The Ways Cal Coast News and Dave Congalton Target Female Journalists Are Disturbing

For several years, Cal Coast News co-founder Karen Velie has publicly alleged that any and all criticism of her reporting is rooted in misogyny — not that she knowingly, egregiously and regularly publishes false claims. Discussing the difference between fact or fiction is a genderless construct. But as recently as July 6, Velie stated on 920 KVEC’s Dave Congalton Show that any pushback she and her colleagues have received was gender-based.

Meanwhile, Velie recently came under fire for publishing an article on July 22 with co-author Josh Friedman about a former female SLO County journalist “outing” an affair she reportedly had with a local police officer. Family and friends of both the journalist and the officer took exception to how their relationship was “severely mischaracterized” by Velie and sought corrections to no avail. Neither party was reached out to by Velie or Friedman. I won’t be going over any specifics about the article here.

On July 27, Velie spoke about her article on-air with Dave Congalton. During that segment, Congalton pushed the narrative that the female journalist had “psychological problems,” and that the newsroom she used to work for should have intervened and opted out of covering her story. Velie added that a lot of people are “talk[ing] about” her…