 In 1974, he was given an assignment by the paper's editor under which he would cover the news media.In 2002, he was given a column that was printed twice a week, once about news media and once about food and wine.During his tenure at the "Los Angeles Times", Shaw was given the opportunity to spend weeks to months working on an investigation of a single topic that drew his attention, in contrast to the typical day-by-day reporting of most covering the news media.