Torrance Officials to Discuss “Issues” with Pulitzer Prize Winning Daily Breeze

Daily Breeze Logo

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s council meeting Mayor Furey announced that they were planning on meeting with the Daily Breeze “to discuss a number of issues.”  That revelation came just hours after the Daily Breeze won journalism’s highest honor – the Pulitzer Prize.

With regard to the Pulitzer, the Daily Breeze Editorial Board released a statement noting that:

“The Pulitzer for the Breeze honors local reporting, which is fitting, since that’s what LANG [LA News Group] does best — watchdog reporting on a local level. While we are extremely honored by the prize, we are even happier that it draws attention to the work that drives us, the communities we care about and our commitment to them.

The Pulitzer is a win not just for this organization, but for communities in Southern California that deserve a good, honest government.”

Prior to mentioning the upcoming meeting with the Breeze, Mayor Furey joined Councilwoman Ashcraft in recognizing the Daily Breeze on the “well deserved” accomplishment. The congratulatory tone marked a stark contrast to how the Mayor has described Daily Breeze reporting in the past.

Indeed, in one of Furey’s first acts as Mayor he directed staff to prepare a solicitation for the next legal advertisement contract claiming that at least one additional publication, other than the current provider the Daily Breeze, had become qualified to meet the requirements.

In a separate council meeting, he publicly cautioned residents about the Daily Breeze exerting them to “consider the source” as the source in question was “generally incorrect.”  He then stated, “so don’t always believe everything you read.”

In another incident that came to light only a few months ago, Executive Editor and Vice President of LANG, Michael A. Anastasi, claimed that Mayor Furey met with a Managing Editor of the Daily Breeze and requested that local reporter Nick Green be removed from his current position. According to Anastasi, Furey then related that if Nick Green was not removed that he would no longer talk to the Daily Breeze. The absence of quotes from him in the local paper suggests Furey has lived up to that promise.

Interestingly, the Council recently took a strong stance against public officials having a personal agenda that goes beyond the scope of their duties when they removed Commissioner Arthur Plourde from his post.

Referring to that action Councilman Weideman commented that, “You can’t have a personal agenda and be a Commissioner, that’s not the purpose.” Councilman Griffiths echoed that thought by stating, “You have to take your personal feelings out of what is being addressed … you’re looking for the greater good of the community.”

How the Council would apply that same standard to the Mayor’s conduct with the Daily Breeze could prove fascinating. Is it within the scope of the Mayor’s duties, for example, to dictate job assignments to the Daily Breeze?

Furthermore, Plourde initially came under fire for advocating, perhaps too fervently, on behalf of an interpretation of California’s constitution he believed would restrict the libraries purchase of materials in foreign languages. With constitutional interpretation issues on the table, one might also wonder how the Council views the sacrosanct precept of the 1^st Amendment prohibiting the infringement of the freedom of the press and how that applies to Furey’s action with the Daily Breeze.

Whether the meeting leads to a thawing of what appears to have been a frosty relationship up to this point is yet to be seen, but at the very least the parties should not be bored due to a lack of issues to discuss.