The Fed Tapes: How the LA Times Won the Pulitzer

[ellisonz]

What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
The Fed Tapes: How the LA Times Won the Pulitzer
JULY 10, 2023

Last October, one the biggest news stories in Los Angeles and around the nation was the release of the Fed Tapes -- revealing an ugly, racist conversation between some of my council colleagues and the head of the labor federation. For me and my family, it was brutal and personally wrenching. For Los Angeles, it was a scandal of epic proportions. It was a window into the ugly souls of of some of the most powerful people in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times assigned dozens of reporters, editors and columnists to cover the story. The staff of the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of the story. In this episode of What's Next, Los Angeles, I talk about the story and how the paper covered it with two members of that award-winning team: Ben Oreskes, one of the reporters who covered the story - in fact the reporter who called me about the tapes and; Steve Clow, one of the editors who directed the coverage.

https://whatsnextlosangeles.buzzsprout.com/1414123/13192346-the-fed-tapes-how-the-la-times-won-the-pulitzer

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1. Huge story. How many of the elected officials involved resigned?

I'm saving the links to read later.

[ellisonz]

2. Only one. Former Council President Nury Martinez.

Councilmember Gil Cedillo had lost election and served out his full term until December. Kevin De León is still on the LA City Council. The President of the LA Fed Ron Herrera also resigned.

Kevin gave one interview after the scandal. Gil Cedillo issued a letter as did Nury Martinez. Otherwise they haven't said much about who they think wiretapped them. There was some confusion at the start as to whether they even wanted it reported, but the LAPD has an open investigation into the source of the main tape about redistricting. There's actually a second much newer recording of Herrera and another departed Council member's staffer talking about buying Democratic club endorsements. It's like a soap opera.

[ellisonz]

3. Here's my commentary:

By Zachary Ellison. Twitter @ZacharyObama. Photo of the Los Angeles Times headquarters building in El Segundo.

Link to: The Fed Tapes: How the LA Times Won the Pulitzer - What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin

The dangers of practicing investigative journalism in Los Angeles alone are immense. People wonder why I would have any interest in such a perilous adventure as this, but really it’s the stories that keep you going. For everyone source that I get, with the information that they carry, the more I slowly learn about the web of relationships that underwrite politics in Los Angeles. People think the whole city government must have gone corrupt, except of course so often if you talk about their particular candidate or representative. Practicing accountability journalism is often about keeping yourself accountable in gathering the facts and attempting to analyze them for meaningfulness. Doing so on a case as complicated as the LA Fed Tapes is truly perilous.

The slow grind versus the fast brew of fleshing truth from reality that is sometimes stranger than fiction. For this reason, I listened with excitement this last week to former LA City Councilmember and journalist Mike Bonin’s podcast with Los Angeles Times journalist Benjamin Oreskes and editor Steve Clow. The Los Angeles Times coverage of this Tapes scandal resulted in the Pulitzer Prize being awarded to the Times for Breaking News Reporting with a slew of reporters sharing in the award. Bonin who is targeted in the discussion heard on these recordings in the most hateful, bigoted scornful way particularly by former LA City Council President Nury Martinez admits to having mixed feelings about the award. As he notes, the source of the tapes is still officially unknown, the leaker “Honest-Finding-1581” having posted the recordings in clips on Reddit and then Tweeted it out under the unceremonious “LAunionLaundry” account on Twitter. That account lead the Los Angeles Police Department to a second Twitter account, perhaps the leaker had issues with remembering his account credentials to login or got met with a firewall?

https://zacharyellison.substack.com/p/la-fed-tapes-journalism-in-los-angeles