The Brief

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At the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a nonprofit paid former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa more than $380,000 to advise the governor for about 10 months on how to overhaul California’s approach to major infrastructure projects.

Touting his new infrastructure czar back in 2022, Newsom framed the partnership as a way to save taxpayers money. But California Forward, a nonprofit focused on economic development that was tasked with overseeing Villaraigosa’s work, could not cover the cost alone. As the project stretched on and initial costs more than doubled, California Forward turned to corporate donors to fill the gap — funders that have not been publicly disclosed until now.

Elected officials in California can solicit contributions, known as behested payments, to outside entities for a governmental or charitable purpose. Under state law, Newsom had to disclose that he asked California Forward to pay Villaraigosa.

But that disclosure requirement did not extend to California Forward, whose donors ultimately included organizations with an interest in state infrastructure projects. The nonprofit provided a list when CalMatters requested it, but the information was not otherwise available and is still not on any public disclosure forms.

California Forward said it raised $118,800 from a dozen donors to pay Villaraigosa’s salary and for events and travel for the project, including $30,000 from the Port of San Diego, $17,500 from SoCalGas and $10,000 each from Doordash, Disney, Southern California Edison, AT&T and the California Communications Association.

Many questions remain about why the Newsom administration took this approach, how the financial arrangement with Villaraigosa and California Forward came together, and if this approach upholds the spirit of disclosure rules for behested payments.

Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, a nonprofit that advocates for government in the public interest, compared California Forward’s role to a “clearinghouse” that allowed special interests to pay for the project without the usual disclosures that would have been required if Newsom had asked the organizations for the funding himself.

“It’s a loophole in the behested payment law,” McMorris said, “because it’s relevant information that the public and the press have a right to know.”

Newsom's office won't answer questions

The governor’s office, representatives from the nonprofit and Villaraigosa all praise the project as a win for California, which led the state to streamline construction of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects.

But the governor’s office declined to make anyone available to speak with CalMatters about the project and refused to answer a list of questions, including:

• Where did the idea come from to hire Villaraigosa? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• Was anyone else considered for the role? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• Why did the governor feel that someone within the Newsom administration could not perform the same function? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• How did they settle on an outside funder to pay Villaraigosa? The governor’s office refused to answer. 

Villaraigosa is now a candidate for governor pledging to “jumpstart” home, energy and transportation construction in California. His stint as infrastructure adviser is his most significant public service since he left the Los Angeles mayor’s office in 2013.

In an interview, Villaraigosa said he has no qualms about how much he earned for the position: $35,000 per month, plus expenses, to travel from the Oregon border to the Mexico border meeting with stakeholders and then produce a report with recommendations for speeding up infrastructure development.

Though he did not stop his other consulting work through the global firm Actum during that period, Villaraigosa said his role as infrastructure adviser was close to full-time and “pretty much took a front seat.”

By the time he stepped down 10 and a half months later, California had a glossy report and five new laws on the books, and Villaragoisa had earned $381,820 for his work. That’s more than California Forward paid its chief executive officer that year, tax filings show, and nearly $160,000 more than the governor’s own state salary.

“I think it was a huge return on investment for the state. And that’s what they offered,” Villaraigosa said. “I know I can say that California Forward and the governor’s office felt like I went above and beyond.”

How the deal came about

In the wake of the passage of the federal infrastructure bill in late 2021, the Newsom administration was looking to maximize California’s access to an expected $550 billion in newly authorized spending over the next few years.

So in August 2022, the governor brought on Villaraigosa to “design strategies to advance the State’s priorities and interests,” “serve as the key State liaison for local elected officials interested in federal infrastructure funding,” “provide input for and assist in development of messages” and “maintain regular contact” with federal policymakers, among other duties, according to a memo prepared that September by Newsom’s then-chief of staff Jim DeBoo.

It’s not entirely unusual for Newsom to turn to outside consultants for state government projects. In 2020, he notably convened a star-studded task force of business leaders, led by the former hedge fund manager and presidential candidate Tom Steyer, during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic to help guide his reopening strategy. The participants were not compensated.

But the Villaraigosa appointment raised eyebrows because Newsom was pulling a former political rival into his orbit. They had faced off during the 2018 gubernatorial primary, where Villaraigosa finished third, which Newsom alluded to during a joint press conference announcing his role.

“I remember running against this guy saying, the one thing I can’t run against is how effective he was on drawing down federal funding as mayor of Los Angeles,” Newsom said.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks during a gubernatorial candidates’ event hosted by the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO and the State Building and Construction Trades Council at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento on May 12, 2025.

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Villaraigosa was also notably not formally joining the Newsom administration or volunteering his time. Rather, he would be paid for his work, at the governor’s request, by California Forward.

Villaraigosa said he was approached about the infrastructure adviser position by DeBoo — who once served as chief legislative representative in his mayoral office — after the governor’s office had gone through a number of other people. Villaraigosa said he was told that all states had somebody to coordinate their relationship with the federal government on infrastructure and he had the best experience to guide California. DeBoo did not return multiple calls and emails requesting an interview.

Despite his contentious relationship with Newsom during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Villaraigosa immediately accepted the job.

“We both had a dream. We wanted to be governor. But it wasn’t personal,” Villaraigosa said. “We had a long relationship.”

He said he was not surprised to be asked, because of his past accomplishments on infrastructure projects in Los Angeles, which had even led him to be considered for transportation secretary in President Barack Obama’s second term.

Villaraigosa said the governor’s office offered to pay him and he agreed, without much negotiation over his fee. The compensation was always going to come from an outside group, he said, which Villaraigosa preferred, because being employed by the state would have involved too much bureaucracy.

“I didn’t want those complications,” he said. He did not elaborate further.

'That's where the ick factor sets in'

California Forward is best known for its annual economic summit bringing together California elected officials and civic leaders, which has featured Newsom as a speaker nearly every year since he became governor.

Villaraigosa led “stakeholder engagement” and gave “strategic advice” to the nonprofit as he worked on the infrastructure project, according to details from the financial records filed with the state.

Former California Forward CEO Micah Weinberg called the arrangement a “fantastic success,” with Villaraigosa’s recommendations leading to new laws to speed up the construction of green infrastructure in the state.

“In an era of people questioning government expenditures, this is just about one of the best deals that the government has ever gotten, because it didn’t cost the government and the California taxpayers anything at all,” Weinberg said.

California Forward’s fundraising and other revenue dropped by nearly two-thirds, to about $2.7 million, during the 2022-23 fiscal year, its federal income tax filing shows. Still, the nonprofit paid Villaraigosa more than Weinberg — who made $303,214 in that period — pulling from its reserves to cover most of the former mayor’s salary.

Both the governor’s office and California Forward said Newsom had no role in soliciting corporate donors for the project, meaning there was no legal obligation to report the fundraising to the state.

Taxpayers consequently had less insight into who was paying for a project with significant implications for the future of major public works in the state.

Weinberg defended the financial arrangement for creating a separation between California Forward’s fiscal sponsors and the final recommendations. He said Villaraigosa did not know which donors were funding the project and there was no quid pro quo.

“It was an initiative that was paid for by a nonprofit organization that has hundreds of supporters, which I think is a better way of doing this,” he said.

But McMorris, the transparency, ethics, and accountability program manager for California Common Cause, argues that this is an “ethically suspect” way of using behested payments, because it buries the true sources of funding.

“It looks better politically if an innocuous nonprofit is giving the money,” he said, even though it’s really special interest groups that are paying. “They don’t even have to report that they’re giving money to the third party. That’s where the ick factor sets in.”

McMorris said it’s important for the government to use taxpayer money for its priorities, because it holds elected officials accountable to do things that they believe are defensible to their voters.

“This is what taxpayer money is for,” he said. “I don’t understand this idea that we’re just going to outsource government to the private sector, because now you introduce all this conflict of interest and the possibility for conflict of interest, which then results in the end result potentially being tainted.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a press conference at a Home Depot in San Jose to sign retail crime legislation into law on Aug. 16, 2024.

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'He helped set the tone for the conversations'

During his year as Newsom’s infrastructure adviser, Villaraigosa participated in more than 180 meetings, tours, roundtables, events, calls, and Zooms for the infrastructure report, his spokesperson said. That included a trip to Washington, D.C. in September 2023, after he was no longer being paid for his work, to meet with congressional leaders such as then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and California’s Democratic delegation about infrastructure funding.

Villaraigosa consulted with former advisers from Los Angeles, who volunteered their insights for the project, and got the Boston Consulting Group to help write the final report pro bono.

But he was primarily assisted by California Forward staffers, including Ismael Herrera, who joined Villaraigosa on a statewide listening tour throughout the final months of 2022, coordinating with the governor’s office about who to invite to the sessions and taking notes. Herrera said the project consumed about half his work time during that period, traveling to rural communities with Villaraigosa, then sitting for hourslong listening sessions, plus making site visits and doing prep work.

Those conversations — which also focused on the impacts of infrastructure projects for the workforce and the environment — involved public transportation agencies, local and regional government officials, water districts, universities and community colleges, community organizations and nonprofits, faith-based and environmental justice groups, labor unions and more, Herrera said.

“I thought (Villaraigosa’s) involvement was very valuable and he put a lot of time and effort into this,” Herrera said. “He helped set the tone for the conversations, and also did a lot of listening, a lot answering questions that people had.”

The governor’s office said the listening sessions were not considered open meetings subject to California’s public records laws.

The recommendations ultimately informed a package of bills, introduced by Newsom in May 2023, aimed at speeding up construction of big infrastructure projects by streamlining the state approval process. After facing pushback from environmental groups, a version of the package passed the Legislature about a month later.

“I was given great latitude,” Villaraigosa said. “Obviously these were recommendations. I was doing this on behalf of the governor. But the governor and his staff made almost no changes to our proposals.”

The governor’s office cited Senate Bill 149 — which sets a 270-day limit for wrapping up environmental lawsuits for water, energy, transportation and semiconductor projects that are certified by the governor — as the most significant change.

Since then, four projects have received certification for this expedited review, including Sites Reservoir, a controversial plan to build the state’s first new reservoir in more than 50 years in Colusa County.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

A normally sleepy school board race in northeast Long Beach has gotten an unexpected injection of partisan politics and campaign spending this year.

For 14 years, incumbent Long Beach Unified Trustee Diana Craighead has easily held onto the District 5 seat. First appointed to the board in 2012 to fill an empty spot, she has often won re-election without facing a challenger. This year, though, it’s a three-way race among Craighead, grassroots organizer Sara Pol-Lim and charter school teacher Maureen Flaherty. Flaherty’s presence in particular, and her association with a national conservative group Moms for Liberty, has raised the stakes and spurred powerful players in Long Beach education to try to influence the outcome.

Flaherty has advocated for vaccine choice rather than mandates, barring trans girls from girls’ sports and curriculum that “educate[s], not indoctrinate[s].” She also wants parents to have more control over the types of books students have access to in school.

She has collected endorsements from a litany of conservative politicians, including gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco, the current sheriff of Riverside County. Her ties with Moms for Liberty, an organization that has advocated for book censorship and against curriculum on critical race theory and LGBTQ rights, have spurred LBUSD teachers to organize against her.

The Teachers Association of Long Beach, the union that represents thousands of certificated employees in the district, has thrown its weight behind Craighead — some members motivated less by Craighead’s platform than by fear of a win for Flaherty.

Chris Callopy, executive director of TALB, lived and taught in Orange Unified in the 1990s and 2000s when voters elected and later recalled conservative school board candidates, what Callopy called “precursors to the current MAGA and Moms for Liberty movements.”

At a union meeting last month, Callopy warned his membership that a similar school board takeover in Long Beach could threaten their civil rights and protections as teachers — especially for members of the LGBTQ community. “This is crisis mode,” Callopy said, “Pay attention and get involved.”

In response, TALB has endorsed Craighead and so far used about $45,000 in political action committee funding to support her campaign — including through mailers, opposition research, door-knocking and even an attack ad against Flaherty that claims she is “Too MAGA for school board” and “Wrong for our kids.”

Flaherty said TALB is misrepresenting her priorities.

“They’re attacking me without knowing my real positions,” she said, adding, “I’m not one thing. I have multiple beliefs.” She clarified that she wants all students to thrive and feel they belong in school and that she voted for gay rights in the past.

She’s been critical of teachers unions, saying they protect lazy educators. Flaherty said TALB’s campaign against her shows they’re afraid she has a real shot, even with Long Beach’s Democrat-heavy electorate. “They’re obviously worried that I have a chance of winning or they wouldn’t be doing that,” she said.

Craighead and her other challenger, Sara Pol-Lim, espouse more liberal political ideologies.

Craighead has championed a model of governance that aims to boost student performance and close equity gaps — focusing on the performance of Black students in particular. Though outcomes have lagged, Craighead has vowed to “stay the course” in the hopes that more significant improvements are on the horizon. She supports, and voted for, the district’s equity policy and inclusion of the district’s immigrant community.

Pol-Lim, who arrived in California as a Cambodian refugee in 1983, said she jumped into the race relatively late for pragmatic reasons. She decided she couldn’t “afford to just be a bystander anymore” when she learned about the district’s $70 million deficit and declining enrollment. She has advocated for a proactive approach to balancing the district’s budget by seeking alternative funding sources. And she says promoting student and teacher belonging could be keys to boosting both retention and outcomes, she said.

Pol-Lim has raised more than $19,000 for her campaign, primarily small monetary donations from individuals and organizations across the city, she said, as well as a loan to herself and about $3,000 in in-kind donations. Flaherty has raised less than $2,000 in total. And Craighead’s campaign has amassed more than $50,000, mostly in donations and in-kind support from TALB as well as some direct donations. She’s also accumulated endorsements from Long Beach’s largely liberal political establishment, including Mayor Rex Richardson, Rep. Robert Garcia, State Sen. Lena Gonzalez and Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be provided, under unspecified procedures, after President Trump paused a U.S. military effort to guide merchant vessels through the strategic waterway.

"With the end of the aggressors' threats and in light of new procedures, safe and sustainable transit through the strait will be facilitated," the Revolutionary Guard's navy command said in an online statement. It did not give details about the new terms.

The Strait of Hormuz — an important passageway for oil, fertilizer and other goods — has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran on Feb. 28, disrupting global energy supplies and pushing up fuel prices. Iran has attacked commercial ships that want to transit the strait without its approval. The U.S. has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports since mid-April.

Moments after the Iranian statement, President Trump wrote online that the war would end once an agreement was reached with Iran, but he warned that U.S. bombing would resume if not.

"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran," Trump said. "If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before."

Iran has confirmed receiving a U.S. proposal and said it is under review.

"The American plan and proposal is still being reviewed by Iran, and after summing up its points of view, Iran will convey its views to the Pakistani side," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Iran's state ISNA news agency on Wednesday, referring to mediating country Pakistan that has relayed messages and hosted talks between Iran and the U.S. NPR has not confirmed the details of the proposal.

This is a developing story that will be updated.
Copyright 2026 NPR

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Ted Turner — the bullish founder of CNN and a suite of other cable channels, not to mention a bison steakhouse, a non profit designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and an international sports competition — died Wednesday at the age of 87. He had announced just before his 80th birthday that he had Lewy Body Dementia, a degenerative disease that causes dementia and muscle failure.

Turner never seemed at a loss for brass or chutzpah.

"If Alexander the Great could conquer the known world, why couldn't I start CNN?" Turner once told Oprah Winfrey.

He launched the Cable News Network — the nation's first continuous all-news television station — on June 1, 1980, at a converted Jewish country club in Atlanta. The network broadcast news 24/7 from that point on and indeed built a global array of bureaus.

Former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan says Turner took inspiration from 24-hour radio stations that relayed news headlines, and endless sports highlights on ESPN. Turner remained baffled why the broadcast giants — ABC, NBC and CBS — hadn't launched cable stations.

"To him it was just the most logical thing in the world and he couldn't understand why nobody else was doing it," Jordan says. "So he was going to do it."

Sixteen years later, NBC (in partnership with Microsoft) and Fox would launch sibling cable news channels. Each ultimately found success by embracing strong (though opposing) points of view. Broadcast networks subsequently sought to replicate the original cable ethos with stripped down streaming services.

Turner, a colorful figure with a Southern drawl and rail-thin mustache, had pronounced views himself, often (though not exclusively) of a liberal bent. But he wanted his station to reflect the news, not ideology. He thought human understanding across borders would benefit from reporting on stories and people around the world.

"He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder — and he thought there would be a market for it," Jordan says.

Ted Turner sits in his office in October 1986. "He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder," says former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan.

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Turner often carried a mischievous twinkle in his eye. And his values had been incubated in an earlier era.

Jordan joined CNN in 1982 while he was still in college, working overnights as a desk assistant during his first few years. Back then, Turner often slept in a pull-down Murphy bed in his office above the newsroom. He would come down to the newsroom to grab coffee, Jordan recalls, but did not usually interact with the staff. The first time they met, Jordan says, was because Turner had a guest.

"It was Raquel Welch," Jordan says. "They were both in bathrobes. And Ted was so proud of himself for having such good company that he introduced himself and Raquel Welch to everyone in the newsroom at 4 o'clock in the morning."

"Chicken Noodle News"

CNN has been a mainstay of television journalism for so long it's hard to remember that it was often underestimated in its infancy.

In the 1980s, many people didn't understand what the fuss was about, longtime broadcast journalist Joie Chen recalls.

"Many people didn't even have cable yet. I didn't have cable growing up," says Chen, who joined CNN as an international anchor in 1991. "In those early years, you know, CNN was just considered 'Chicken Noodle News' and Ted Turner was at first just considered a dilettante."

CNN became a training ground for journalists who would be hired by better paying outlets. Chen left CNN in 2001, later working at CBS and Al Jazeera.

"Look, we were young and at times very shoddy, but we were the only game in town and we did some extraordinary things," Jordan says.

Over time, whenever news was happening, CNN was there. CNN broadcasted live when catastrophe struck the space shuttle Challenger and its crew in 1986.

And in 1991, CNN experienced a defining moment — effectively owning television coverage of the first U.S.-led war against Iraq. It was the only U.S. network able to broadcast live from Baghdad as bright flashes from bombs lit the sky.

Anchor Bernard Shaw and Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Peter Arnett were among those CNN journalists who projected calm under fire.

Chen recalls Turner never intended for his journalists to become famous and, she contends, he underpaid his staff.

"We were always told Ted's mantra was, 'You are not the star; the news is the star," she says. She left CNN at the end of 2001.

Competition grows

Even as he struck an exuberant tone, Turner's mood could swing to depression. He also battled again and again with rival media tycoon Rupert Murdoch – and even threatened to do so with his fists in Las Vegas, as The Guardian recounted.

Murdoch's New York Post in turn questioned Turner's sanity. Meanwhile, Turner maintained a friendly rapport with the late Cuban autocrat Fidel Castro.

Ted Turner and his actress wife, Jane Fonda, at their wedding ceremony in 1991.

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In later years, as CNN competed not just with other cable channels but digital news outlets and social media, it lagged behind its TV peers in ratings. Executives turned over prime time to higher-rated opinion panel discussions featuring ideological clashes.

Conservatives and pro-Trump commentators repeatedly accused the network of listing to the left.

But it retained its journalistic DNA to a significant extent, rising to the moment as its reporting teams covered political developments, natural disasters and armed conflicts. That was part of Turner's legacy too.

Turner married and divorced three times; his third marriage was to Hollywood and fitness star Jane Fonda in 1991.

He also took on lots of debt – and investors – to make ambitious deals at a time when his main rivals, including Murdoch, were launching all-news cable stations. Eventually, it became too much.

In 1996, Turner sold CNN and the rest of his company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., to Time Warner for about $7.34 billion – a move he deeply regretted. A few years later – in 2000 – Time Warner sold itself to AOL, against Turner's wishes. The AOL deal is considered one of the worst mergers in U.S. corporate history. Turner has called it "one of the biggest disasters that have occurred to our country."

In 2001, his marriage to Fonda — a source of strength – ended. And shortly after that, he was completely out at AOL, separating from the company he'd spent a half-century building.

"I lost Jane. I lost my job here," Turner said in a 2012 interview on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight.

He added, earning laughter from Morgan, "I lost my fortune, most of it, got a billion or two left. You can get by on that if you economize,"

Yet he demonstrated resilience. "You carry on. And I found other things to do."

"Other things to do"

Turner had been finding other things to do for years. He was relentlessly competitive and an accomplished yachtsman — he won the America's Cup sailing competition in 1977.

In the 1970s, Turner bought a television station and made it into the national "superchannel" now known as TBS; He also bought the Atlanta Braves to ensure content for it. The Braves became one of the nation's most popular baseball teams during the generation he owned or ran it; the team appeared repeatedly in the World Series in the 1990s and early aughts.

In 1986, Turner launched the Goodwill Games, an international competition meant to bypass the Cold War fights that had broken out over the Olympics. It lasted until 2001.

Turner hoisted the Commissioner's Trophy after his Atlanta Braves won the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.

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In 1997, as Turner was being honored by the United Nations, he pledged to donate a billion dollars to it. With that money, he created what's known as The UN Foundation that has helped the international institution endure.

As the years progressed, Turner created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to secure loose nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics and elsewhere. He also gave widely to conservation and anti-global warming efforts. His philanthropy helped inspire the "Giving Pledge" of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and other billionaires – and he was one of the first signatories to it.

He also founded Ted's Montana Grill with hopes of making bison a popular alternative to beef. Turner had been raising bison on his many ranches, and saw the restaurant chain as a way to reach customers while saving the species from extinction.

"I was 10 years old when I first read about them," he told Bethesda Magazine in 2015. "I said then I was going to work hard, see if I can make some money, and then I'm going to buy some land and raise bison and see if I can get the herd back away from the door of extinction."

In his final years, the flamboyant showman retreated from the public eye. Ever direct, he publicly acknowledged his affliction with Lewy Body Dementia, or LBD, in 2018. He spent much of his later life out of the public eye, whether in Atlanta or riding horses and fishing at his vast properties in Montana.

Copyright 2026 NPR

LAist reports on local issues for — and with — communities across Southern California, but chances are most readers have never spoken with a journalist before. Your stories and experiences power our reporting, so it’s important that people know what to expect when they speak with a reporter.

That’s what this guide is for.

Below are some tips from our newsroom on what to keep in mind when talking to a journalist.

Remember: You are the expert on your own life

Tell the story you want to tell about yourself.

Be honest. Truthfulness and facts are central to journalistic ethics.

Also know your worth. Reporters come to you for a reason. They may be intimidating because they have a mic or a camera, but you have a perspective they need. Media outlets also want to expand their audiences, and that includes you.

Common questions

How can I get a journalist’s attention?

Contact reporters by social media or send them a personal email — at LAist, contact information is available on our staff page. If you meet a reporter, get their business card. It will usually have a direct phone number to talk with them.

Will all my words be published?

Probably not. Journalists are often working with a limited word count or air time. They will likely use one short sound bite or quote from you. It’s also possible they will not use your interview at all. Reporters and their editors decide what will get published.

Can I see a copy of the story before it's published?

Probably not. It is against journalistic ethics to have sources review a story before it’s published. Imagine if a journalist were to do a piece about government corruption. You wouldn’t want the government agency to review the story and edit it. Editors review stories for accuracy.

When will the story be published?

It depends on the type of story. Some stories are short and may air on the radio or be published online the same day you talk to the reporter. Other times a reporter might work on a story for several weeks or months. It’s OK to follow up with the reporter who talked to you and ask when the story might be done and ask them to let you know where you can read or hear it.

Can I speak with a fact-checker?

You are welcome to ask reporters about their fact-checking process or how they make sure a story is accurate. Not all outlets have fact-checkers. If the story is an investigative story or a long-form or magazine format, designated fact-checkers are more common. At LAist, reporters and editors are responsible for verifying information.

What if I am asked about something that makes me feel uncomfortable?

Your story is your own and during an interview you have full control over what you say to a reporter. Answer questions in any way that makes you feel most comfortable, and you can always decline to answer a question.

What do I do if a reporter asks me about my immigration status?

You don't have to disclose your immigration status to a reporter. If it's directly relevant to the story, a trustworthy reporter will explain that and also tell you how they'd handle the information. You can decline to answer.

• More on how LAist handles this topic

How do I determine if the newsroom I'm speaking with has a specific point of view?

It's a great question and relates directly to media literacy — meaning how well you can spot misinformation, disinformation and bias. The reality is that we all have points of view. Here are some tools to check on where a publication falls across the political spectrum:

• FAIR's (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting), which describes itself as a "progressive media watchdog group" has this media literacy guide.
• PEW Research Center, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan nonadvocacy organization, has information on sources most popular with different political perspectives
• You should be able to find information on who funds the work on the site (corporations, individual owners, subscribers, members and so on).
• You can also check out this interactive chart tracking media outlets across the political spectrum (note that you may need a paid version to search smaller outlets). Ad Fontes Media, which describes itself as a "public benefit corporation" which they said means they are "a for-profit business with a stated public mission," has been publishing its analysis since 2018.

Is everything I say usable in a story?

You can come to an agreement with reporters ahead of the conversation about how your words can be used:

• “On the record”: This means that everything you say in your conversation with the journalist can be quoted, published and attributed back to you. By default, you should assume any exchange you have with a journalist is on the record unless you mutually agree otherwise. 
• “On background”: This means that you are sharing information with a journalist that can be referenced in a story, but is not directly attributed to you. 
• “Off the record”: This means that you are sharing information that is not for publication. People may share experiences or tips off the record if they want the journalist to be aware of the information but don’t want it mentioned in a story. Remember that “off the record” only counts if both you and the journalist agree to it. 

It's worth noting that different newsrooms may use these terms slightly differently. You should confirm with the reporter that you have as shared understanding of the meaning.

Do I need to pay to be in a news story? Can I get paid?

No and no. You will not pay or get paid to be in a news story because this is against journalistic ethics. Anyone who receives payment for a story could be swayed to bend the truth.

What if the reporter gets my story wrong?

If you feel that the reporter misrepresented your story, you can ask for a correction or an update to clarify a point. Reporters want to get the story right and they don't want to incorrect or misleading information to go unchecked. That said, corrections deal with information that is factually incorrect, so you should be ready to explain what was wrong and why. Under California law, you have 20 days to demand a correction and the publisher has to respond within a set period of time.

• More on California civil defamation claims and the definition of defamation.

How can I prepare for an interview?

Think about the main points you want to get across in your interview. What are the most critical things for the reporter to know? Some people like to organize their thoughts into three major points. If you are not used to telling your story, you may want to have a friend ask you some questions to practice. Depending on the story, a reporter may also ask if you have any pictures to share that they can use to help tell the story.

Get involved with LAist

Ask LAist reporters questions

You can reach out to LAist reporters through the contact information listed on their bios. All our editorial staff, including the teams reporting, editing and producing news, are listed here.

How else you can be a part of LAist's reporting

Aside from contacting journalists directly, you can share your story with LAist through short surveys and meeting us in person. Learn more here.

This guide was originally written by former LAist early childhood producer Stefanie Ritoper, with contributions from Mariana Dale. Cato Hernández and David Rodriguez also contributed to this guide.