Transparency in newspaper endorsements

The Los Angeles Times editorial pages don't get as much use out of their website as I expected — the blogroll would have been light in 2006, for instance — but today the department unveiled something interesting. For the first time, you can listen to audio and read partial transcripts of Times editors quizzing the named advocates for and against local measures on the March 3 Los Angeles ballot. Visitors are invited to pose questions the editors missed, add a comment or make other suggestions before the paper publishes its endorsements. Today's entry is charter amendment E, which would allow the City Council and mayor to offer cash, tax reduction, or other incentives to get businesses to locate here. They'll get to Measures A and B in the near future.