Santa Barbara Paper Staff Stages Protest

[struggle4progress]

By JEFF WILSON
The Associated Press
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. —

Dressed in black and their mouths taped shut, reporters and staff of the Santa Barbara News-Press staged a protest Friday over a recent wave of resignations at the newspaper.

More than 300 supporters roared with applause and shouts when about 25 News-Press employees emerged from the newspaper's Spanish-style landmark building and walked to a microphone in an adjacent park.

Reporter Melinda Burns said newspaper staffers have been ordered not to speak about internal operations and were threatened with dismissal if they did.

"We are very sorry we can't speak, but thank you for coming," she said, stepping away from the microphone as members of the group put duct tape over their mouths. Many in the crowd hoisted signs, including ones that read: "Free the News" and "No More News Suppress." ...

http://www.cushingdaily.com/news/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8IS6VEOD.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview

[RagingInMiami]

1. They're so naive

They think the censorship is only happening at their paper.

[gristy]

3. I doubt that

Why do you think so?

[RagingInMiami]

4. I was a newspaper for reporter for more than seven years

And I still keep in touch with my old friends in the business.

Reporters tend to be very idealistic. They still believe in the media as the Fourth Estate. The Government Watchdog.

Even I did to a certain extent. But once I stepped outside, I saw it for what it really was - A corporate conglemation of the media that represses the truth.

[Hekate]

7. I think the reporters and staff are smarter than that

The problem is the owner/publisher and her friends have no journalistic experience at all. Wendy McCaw is a billionaire -- as in "Reclusive billionaire Wendy McCaw had a flaming snit when she wasn't allowed to claim the beach in front of her home as her exclusive private property."

The paper was founded and run by one family for about a century, then sold to the New York Times Corp, which put it on a fast track to genuine mediocrity. I used to get such a sense of bewilderment at cooking articles describing produce we don't even have here, and then realize it came off the wires from Kansas or something. A rapturous description of how to do-over a mudroom was even more baffling to those of us who never get snow and don't have enough episodes of torrential rain to justify a whole room for the mud. ?? Did I get that right? No? :rofl:

The community was almost giddy when new resident McCaw bought the paper 6 years ago -- they thought that meant it was returning to local ownership, with some sense of local values. For awhile it actually got better, especially after she hired a managing editor from the San Francisco Chronicle. But alas this did not last -- her henchman on staff was/is poisonous. She and he hold grudges against anyone who offends them -- in the community or in the paper.

A week ago the guy from the Chron came back from vacation and was fired and hustled out of the building by the aforementioned henchman, which provoked outbursts of tears and screams of "F**K you, haven't you done enough?" from the bystanders, who've obviously been under considerable strain.

As Barney says in his article in the Indy, there were more bodies lying around the stage than at the end of Hamlet. I really recommend reading it.

This is not good, and it's not the naivete of the reporters. I think they are as aware as anyone of the dangers of ownership by megacorporations. But what we have now is single-ownership run amok.

Hekate

[tabatha]

2. more links on sbnp story

http://www.independent.com/archives/2006/07/why_i_quit_the_newspress.html

http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/the_poodle_barks_again.html

http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/xdogs_the_last_stand.html

http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/news-press_coverage_letters.html

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2006/07/newspress_reporters_union.html

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002839740

It is a real soap opera - hopefully with a better outcome than the Travis editorials and censorship of the last several years.

[struggle4progress]

5. Thanks for the interesting links: hope the staff continues to unionize

And welcome to DU :toast:

[Hekate]

6. Welcome to DU and thanks for the links

The links should help bring some understanding to those who haven't heard of the story before this.

As a Santa Barbarian myself, I've been following the story -- as closely as one can by having to consult out of town papers online. The Indy's coverage this week Thursday was terrific, but they are a weekly, not daily, paper.

Reading Barney Brantingham's essay in the Indy was the final straw -- I canceled my subscription to the NP yesterday.

Hekate

[tabatha]

8. sbnp subscription

Thanks for the welcome and thanks.

I canceled my subscription about a year ago when I could not endure the "poison" editorials anymore - especially the personal attacks. That would have been passable if the persons under attack had been allowed to have letters in defense of their positions published - but not with the NP. I don't think many newspapers in the States censor that - it is scraping the bottom of newspaper standards.

National news is available on the web - local is available from various sources. Someone else e-mailed about canceling the NP yesterday after 25 years; and that recently, less and less of the paper was of interest anyway - it was not worth buying under present management. McCaw et al have also bought a local radio station and another weekly newspaper in Goleta - thus trying to skew all local news to their opinions.

I applaud those who are standing up, and speaking out when they can - it is the only way to stop the growing lack of free and fair news coverage in SB.