David Shaw (January 4, 1943 – August 1, 2005) was an American journalist. He was best known for his reporting for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', where he was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

. He wrote criticism of food, wine, and film, but is perhaps best known for taking a critical eye on the media itself.Thurber, Jon
""David Shaw, 62; Prize-Winning Times Writer Forged New Standards for Media Criticism"
''

'', August 2, 2005. Accessed April 23, 2009.

Life

His first job in the journalism field arose after taking a job when he was 16 years old as a janitor for a company that published a motorcycle newspaper, and earning a job as a reporter after covering a race when one of the staff didn't show up. Within five months he was the publication's editor.Manly, Lorne
"David Shaw, 62, Dies; Media Critic Took On His Paper"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 3, 2005. Accessed April 22, 2009. He attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

, earning a degree in English when he graduated in 1965.

Journalism

He began working at the '' Huntington Park Signal'' while he was in college. He was hired as a reporter by the ''

Long Beach Independent The ''Press-Telegram'' is a paid daily newspaper published in Long Beach, California. Coverage area for the ''Press-Telegram'' includes Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Compton, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Ly ...

'' the year after he graduated and was hired by the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1968. In 1974, he was given an assignment by the paper's editor under which he would cover the news media. In 2002, he was given a column that was printed twice a week, once about news media and once about food and wine. During his tenure at the ''Los Angeles Times'', Shaw was given the opportunity to spend weeks to months working on an investigation of a single topic that drew his attention, in contrast to the typical day-by-day reporting of most covering the news media. Shaw was more than willing to address issues at the ''Times'' itself, including a four-part series published in 1990 that showed that the paper had a record for employing and advancing minority workers that was one of the worst in the area. A 1999 report, running to 37,000 words, documented an unpublicized deal between the paper and the

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999; it w ...

under which a special Sunday supplement covering the arena would be published, with the proceeds from advertising split between the two, a deal considered to violate the "

Chinese wall A Chinese wall or ethical wall is an information barrier protocol within an organization designed to prevent exchange of information or communication that could lead to conflicts of interest. For example, a Chinese wall may be established to sep ...

" preventing

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

between the editorial and business portions of the paper. The report publicly criticized the parent company's CEO Mark H. Willes, publisher Kathryn M. Downing, and Shaw's boss, editor

Michael Parks Michael Parks (born Harry Samuel Parks; April 24, 1940 – May 9, 2017) was an American singer and actor. He appeared in many films and made frequent television appearances, notably starring in the 1969–1970 series '' Then Came Bronson'', but ...

. He was awarded the

for his coverage of the

McMartin preschool trial The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case in the 1980s, prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were charged with hu ...

and its claims that workers there had sexually abused children and performed Satanic rituals, which were later disproved and none of the accused were convicted after a trial that continued for several years. Shaw's investigations started after the verdicts were first released, and led him to conclude that the media did not perform investigative coverage of the prosecution's case, a failure that might have led to the earlier realization that the evidence offered in the case was "incredibly weak", as described by

Ira Reiner Ira Kenneth Reiner (born February 15, 1936) is an American attorney and politician who served as the Los Angeles City Attorney from 1981 to 1984 and Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1984 to 1992. The McMartin preschool trial occurred dur ...

, who had served as

Los Angeles County District Attorney The District Attorney of Los Angeles County is in charge of the office that prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within Los Angeles County, California, United States. The current district attorney (DA) is George Gascón. Some ...

during the time of the trial. Books written by Shaw included his 1973 celebrity biography of

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely reg ...

, titled ''Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door''. He also wrote the 1974 book ''The Levy Caper'', ''Journalism Today: A Changing Press for a Changing America'' was published by

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

in 1977, ''Press Watch'' came out in 1986, and he wrote his final published book in 1996, ''The Pleasure Police: How Bluenose Busybodies and Lily-Livered Alarmists Are Taking All the Fun Out of Life'', published by Doubleday.

Personal

Shaw died at age 62 on August 1, 2005 at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over ...

in Los Angeles due to a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

Cultural references

Cellist Melora Creager wrote a song titled "Border Village" on her solo CD '' Perplexions'' in which David Shaw is mentioned in the last line as having died alone at 62.

Web sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, David 1943 births 2005 deaths American reporters and correspondents Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Writers from Dayton, Ohio Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners University of California, Los Angeles alumni Journalists from Ohio James Beard Foundation Award winners 20th-century American journalists American male journalists