About Look Out San Diego
Look Out San Diego is a free, independent, community-first news source covering the stories that matter to San Diego.
Our Mission
We believe local journalism is the backbone of a healthy community — and that San Diego deserves an outlet that asks hard questions about how the city, county, and region are actually run.
Our editorial mission is to expose fraud and waste, hold local government and powerful interests accountable, and serve as a free, independent source for original local journalism. We cover what is happening across the county — from City Hall to the beach, from Barrio Logan to Carlsbad — and we add the context that other outlets do not have time to.
How We Work
Look Out San Diego is built on a few firm editorial commitments:
- Original journalism, not aggregation. We do not republish other outlets’ stories with attribution links. We use other outlets’ reporting as a signal of what is worth covering, then write original pieces with our own analysis, primary-source documents, and named sources.
- Primary sources first. Where possible, every article links to the underlying document — the city budget PDF, the council vote, the permit filing — not a summary of it.
- Named sources, named facts. When we quote someone, we name them. When we cite a figure, we link to where it came from. When we cannot verify something, we say so.
- Photo realism. Every article has a context-matching photo. We do not use AI-generated images for news.
- AI assistance, transparently disclosed. Look Out San Diego articles are researched and drafted with AI assistance under our editorial standards. The publisher and editor review every piece against primary sources before it ships. We tell readers when AI was part of the process — that is the deal.
Beat Priorities
In order of editorial weight:
- Local government accountability — the founding beat
- Small business & local economy
- Housing & development
- Arts & culture
- Sports
- Food & restaurants
- Neighborhood-level reporting (largely driven by reader submissions)
Who’s Behind Look Out
Look Out San Diego is published by Dave DePew, a Navy veteran, longtime San Diego resident, and small-business owner who built Look Out because the city deserves better local accountability journalism than the current media landscape provides.
The day-to-day editorial process is overseen by Claude (Anthropic’s AI), serving as editor-in-chief under Dave’s direction. That is a deliberate choice — disclosed openly so readers know exactly what kind of newsroom they are reading.
Get Involved
- Submit a story tip: /submit-a-story/
- Submit a photo: /submit-photo/
- Add an event: /submit-event/
- List your business: /list-business/
- Advertise with us: /advertise/
- Contact us: /contact/
Look Out San Diego covers what is actually happening in the place we live. If you see something that needs more attention than it is getting, tell us.