''Los Cerritos Community News'', also known as ''Cerritos Community News'', is a local weekly newspaper published in California. It covers the cities of Artesia, Bellflower,

Buena Park Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 mil ...

, Cerritos,

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

Downey Downey may refer to: People *Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US *Downey, Idaho, US *Downey, Iowa, US Businesses *W. & D. Downey, photographic studio *Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Schools * ...

Hawaiian Gardens Hawaiian Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the smallest city in the county in area (approximately 1.0 mi2) and was incorporated on April 9, 1964. The population was 14,254 at the 2010 census, down fro ...

, East

Lakewood Lakewood may refer to: Places Australia * Lakewood, Western Australia, an abandoned town in Western Australia Canada * Lakewood, Edmonton, Alberta * Lakewood Suburban Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Philippines * Lakewood, Zamboanga del S ...

La Mirada La Mirada (Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre for ...

, La Palma, Norwalk, and

Pico Rivera Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as the ...

. It publishes its papers on Fridays and has won fourteen Los Angeles Press Club awards. Brian Hews is the newspaper's sole editor, publisher, and owner. Much of the paper's revenue comes from mandatory public notices placed by cities and government programs. It has been criticized for publishing negative and false stories relating to local political figures.

History

The newspaper received much attention in 2012 when it published a story alleging

Los Angeles County Assessor The Los Angeles County Assessor is the assessor and officer of the government of Los Angeles County responsible for discovering all taxable property in Los Angeles County, except for state-assessed property, to inventory and list all the taxable ...

John Noguez of corruption. Multiple people then spoke out about Hews' exclusive control over the newspaper and his subjectiveness being carried over into the paper. Ron Beilke, a city council member in Pico Rivera, said that Hews tended to ally with certain figures and people he likes. The former editor of the paper, who quit in 2013, Jerry Bernstein, explained that Hews would falsify and exaggerate facts about people that he did not like, without any substantiation. Hews faced a lawsuit for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

in 2017, after reporting that the director of the Central Basin Water board, Leticia Vasquez, and Montebello councilmember, Vanessa Delgado, tried to extort money from a real estate firm the year before. Vasquez denied the charges, and Hews was later fined $2,500 because he withheld evidence without any legal justification. During the lawsuit, Randy Economy, the reporter for the Noguez story, and Bernstein filed declarations claiming that Hews "regularly published false stories about public officials he feuded with or who did not support his newspaper via advertising." Hews received national scrutiny in 2014 when

Jim Romenesko Jim Romenesko (born September 16, 1953) is an American journalist in Evanston, Illinois. His eponymous blog provides daily news, commentary, and insider information about journalism and media. Romenesko also ran the blog ''Starbucks Gossip'', which ...

wrote about him in his blog, claiming that Hews copied some of sportscaster Dale Hansen's commentary on

Michael Sam Michael Alan Sam Jr. (born January 7, 1990) is an American professional football defensive lineman for the Barcelona Dragons in the European League of Football. A defensive end, Sam played college football for the Missouri Tigers and was drafted ...

in his column. Hews later wrote on

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that it was "an honest mistake".

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Cerritos, California Mass media in Los Angeles County, California Mass media in Orange County, California Weekly newspapers published in California