Santa Barbara News-Press controversy

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Supporters of the newsroom staff, here Cedric Robinson, a UCSB political science professor, have spoken at public rallies.

The Santa Barbara News-Press controversy refers to a series of events starting in 2000 after billionaire divorcee Wendy P. McCaw purchased the Santa Barbara News-Press. McCaw felt that as owner of the News-Press she had authority to choose its content, while the news editors and reporters felt her intervention unduly compromised the neutrality and credibility of the paper. The tensions between McCaw and the newsroom came to a head on July 6, 2006 when five editors and a long-time columnist abruptly resigned. The controversy has continued to the present, without resolution, and has illuminated issues of individual ownership of news outlets by the wealthy but inexperienced, the role of daily newspapers in contemporary communities, the modern role of unions, and the limits of corporate legal restrictions on reporters, employees, competing news outlets, and community members.

[edit] The July 6, 2006 Incident

A number of minor disputes between McCaw and the News-Press newsroom pre-date the July 6, 2006 incident. In five years after McCaw purchased the paper in 2000, five publishers and several editors resigned or were fired. Newsroom staff felt that from the beginning of her ownership, she unduly influenced reporting of the news, while she felt she had authority as owner of the paper to decide on its content. Publisher and McCaw attorney Joe Cole, viewed by many as a moderating influence, resigned in late April, 2006.^[1] Then, on July 6, 2006, the long-running squabble erupted with the simultaneous resignation of five editors and a long-time columnist, bringing international news coverage.^[2]

When the Editor, Jerry Roberts, columnist Barney Brantingham, who had been with the paper for 46 years, and four other editors (Managing Editor George Foulsham, Deputy Managing Editor Don Murphy, Business Editor Michael Todd, and Metro Editor Jane Hulse) resigned from the paper, they blamed McCaw's editorial interference with news reporting. Roberts was escorted out of the building by the then-acting publisher Travis K. Armstrong. ^[3] McCaw's perspective was that the editors had allowed an intolerable level of personal opinion and agendas to influence their editorial choices,^[4][5] and that only management had the power to decide on content, as she detailed in a Dec. 2006 memo. The case of Business Editor Todd was distinct; the News-Press accused him through a workplace violence petition of threatening Ana Fuentes, a photographer working at the paper. Todd himself argued that the accusation was due to a misinterpreted joke. The petition was withdrawn on October 25, 2006, because Fuentes had resigned on September 9.^[6]

The proximate cause of the controversy included McCaw's intervention to stop the reporting of a drunk driving conviction of Armstrong,^[7] although Armstrong's arrest had been reported in the pages of the News-Press; she had also expressed displeasure that editors and reporters had published the address of an empty lot where actor Rob Lowe planned to build a 12,000 square-foot (1,100 m²) mansion.^[8] Lowe's plans had been contested by neighbors and the issue had been the focus of a televised public hearing, where Lowe testified, of a local planning commission in Montecito. Newsroom employees regarded these interventions as only the latest in a long series that included McCaw's hiring of a publicist to plant articles derogatory toward her ex-boyfriend, and her requests to portray a local architect in a negative manner. McCaw initially hired former journalist Sam Singer to handle publicity caused by the erupting controversy. Singer was replaced in mid-July by Agnes Huff.

[edit] Pro-McCaw Staff

The paper announced the hiring of controversial radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a Montecito resident, to replace local columnist Brantingham in late July. Schlessinger went on a "sabbatical" in January, 2007, after writing her twice-weekly column for less than six months. Her column resumed on March 11, 2007. Many of her columns were supportive of management's position on the controversy and anti-union.

A central personality in the travails of the News-Press has been Editorial Page Editor Travis K. Armstrong. Armstrong had previously written for the opinion page of the San Jose Mercury News, where he focused on law, education, Native American issues, and gay issues. He also briefly wrote editorials for The Monterey Herald in Monterey, California. Armstrong's News-Press pieces are strongly skeptical of local politicians and certain local groups, particularly those who advocate government-supported housing in Santa Barbara. Armstrong's critics claim his pieces are unnecessarily caustic and unsupported by facts.

Associate Editor Scott Steepleton and Director of Human Resources Yolanda Apodaca have carried out McCaw's wishes through personnel evaluations, redistribution of beat assignments, and dismissal of workers. On February 14, 2007, around 60 non-newsroom staff signed a full-page advertisement in the front section of the News-Press, in which they thanked Wendy McCaw and expressed their frustration with the anti-News-Press actions of ex-newsroom staff and others.^[9]

[edit] Subsequent Separations

Approximately 60 News-Press staff have resigned or been let go since the controversy erupted. Sports Editor Gerry Spratt resigned one day after the six other staff quit. Reporter Scott Hadly and Presentation Editor Colin Powers resigned in response to a letter from owner Wendy P. McCaw that accused news staff of improper behavior.^[10] McCaw held that the editors and reporters who quit did not want "goals to improve the quality of the paper, to have accurate unbiased reporting, and more local stories that readers want to read." She said "they no longer would be permitted to flavor the news with their personal opinions."^[11] Her co-publisher and fiance von Wiesenberger described the problems at the News-Press by making an analogy with a hamburger stand where the manager and workers (the editor and writers by analogy) employ graft to destroy the hamburger stand (the News-Press).^[12]

The first nine resignees received an "Ethics in Journalism" award from the Society of Professional Journalists on August 11, 2006.^[13] McCaw argued in a letter that the Society was being "used by this group to further their own political and personal agendas."^[14]

Page designer Lindsay Foster, Special Sections/Inserts Editor Ann Peyrat, Assistant Sports Editor Kim Burnell, Copy Desk Editors Paula Pisani, George Hutti and Amy Weinstein, Photo Editor Len Wood, Life Editor Andrea Huebner, Travel Editor and Column Illustrator Al Bonowitz, columnist and reporter Starshine Roshell, Advertising Staffer Melissa Olson, Website Staffer Dianne Elliott, Ana Fuentes, Assistant City Editors Dale Myers and Bob Guiliano, Business Editor Edmond Jacoby, columnist Martha Smilgis, Chief Financial Officer Randy Alcorn, Executive Assistant for News Joy Wells, Accountant Toni McDonald, Systems Director Raul Gil, Director of Classified Advertising Sarah Sinclair, pressmen Ramon J. Lopez and Carl Batchelder, Graphic Designer Mary Koenig, Classified Advertising Assistant Nicholle Chaparro as well as reporters Camilla Cohee, Josh Molina, Chuck Schultz, Shelly Leachman, Hildy Medina, Mike Traphagen, Colby Frazier, Leah Etling, Frank Nelson, Melinda Burns (winner of numerous journalism awards), Vladimir Kogan, Kim Pohas, Anna Davison, Dawn Hobbs (winner of numerous journalism awards), Rob Kuznia, Barney McManigal, Melissa Evans, Tom Schultz, and John Zant (a 38-year News-Press veteran sportswriter) separated from the newspaper from July, 2006 through February, 2007. ^{[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]}

Five columnists who wrote about local communities were let go by the News-Press on August 15, 2006: Bill Etling (Santa Ynez), Stephen Murdoch (Montecito), Amy Orozco (Carpinteria), Rochelle Rose (Goleta) and Helen Thomas (Santa Maria).^[45] One week later, local surfing columnist Michael Kew was let go, and another week later, 23-year security guard Mike Mantino was released.^[46] Popular Life Section columnist Starshine Roshell had her column cancelled.^[47] In September, mental health columnist Dr. Michael Seabaugh resigned, after the News-Press published an apology for his criticism of Dr. Laura Schlessinger.^[48][49][50]

Six veteran news reporters (Melissa Evans, Dawn Hobbs, Rob Kuznia, Barney McManigal, Tom Schultz, and John Zant) were fired by the News-Press on Feb. 5-6, 2007. ^{[51] [52][53][54]} The reporters had displayed a large sign on a Santa Barbara overpass stating 'Cancel Your Newspaper Today' during morning rush hour on Feb. 2. ^[55] An attorney for the News-Press said display of this sign constituted behavior disloyal to the News-Press, and was sufficient grounds for dismissing the employees; a Teamsters attorney argued that the display of the sign was protected behavior under labor law. According to the Santa Maria Times, as of February 7, 2007, only two reporters who cover local news remain at the News-Press.

[edit] Unionization

Many remaining News-Press staffers launched a unionization effort in July, 2006. Their tactics included a pledge drive encouraging subscribers to cancel the paper if demands were not met by September 5, 2006, as detailed on their website. A branch of the Teamsters has filed grievances on behalf of the remaining staffers, which have been contested by the News-Press management.^{[56][57][58][59][60]} On August 31, 2006 eleven of the remaining News-Press newsroom staff received two-day suspensions from management for allegedly improper union organizing activity; some have claimed that the activity was innocuous and consisted only of attempting to deliver a letter to McCaw during a break. The suspended staff were: Al Bonowitz, Melissa Evans, Kim Favors, Dawn Hobbs, Karna Hughes, George Hutti, Rob Kuznia, Barney McManigal, Lara Milton, and Tom Schultz; Mike Traphagen chose to resign earlier than announced rather than accept the suspension.^{[61][62] [63][64][65]} The Sep. 5 deadline set by the employees passed, and the staff through their Teamsters representative Marty Keegan called for subscribers to cancel their subscriptions to the paper.^{[66][67][68][69][70]} McCaw refused offers from local political leaders, religious leaders, and prominent journalists such as Sander Vanocur and Lou Cannon to help resolve the conflict.^[71][72] A vote by newsroom staff on unionizing under the Teamsters took place on September 27, 2006.^[73] The vote was 33 to 6 in favor of the union.^[74]

The News-Press first questioned the validity of the election,^[75] and then formally contested the validity of the election.^[76] On October 30, 2006, the Teamsters filed an unfair-labor-practice charge over the Oct. 27 firing of veteran reporter and labor leader Melinda Burns.^[77] On November 13, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided to file a complaint charging the News-Press management with violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The causes for the complaint include the cancellation of Starshine Roshell's column and the two-day suspensions for improper labor organizing activity.^[78][79] On December 7, 2006, the NLRB denied News-Press appeals concerning the newsroom staff behavior and vote to unionize.^[80]On December 11, 2006, the NLRB dismissed one charge brought by the Teamsters against the News-Press, and the Teamsters themselves withdrew three charges.^[81] On December 28, 2006, the NLRB filed a complaint concerning alleged News-Press retribution against employees who supported unionization^[82].

The NLRB hearing to address the complaint by the News-Press concerning the September 27, 2006 election took place in Santa Barbara on Jan. 9-10, 2007.^[83] Four specific points were raised by the News-Press: 1) that supervisors were involved in the election; 2) the Save the News-Press Website confused voters into believing the News-Press itself supported unionization; 3) an anonymous threat on blogabarbara intimidated voters into supporting unionization and 4) newsroom staff engaged in threatening behavior. Many of the principals in the News-Press controversy testified during the two-day hearing.^[84] On March 12, 2007, the NLRB judge issued his decision in favor of the unionization vote on September 27.^[85]A second NLRB hearing, focused on the propriety of the News-Press firing of reporter Melinda Burns and other issues, originally scheduled for Mar. 12, 2007 was been indefinitely delayed.^[86] On March 13, 2007, the NLRB announced that the News-Press would be prosecuted over the firing of Burns, various other issues, and the firing of eight other reporters.^[87] An NLRB attorney wrote that he believed the News-Press had violated labor law in its firings of reports. A News-Press attorney responded that “We’re watching the end of the industry. Journalists think they can write what they want when they want. I don’t know if that can survive in this age.”^[88]

A News-Press attorney and account entered a meeting between ex-News-Press staff, Teamster officials, and local business people on Valentine's day, 2007.^[89] The purpose of the meeting was to encourage advertisers to withhold advertisements from the News-Press. The News-Press attorney accused the ex-News-Press staff of mendacity, then left when a Teamster attorney sought to negotiate. The Teamsters have filed a complaint with the NLRB over the incident, asserting that management may not force themselves into labor meetings without an invitation; the News-Press asserts that because the meeting was held in a public building, they were entitled to attend. The Teamsters had paid a fee to use the room where the meeting occurred.

[edit] Lawsuits

In August, 2006, McCaw's company (Ampersand) sued former editor Jerry Roberts for breach of contract and causing damage to the News-Press, and demanded $500,000 in damages.^[90][91][92] Her company claimed that Roberts breached confidentiality concerning the suit, which is subject to arbitration, but Roberts claimed that it was an Ampersand attorney who gave the information to a News-Press reporter, and it leaked from there.^[93] Only Roberts and not McCaw's companies are bound by confidentiality, according to McCaw's public relations representative.^[94] Roberts filed a counterclaim for $10,000,000, and Ampersand responded by upping their claim to $25,000,000.^[95] Roberts accepted a position at UCSB as director of student publications, commencing February 20, 2007.^[96]

Ampersand sued the Santa Barbara Independent in Federal Court for copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, participation in unfair business competition, and interfering with prospective economic advantage on October 26, 2006.^[97] The Independent had for a few days posted a copy of a story written by then News-Press report Scott Hadly about the tumultuous July 6, 2006 events. The News-Press chose not to publish the story, and a copy was leaked to the Independent, which did not publish the story in their print edition, but did post the story on their web site. After the story was posted for a few days, Ampersand requested that the Independent remove the story, and the Independent complied. The October 26 suit concerns the few days when the leaked story was posted, and also identifies a second unpublished News-Press story about Ampersand's suit against former Executive Editor Jerry Roberts, which Ampersand claims was leaked to the Independent. The Independent claimed they never possessed the second story.^[98] The Independent filed its counterarguments with the court on December 11, 2006. ^[99]

Ampersand filed suit on December 12, 2006 against Chapman University Professor Susan Paterno, author of the article "Santa Barbara Smackdown" that appeared in the American Journalism Review.^[100][101] The suit details 33 instances of alleged "false and misleading statements," in Paterno's article, claims that Paterno's "... article falsely states and implies that Ampersand is an unethical corporate entity engaged in unlawful conduct and that its product, the Santa Barbara News-Press, is a deficient product," and asserts that McCaw's involvement in the News-Press resulted from former editor Jerry Robert's incompetence. Alex Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard, commented about the suit: "It is outrageous. It is especially a betrayal of the principles that most journalists understand for a libel suit of this kind to be filed. It is apparently a grudge."^[102] Attorneys for the American Journalism Review responded to the suit on December 27, 2006.^[103] Paterno filed an anti-SLAPP suit against Ampersand on January 29, 2007.^{[104][105][106]} On February 15, 2007, nearly all copies of the Chapman University student newspaper, the Panther, were stolen from campus racks. ^[107] That edition of the Panther contained an in-depth article on Susan Paterno's article on the News-Press and her legal travails.

[edit] Legal Letters

A News-Press attorney sent a cease-and-desist order to Santa Barbara web newspaper edhat on September 11, 2006, ordering edhat to stop providing a hyperlink to the obituaries on the public, non-subscription portion of the News-Press website. Eventually the News-Press relented, as the obituaries are not on a subscription-only portion of their website.

McCaw's attorney sent a letter to 44 prominent attorneys in the Santa Barbara area on September 11, 2006, urging them not to provide legal support for former News-Press employees. ^[108] On September 22, 2006, the 44 attorneys announced formation of the Lawyers Alliance for Free Speech Rights to help ensure equal access to justice for journalists who assert that their First Amendment rights are being infringed. The group includes former Superior Court judges, bar association leaders, a law school dean, law school professors, partners in major local law firms, a former District Attorney, and a former City Attorney. The group was criticized by the News-Press in a press release.^[109] On December 5, 2006, McCaw's attorney followed up with a second letter urging attorneys not to support former News-Press employees.^[110] On January 23, 2007, McCaw's attorney sent a third letter to attorneys in the Alliance.^[111]

McCaw's attorney sent a letter to seven small businesses in Santa Barbara during the week of December 11, 2006, all of whom had displayed a sign saying "McCaw Obey the Law." The letter threatened legal action for defamation, saying that the sign exposes McCaw to "hatred, contempt, and ridicule."^[112] The ACLU of Southern California responded with a letter expressing the legal opinion that legal action against the small business owners would fail.^[113]

A letter from McCaw's attorney was published in the Santa Barbara Independent on January 11, 2007, in which the controversy was framed as a battle between the Teamsters and the business owner, McCaw.^[114] A claim was also made that McCaw had saved the News-Press from financial insolvency; this claim was contested in a subsequent letter by a former News-Press financial officer.^[115]

[edit] Circulation

The publishers report that circulation has increased during the commotion involving multiple resignations. Figures provided to prospective advertisors have indicated a decline in South Santa Barbara County subscriptions during 2006 from 31,000 in January to 27,000 in June.^[116] Total circulation figures dropped by approximately 2,000 readers, or about 5%, between Fall, 2005 and Fall, 2006.^[117][118]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Santa Barbara News-Press, official site
• Save the News-Press, union effort and boycott
• Society of Professional Journalists
• Photos of 07/14/06 rally where reporters put duct tape over their mouths