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Yahoo!The Santa Barbara News-Press remains very much like the Titanic in frantic search of more icebergs in which to crash. In this regard, about the only thing that might save Santa Barbara’s oldest daily paper is global warming. Business reporter Hildy Medina concluded she could take no more and checked out last Friday. She’ll be talking a job with the same Hispanic Business publication now employing former News-Press editor Michael Todd, who was among the first wave of editors and reporters to resign five weeks ago.
In addition, News-Press management decided to consign
popular columnist Starshine Roshell to the outer
reaches of journalistic Siberia. Rather than mediating in her
light, but thoughtful fashion on any number of domestic
vicissitudes, Roshell will now be expected to find local hooks for
a host of stories coming over the many wire services to which the
News-Press subscribes. 
Presumably the paper is not happy with
Starshine’s insurgent sympathies. She was among the employees to
show up a public demonstration a few weeks back wearing
duct tape over her mouth (pictured at right) to protest
the newspaper’s gag order about discussing internal
News-Press matters with reporters from other publications,
which at the time pretty much meant me. (I’m sorry she never got
around to writing a column on how to best accessorize with duct
tape and whether Target—the chain that Starshine once championed
for the city’s airport property, much to chagrin of the Goleta City
Council—had the widest array of colored duct tape
colors.)
Other than Barney Brantingham’s and John Zant’s, Starshine’s column was one of the few personal voices cultivated and produced in the pages of the News-Press that enjoyed much popularity. For any newspaper, such voices are essential. For daily papers struggling to maintain their position and relevance, they are even more so. As such, the News-Press decision to deep-six Starshine’s column outright is a yet another example of cutting off their nose to spite the community’s face.
In an obviously related fashion, News-Press management sent out Dear John notes last week to all five of their community correspondents, notifying them—post-haste—that their services would no longer be needed. These weekly columns were designed to keep readers apprised of what’s really going on in the outposts of the Santa Barbara empire: Montecito, Goleta, Carpinteria, Santa Ynez, and Santa Maria.
The columns were the brainchild of former editor-in-chief Jerry Roberts—who resigned five weeks ago—and that might have been enough to seal their fate. A contributing factor may have been Montecito correspondent’s Stephen Murdoch’s August 3 piece in which he quoted someone else comparing News-Press owner Wendy McCaw to Leona Helmsley, New York City’s notorious hotelier and tax cheat whose nasty ways landed her in the hoosegow back in the ‘80s. Dubbed the Queen of Mean, Helmsley was so harrowing in her tempestuous quest for perfection that a professional wrestler borrowed her name to help solidify his bad guy credentials.
While no insinuation of tax fraud has attached itself to McCaw, other parts of the comparison clearly resonate. Maybe Murdoch’s crime was that he got it so right. Two weeks after his Leona piece ran, all the correspondents were summarily dismissed. My hunch is that the News-Press didn’t want to give Murdoch—a lawyer by trade—either the opportunity or the satisfaction of claiming a retaliatory dismissal, so they fired the whole crew. But that’s just a guess. Or maybe the columns were just too small-town and down-home for the cosmopolitan sophistication Wendy P and The Nipper. Maybe they want even more columns about how members of the intergalactic jet set can pamper themselves and recharge their batteries. I know it’s important that News-Press readers know all about all the spas in Vail, Colorado and other towns I hope I never visit.
For those seeking to read the tea-leaves, the message being delivered by the News-Press is pretty obvious: Screw You. For people who complained about the paper’s overriding lack of civility in its editorial voices, the News-Press is clearly turning up the volume. Witness the recent appointment of Dr. Laura. Although she has yet to resurrect any of her old chestnuts about gay people being “deviants,” I expect that she’ll soon give Travis Armstrong a serious run for his money when it comes to delivering the mean and the nasty.
Travis is right about one thing, however. What’s happening at the KEYT newsroom is a story. Travis’ interest in it, however, seems kind of self-serving: People who profess to be upset about the News-Press gag order are really hypocrites because they’re not jumping up and down over KEYT’s and therefore their criticism can be dismissed out of hand. For Travis, it’s always about calling someone else a hypocrite. But to the extent most people get their news from KEYT, as well as the daily paper, we’ve got serious problems.
A few months ago, station management—with the guidance of a media consulting firm out of Iowa—terminated news director Paul Verkammen. Paul was both a professional journalist and a local kid grown old. As a result, he brought a whole lot to the table. Then there was the strange, mysterious case of the disappearing weather babe. Frankly, I think they could do away with weather completely, and spend the money on reporters. But apparently, she left under less than pleasant circumstances.
And most recently, perennial news anchor Debby Davison appears to have been given her walking papers months before her contract was to expire. Again, I never bought into the very expensive cult of personality that attends most anchor people. The money could be better spent on content. But that’s not what’s happening here. The money will simply go away.
In the meantime, we still get phone calls and e-mails at The Independent telling us we need to go daily. I like that idea. I like the idea of going twice a week as well. But both would kill me in about 10 seconds flat. And everyone else working here.
Instead, our plan is to put down our crow-quill pens, enter the 21st century, and create a web page that actually has daily content and impact. Just doing this has maxed out our dilithium crystals, but slowly but surely we’ll be getting there.
Matt Kettmann has been named El Jefe del Mundo of this undertaking, which means we have a better than average chance of realizing our goals. A former news reporter here for five years, Kettmann spent the last year-and-a-half as pop culture editor. He’s also one of those infuriatingly unflappable guys who manages to keep his head while all about him people are losing theirs. Not only does he get a whole lot done without seeming to break a sweat, he’s got tons of good ideas. If you think you’ve got one where our web page is concerned, send him a line.
Double-clicking on any word or phrase in this story will open a reference window with definitions and links to other reference material.
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Discussion Guidelines
Great news about the daily content web page!!!
Teresa
August 22, 2006 at 5:58 p.m.
Inspired by the subject title of the Indy blog entry for Aug. 21st, this one should be:
YOU CAN'T MAKE UP THIS STUFF
The latest Huff and Puff announcement representing News-press management is text below. So now they want everyone, and NLRB, to believe that some of the staff, whom they call supervisors and managers based on unspecified criteria, are the same "supervisors" trying go coerce the other worker staff TO JOIN THE UNION. Thus, that would be UNFAIR to the staff because those staff and the public somehow would conclude that Newspress as a company somehow indeed did support formation of the new labor Union for the workers. How many companies ever want a new labor Union?
Of course, that claim to NLRB does not pass the smell or LAUGH OUT LOUD TEST for anyone half awake on this whole newspressmess to think the newspaper as a company would support the formation of the new Union.
But somewhere in the Huff and Puff Corporate Campus Headquarters that argument may make sense, considering Newspress also is claiming now, through a lawsuit, that the new Daily Sound newspaper somehow makes readers too confused and they would think the Daily Sound also is the same as Newspress, notwithstanding the different name, size of the paper dimensions, color, font style, and content.
As Spendy McFlaw wrote, "Dr." Huff really is reaping the benefits of her $29 mail-order "doctorate" degree. Of course, the real reason Newspress is trying this is to delay the hearing at NLRB. They obviously are worried.
----------------------------
August 22, 2006 01:05 PM US Eastern Timezone
Santa Barbara News-Press Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Teamsters Union for Employee Coercion
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2006--The management of the Santa Barbara News-Press has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Teamsters Union for violations of the NLRB's organizing rules. The charge states that the Union used the Santa Barbara News-Press name and trademark in campaign and organizing materials to falsely create the impression among employees and others that the paper endorsed the Union's organizing activities. The charge further states that the Union utilized certain supervisors and managers to solicit and urge editorial employees to sign Teamster authorization cards.
The filing alleges that the Union committed trademark infringement by its utilization of communication materials which led to incorrect, improper and misleading perceptions that the paper supported the Union's organizing activities.
The allegation of supervisor and manager coercion of newsroom employees stems from the time when there was considerable dissension between the senior editorial personnel and the papers' management, including reports that these editorial managers openly urged employees to accept union representation. The NLRB's decisions clearly hold that supervisory solicitation of union authorization cards is inherently coercive.
The News-Press has asked the NLRB for a full administrative investigation, including a determination of whether the authorization cards filed by the Union in support of its petition are tainted by coercive management involvement. The paper is concerned that if it were to investigate this on its own, it could be subject to claims by the Teamsters that the paper interfered with the rights of employees seeking representation. The News-Press will cooperate fully with the NLRB by making employees available for interviews and by providing them with any other evidence that they may need to complete the investigation and determine the truth.
The News-Press has requested that the NLRB postpone hearings on the Teamsters' petition to determine the correct bargaining unit for an election until their full and independent investigation of the union's conduct and the authorization cards can be completed.
Contacts:
Agnes Huff Communications
Agnes Huff, PhD, 310-641-2525
ahuff@ahuffgroup.com
First District Streetfighter
August 22, 2006 at 7:17 p.m.
If she delays long enough, there will be no one left to support the union. There will also be no one left to produce the paper, except a bunch of college kids.
slanted and enchanted
August 22, 2006 at 8:09 p.m.
Great to see you guys upping the frequency of your web postings!
Get some sort of cookie system so that when I visit your homepage the new, unviewed material somehow gets highlighted.
And hire a few of those who have left the N-P.
AngryChihuahua
August 22, 2006 at 9:07 p.m.
drip, drip, drip...
Below, from a posting at Blogabarbara today.
(Mike Takeuchi is a Friday lifestyle section columnist.)
---------------------------------
slanted and enchanted said...
Surfing columnist Michael Kew was canned Monday in a two-sentence e-mail from Sports editor Barry Punzal. I guess the Sports department isn't immune to Wendy's purges after all. No word if lifestyle sports columnist Mike Takeuchi has been fired as well, but it seems to be the next logical step.
First District Streetfighter
August 22, 2006 at 9:26 p.m.
Great news! Good luck to you all, just what you've been doing for the past month or so has been great!
Indy Fan
August 22, 2006 at 9:33 p.m.
Something worth repeating from
http://www.spendymcflaw.blogspot.com
Spendy McFlaw's site.
Agnes Huff, Ph.d
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_P...
is another in a series of characters fodder for a
http://www.esnips.com/web/guildedtruthsO...
Jimmy Johnny
August 22, 2006 at 9:53 p.m.
I encourage you all to write "Dr." Agnes Huff and/or call her. She freely gives out her contact information. I, for instance, leave messages concerning the whereabouts of her conscience and spine.
It's good to let these money grubbers who are putting our friends out of work know that we can smell their shit a mile away.
Agnes Huff, "PhD", 310-641-2525
ahuff@ahuffgroup.com
Worker Bee
August 23, 2006 at 6:42 a.m.
Count on me to be a regular reader!!!
margaret
August 23, 2006 at 10:46 a.m.
As one of the canned columnists, I am glad to be out. When there was a news wall, I could compartmentalize. Now that it has fallen, I do not want to be associated with the mean-spirited, ever-shriller editorial voice of the paper.
I support all those who have left. I know them to be possessed of the highest integrity. I support all those who stay. I know them to be skilled and suffering.
Given the News-Press's unstinting support for the Casino, my own fate was probably sealed when I wrote the attached column. At the time (Feb 7, 2005), Jerry Roberts protected me from reprisal.
Here's the thing: No one would write this today, because they know it would never run, and they would be fired. And that's what this whole "news wall" thing is all about.
Pro-Chumash Politicians Hit the Jackpot
It came as no real surprise to most community members following the drama, when the 6.9 acre annexation to the Chumash Reservation was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Jan. 14.
Property adjacent to an existing reservation is practically guaranteed approval, the BIA’s Kevin Bearquiver explained during his presentation to the Supervisors Nov. 23. The BIA solicits written input, but there’s no public hearing process. The decision is made behind closed doors.
The surprise was the seventeen pro-annexation letters from high-powered, out-of-town politicians, among those cited by the BIA in their approval.
Compare that with the total letters to Third District Supervisor Brooks Firestone to date in favor of annexation: exactly one, from the Chumash. (Since this writing I learned of one more, from the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business, of which the Chumash are a member.)
Six hundred and thirty letters have arrived at Firestone's office opposed to annexation in general. Thirty of those, plus 74 e-mails, specifically opposed the 6.9 acre add. And they’re from people who actually live here.
Last Tuesday, Firestone asked the Board of Supervisors to join him in appealing the BIA decision. They will hold a public discussion tomorrow at 2 pm at the Betteravia Government Center, 511 E. Lakeside Parkway, in Santa Maria.
So who are these strange politicians bucking the tide, and why their sudden interest in sleepy Santa Ynez?
None of them live here. Only three have local ties. Yet many of their campaigns received contributions from the tribe in recent years. Cynics see a connection. Numerous citizens have brought me dollar figures and cried foul.
Lawmakers who wrote the BIA in favor, and contributions to their campaigns by the Chumash since 2000, include La Puente Assemblyman Ed Chavez ($30,000), Santa Ana Assemblyman Lou Correa ($7,000), Los Angeles Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh ($3,000), Montebello Assemblyman Calderon ($3,000), Carson Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza ($6,000), Senator Richard Polanco of Los Angeles ($10,000), Fresno Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes ($17,000), Monterey County Assemblyman Simon Salinas ($45,200), Senator Nell Soto of Ontario ($12,000), Assemblyman Herb Wesson of Culver City ($8,000) and Los Angeles Assemblyman Tony Cardenas ($130,000). All their titles are from 2002, when the letters were written.
Closer to home, “Abel Maldonado for Assembly” collected $15,000 from the Chumash on Nov. 1, 2000, $1,000 on Sept. 18, 2000, and $10,000 on Nov. 18, 2002. Assemblyman (now Senator) Maldonado wrote a letter in favor April 24, 2002.
Senator Jack O’Connell (now Superintendent of Public Instruction) wrote in favor on April 30, 2002. Unlike the others, O’Connell had a reason to write - the project was in his district, and his comments were specifically solicited by the BIA. “O’Connell for Superintendent” received $50,000 in contributions from the Chumash on Feb. 25, 2002, and another $50,000 on Oct. 16, 2002.
Senator Tom McClintock, who now represents the district due to boundary changes, wrote in favor May 1, 2002. “McClintock for Senate” received $3,000 from the Chumash in 2000, “McClintock for Governor” received $20,000 in 2003, and “McClintock and the Car Tax Committee” received $15,000 in 2004.
Campaign contributions from the Chumash to politicians statewide since 2000 total at least $798,900.
All dollar figures are from the California Secretary of State's website, which only tracks electronically filed contributions. Donor dollars shown here are not a complete total. The website is a bit of a jumble, and finding all the bucks is like an easter egg hunt.
Despite all that generosity, Representatives Cardenas, Correa, Firebaugh, Reyes, Wesson, and Polanco are no longer in office. I e-mailed all the others, and the Chumash, seeking insight.
The Chumash, via their spokeswoman, Frances Snyder, wrote, "It's routine for us to ask politicians to show support for the annexation."
Senator Nell Soto’s press secretary stoutly insisted it’s not about the Benjamins, saying:
“Senator Soto has long been a strong supporter of a number of tribes, and as a forceful advocate for Indian self-reliance, she has frequently weighed in on controversial issues. She believes it is our duty as a nation to continue to rectify the historical injustices perpetrated against America’s Native populations. As an employee of the Legislature, I am not privy to the specifics of campaign contributions, but I know that Senator Soto has, over the years, received money from a range of groups and individuals who support her efforts – including fire fighters, teachers, health care providers, Native Americans and grocery store owners.
“Senator Soto agreed to write the letter you referred to after Chumash representatives explained the details of their annexation request in a meeting in her Capitol office. She has yet to visit the annexation site but plans to do so sometime in the future.”
William Etling
August 23, 2006 at 4:35 p.m.
Thank you to William "Bill" Etling, who wrote a wonderful community column for a very long time at the NP. All the community columns allowed our large, widespread geographic population to understand local viewpoints on local issues and hear about interesting events. Bill was the gold standard of these columns and created an informative, interesting and well-written column. I will miss reading it--and hope that resourceful Robert’s-inspired format turns up somewhere else, because it’s hard to stay informed and enjoy all this diverse county has to offer.
Monty
August 23, 2006 at 6:49 p.m.
I'm grateful to hear from William Etling, his own self, about why the N-P "canned" him. Like the previous poster, I thought Mr. Etling's column was one of the better-written, interesting, well-researched contributions to the paper. When I cancelled my subscription in July, his was one of the things I knew I would miss. But Travisty has taken care of that, and now I don't have to miss him, 'cause he ain't around for anyone too read. Big loss, big mistake -- just one more to join a growing list.
Ain't it interesting that on one side of the hill, Travisty is a blindered supporter of so-called "neighborhood organizations", small knots of nastiness who campaign mightily against housing affordable for people presently excluded from the South Coast, yet on the other side of the hill, T-Boy completely ignores the concerns of a whole Valley-full of residents about the many REAL impacts of a badly located casino? Travis's professed "Indian-ness" has made him drunk to any sense of journalistic objectivity, when he should have excused himself from registering public opinions due to an obvious conflict in (psychic) interest.
Now, thanks to his enabler at the N-P, he's just plain drunk on power instead of just behind the wheel during late night forays in looking for love in all the wrong places.
So, to Bill Etling: you're too valuable a community journalist to be silenced and I hope you'll find a way to solve that. And to his daughter, Leah, also one of the better N-P reporters (proving that good fruit rarely falls far from the tree): hang in there long enough to vote for union representation!
A. Nonny Mouse
August 24, 2006 at 9:03 a.m.
EXTRA EXTRA!
Get your "Banish the Bias" yard signs and window posters straight from the organized newsroom staff!
Hot off the "presses" at www.savethenewspress.com or call the hotline at (805) 882-2386.
Dress up that house, courtyard, business or nonprofit, why don'tcha? They deliver.
- A Matter
A Matter
August 26, 2006 at 5:41 p.m.
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