Shaw Nuff

Is there evidence that the close association with the TCA has skewed the paper's coverage of the toll roads? The Times repeatedly sided with its pals on the OC Business Council to endorse building the controversial roads. To its credit, the paper has since published a few tough toll-road exposés; to its everlasting discredit, it has also produced numerous articles that could have come straight out of the TCA's slick PR office—like the one blaming frequent San Joaquin Hills toll-road accidents on drivers; the Timesmight have probed the possibility that TCA's penny-pinching construction shortcuts made bad-weather driving more hazardous. But then again, perhaps the Times' cozy tie to the TCA is just one of those "handful" of unethical "situations" Shaw wouldn't reveal.