This may sound like a detour from direct democracy, but I promise I'll get there in a couple paragraphs (after I indulge a little provincialism). 

Here's a thought: The world of hip hop had an East vs. West war that raged for years. After reading reviews of James Frey's latest book, supposedly about Los Angeles, I think it may be time for a similar war in journalistic and literary circles.

The New York Times and Washington Post have given rave reviews to Frey's new novel, Bright Shiny Morning, which purports to be about Los Angeles. The Post called it "very acccurate" and said it "can be considered a reliable guide" to the city. The Times said, "He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park." I'm not sure I can find words to convey how insane these reviews are.

In Tinseltown, the book is a laughing stock. The editor of the LA Times book review, David Ulin, suggested it is one of the worst books he's ever read ("an execrable novel, a literary train wreck without even the good grace to be entertaining "). I picked it up this week (making sure not to pay for my copy), and think David might be too kind. It is absolutely the worst thing I've ever read. I couldn't find a single true thing in it about Los Angeles. Frey doesn't even get the weather right. 

What explains this East vs. West dichotomy? Well, let me put it in the kindest way possible: when it comes to California, even respectable East Coast media outlets are hostile to facts. I see this again and again in reporting on the state's politics, particularly its initiative politics. The Washington Post continues to insist that every ballot measure is a "referendum" even when it's not. The New York Times, in its news pages, routinely suggests that routine aspects of the process are somehow criminal. (And don't get me started on NYT geography; note to the copy desk there -- Ventura County is southeast of Los Angeles only in the same, world-is-round way that the Catskills are southeast of Manhattan). At the LA Times, a colleague and I once took a New York Times story that attempted to compare Schwarzenegger and then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and we drew lines through sentences in the story that we were wrong. When we were done, the story was entirely about New York. (Yes, that story is even more ridiculous when you read it now).

What accounts for this? I don't know. But it's a tragedy that literary reputations are made there. What is to be done? An author friend, who can't get his excellent books on California topics noticed by East Coast papers, suggests that the LAPD and the county sheriffs deny credentials to Post and Times reporters. At the very least, there should be some sort of test administered to writers at those papers before they're allowed to write about California. And for Easterners who want to read fiction that tells you something about Los Angeles, you might pick up a copy of Ask the Dust.