I owe the staff of The Coast News an apology for my belated response to the polemic, “What happened to The Coast News?” North County exists pretty much in a news desert, and like it or not, this one publication is the only game in town for in-depth reporting on topics affecting this area.
As can be seen in the author’s shrill attack on the publication, people on the left are as capable of yelling “fake news” as any dedicated member of QAnon. In the aforementioned piece, a longtime surrogate of Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear posts a litany of complaints asserting that the publication “has taken a right turn.”
Mr. Degher’s piece neglects to note that he operates “Encinitas Progressive Unity,” which is a highly-biased Facebook echo chamber long known for its utter intolerance of divergent thought (As a matter of transparency, I also administer a couple of political Facebook groups in other communities.)
Degher states, “It feels as if you’re taking your news cues from online gossip sites like Encinitas Watchdog, Encinitas Votes and Nextdoor.”
I would suggest that the author remove the log from his eye, before speculating the other person has a speck in theirs. Included in his text is the usual litany of weaponized false victimhood that has become a trademark move often executed by certain ambitious local Democrats.
Here’s an example: Most all of us oppose antisemitism in all its forms. But a paper reporting on the highly controversial “safe parking” program is not remotely participating in whatever slurs (if any) the author and the Blakespear camp claim have been uttered by opponents.
They know it, so do we, and so does this piece’s author. Using ad hominem arguments like “guilt by association,” and slapping a label like “anti-semitism” on those who disagree, may be fine (not really) if you operate an echo chamber of similarly-minded folks.
But the author’s operation of a biased platform, designed to advance the careers of a handful of politicians, hardly gives him any room to question the efficacy of The Coast News and its reporting.
In contrast to any news source operating under journalistic canons, Mr. Degher and his adherents have little or no allegiance to the exposition of both sides to their often false narratives. A key job of the press is to provide “We the People” facts that may occasionally challenge each of our individual biases.
In the past, I have had concerns about the coverage of stories I was involved with. But having also been the target of certain denizens of “Encinitas Progressive Unity” and their sister group in Carlsbad, I’d take the scrutiny of journalists any day of the week.
The approach taken by this author and the daisy chain of similarly positioned platforms across North County has been to label someone as a hideous human for uttering divergent thought while being as cruel as possible to any and all that stand in their way.
Noel Breen
Former Carlsbad resident
