L.A. Times critic, UCLA alumnus dies at 62
By Vanda Farahmand
Aug. 7, 2005 9:00 p.m.
David Shaw, a UCLA graduate and Pulitzer Prize winner who spent
37 years at the Los Angeles Times as a media critic, died on August
2. He was 62.
Shaw died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications from a
brain tumor that was discovered in May.
During his career, Shaw authored five books and wrote critical
examinations of trends and issues in the media, as well as of his
other two interests, food and wine.
Shaw helped pioneer the relatively untested field of media
criticism, not even sparing his own newspaper when he dissected and
critiqued the field of journalism.
“David believed in journalistic independence, and he
definitely practiced it,” said John Carroll, editor of the
Los Angeles Times. “As a critic, he was fearless in exposing
the shortcomings of his own newspaper, his colleagues and his
profession.”
Shaw was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1991 for
his hard-hitting examination of the McMartin molestation case.
The McMartin case, which went on for seven years, was one of the
first multi-victim, multi-offender child-abuse cases. Children and
parents alleged that the children had suffered sexual abuse and
experienced satanic rituals while attending the Manhattan Beach
McMartin Preschool.
Shaw wrote a four-part series that critiqued and examined the
ways the media covered the McMartin case, which had gained national
attention due to the intense nature of the allegations of the
crime.
Though more than 360 children were diagnosed as being abused,
analysts noted there was a lack of reliable physical evidence, and
interviewers used suggestive interrogations to lead children in the
direction they wanted them to go.
Shaw’s series on the case began the day after the verdict
came in January 1990, where ultimately no one was convicted of a
crime.
Among other findings, Shaw concluded that most of the reporting
during the case was not reflective of the actual findings of the
case, but was reactive to the severity of the allegations.
Since 2002, Shaw wrote for the Los Angeles Times’ weekly
Food section. He also continued to write about the media for a
column in the Sunday Calendar.
Shaw was also a contributor to national publications like
Gentleman’s Quarterly, Washington Monthly, Esquire, Cigar
Aficionado, Food & Wine, Washingtonian, New York, Bon Appetit,
TV Guide, Rolling Stone and Conde Nast Traveler.
His books include “The Pleasure Police: How Bluenose
Busybodies and Lily-Livered Alarmists Are Taking All the Fun Out of
Life,” “Press Watch,” and “Journalism
Today: A Changing Press for a Changing America.”
Shaw, who was born on Jan. 4, 1943 in Dayton, Ohio, moved to
Southern California when he was 3.
By 1953, Shaw had decided that he wanted to become a journalist.
He began his career writing for the Compton High School
newspaper.
After graduating, he attended Pepperdine University for two
years. He then transferred to UCLA, where he wrote for the Daily
Bruin. He earned his bachelor’s in English from UCLA in
1965.
Shaw began reporting for the Huntington Park Signal while at
UCLA, and began writing for the Long Beach Independent three years
later .
After gaining recognition for his work at the Independent, Shaw
joined the Los Angeles Times, where he wrote about various topics
such as gambling, court reform and teenage drug use for his first
six years.
Then, in 1974, Shaw was assigned a new, more critical task of
covering the media, including the publications of his own newspaper
and colleagues.
Throughout his career, Shaw took in criticism from other writers
for his coverage of the media and publications, but wasn’t
bothered when colleagues and other reporters approached him, Bill
Boyarsky, a retired city editor, columnist and political reporter
for the Los Angeles Times, told the publication.
Shaw later went on to write about wine and fine dining for the
Times, two of the few extravagances in his life.
Throughout his career, Shaw was widely recognized for his
journalism. In addition to the Pulitzer, he also received the
Lowell Mellet Award for best media criticism in 1982 and the
Society of Professional Journalists award for best non-deadline
reporting in 1999.
He received other top awards and honors from the Greater Los
Angeles Press Club, California State Bar Association, American Bar
Association, PEN and the American Political Science
Association.
Shaw is survived by his third wife, Lucy Stille; their son,
Lucas; five stepchildren and his sister, Barbara Holme.
With reports from Bruin wire services.
