''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'', also known as ''MetNews'' or ''Met News'', is a small daily legal newspaper published in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California.

History

The ''Enterprise'' newspaper was founded in 1901 and the ''Metropolitan News'' in 1945. The two newspapers merged to become ''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'' in 1987. The newspaper's co-publishers are lawyers Roger Grace and Jo-Ann Grace, a husband-and-wife team.

Influence

MetNews is well known for its thorough coverage of judicial campaigns in the Los Angeles area. For example, in 2008 the newspaper determined that

William Daniel Johnson William Daniel Johnson (born 1954) is an American white nationalist, attorney, and the chairman of the American Freedom Party. Background Johnson graduated from Brigham Young University where he majored in Japanese and later served as a Morm ...

, a candidate for Los Angeles County Superior Court, was "a white supremacist who has advocated the deportation of non-whites from the United States." The newspaper began honoring selected legal professionals as “Persons of the Year" in 1983. Since then, honorees have included

Tani Cantil-Sakauye Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye ( née Cantil; born October 19, 1959) is an American lawyer and jurist who was the 28th Chief Justice of California and is the president/ CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Nominated by Governor Arnold Sch ...

Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence Cooley (born May 1, 1947) is an American politician and prosecutor. He was the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 2000 to 2012. Cooley was re-elected in 2004 and again in 2008. In 2010, Cooley won the Republican nominati ...

George Deukmejian Courken George Deukmejian Jr. (; June 6, 1928 – May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. Of Armenian descent, Deukmejian was a member of the Republican Party and he also served ...

Ronald M. George Ronald Marc George (born March 11, 1940) is an American jurist. He previously served as the 27th Chief Justice of California from 1996 to 2011. Governor of California, Governor Pete Wilson appointed George as an associate justice of the Supreme Co ...

Mildred Lillie Mildred Loree Lillie (January 25, 1915 – October 27, 2002) was an American jurist. She served as a judge for 55 years in the state of California with a career that spanned from 1947 until her death in 2002. In 1958, she became the second woman t ...

Dan Lungren Daniel Edward Lungren (born September 22, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Republican Party, during his tenure, the district covered most of Sacramento Coun ...

, Stanley Mosk, and

Deanell Reece Tacha Deanell Reece Tacha (born January 26, 1946) is a retired United States Circuit Judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She was the Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law from 2011 to 2016. Education ...

Controversies

In 1992, the newspaper filed a lawsuit against the presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging that the judge falsely imprisoned three employees for distributing a parody memorandum supposedly signed by the judge. In turn, the judge countersued the newspaper for defamation. After appeals, the lawsuit by the judge was eventually decided in favor of the newspaper; in 1994, the newspaper received $40,000 in a settlement for its lawsuit against the judge. MetNews sued the Daily Journal Corporation, whose chairman is

Charlie Munger Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Mun ...

, in 1997 for

predatory pricing Predatory pricing is a pricing strategy, using the method of undercutting on a larger scale, where a dominant firm in an industry will deliberately reduce the prices of a product or service to loss-making levels in the short-term. The aim is th ...

. In specific, the allegation was that the ''Daily Journal'' sold legal notices by companies such as

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

at a price below cost. In 2000, the case was resolved in favor of the ''Daily Journal''. In 2002, Los Angeles County District Attorney

obtained a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

to locate evidence at the newspaper's offices that a law firm had paid for an advertisement concerning a recall petition. The search closed the offices for three hours. Experts on the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...

characterized the situation as "troubling" and "inappropriate." '' Editor & Publisher'' magazine used terms such as "boneheaded" and "inexcusable" to describe the "newsroom raid." The newspaper filed a lawsuit against Cooley, which was settled with a payment of $40,000 and an agreement that Cooley's office would take measures to comply with the Privacy Protection Act of 1980. To fill vacancies in

California courts of appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

, the Governor of California submits names to the State Bar of California for confidential evaluations prior to formally nominating them. In August 2009, the newspaper reported that the State Bar had rated Chuck Poochigian "not qualified" for a state appeals court because he lacked legal experience. The leak occurred before Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Poochigian, and the State Bar was unable to determine the source of the leak.

Other publications

In addition to the ''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'', the Metropolitan News Company publishes the: *''Los Angeles Bulletin'' (weekdays) *''North County Spectrum'', Escondido (weekly) *''Nuestra Comunidad y Lynwood Journal'' (weekly) *''Jurupa Valley Times'', Riverside (weekly) *''Sacramento Bulletin'' (weekly) *'' San Bernardino Bulletin'' (weekly)

References

{{Portal, Greater Los Angeles, Journalism 1901 establishments in California Daily newspapers published in Greater Los Angeles Legal newspapers Publications established in 1901