just two months after receiving a pay raise and what Kelley says was “the most positive performance appraisal” of his entire tenure at the newspaper.
“I was too conservative for [them],” said Kelley. The Union Tribune quickly hired left-leaning cartoonist Steve Breen to replace Kelley.
A senior staff member at the Union-Tribune said the recent retirement of Helen Copley and the elevation of her son David Copley earlier this year as publisher of the Union-Tribune, caused an ideological shift. The Union-Tribune is part of the family-owned company, Copley Newspapers. The source, who declined to be identified for this story, said all new hires by the paper have been “non-conservatives.”
The promotion of Osborne to Senior Editor is also seen as a factor in the newspaper's political shift. The source lamented that the Union-Tribune was once regarded as one of the most conservative dailies in the nation and is now “not much different editorially than the Los Angeles Times.”
Jim Holman, who is the editor of the weekly San Diego Reader, has written about the Union-Tribune's political shift. Holman said, “It is not a big surprise” that Thomas's column was dropped because he believes the paper's editorial stance has become increasingly “pro-abortion.”
Holman said that while the paper endorses many Republican candidates, the staff tends to be GOP “social liberals.”
Cal Thomas acknowledged that, “Every newspaper is entitled to decide who it will carry and who it will not.” But according to Thomas, “the Union-Tribune has been ridding itself of a number of conservatives under its new management. It wonders why circulation is dropping. It should be obvious,” he said.
ACTION: Please contact The San Diego Union Tribune with your comments about their decision to drop pro-life columnist Cal Thomas. You can contact the newspaper at: The San Diego Union-Tribune, PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191, (p) (619) 718-5200 or fax (619) 293-1440;
letters@uniontrib.com.
