CASE STUDY: Whose newspaper is this anyway?
Individual Winner 2007: Staff of the Santa Barbara News-Press
A smoldering quarrel between the editorial staff and the owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press erupted into a four-alarm fire on July 6, 2006, when editor Jerry Roberts, five other top editors, a columnist and two reporters resigned from the daily newspaper in coastal Southern California. They said they could no longer work for owner Wendy McCaw because of a profound difference of opinion with her newsroom policies.
Since then, more than half of the 50 editorial staff and an estimated 60 newspaper employees have resigned or have been let go; several lawsuits have been filed; the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been asked to rule on several issues, including a request by staff members to be represented by the Teamsters union; the actions of the nine employees have been honored by several journalism organizations; and McCaw, despite generally negative stories written by the national media and an uproar by the community, continues to run her daily newspaper as she pleases.
McCaw bought the News-Press in 2000 from the New York Times after receiving an estimated $2.5 billion in a divorce settlement from Seattle cell phone magnate Craig McCaw. She had no journalism experience, but she hired several prominent journalists to run the news, including Roberts, who was a managing editor for the San Francisco Chronicle. Eventually, McCaw and her news staff became estranged over the traditional boundary that separates a newspaper’s business interests from its editorial staff. The staff’s contention that the owner repeatedly interfered with the news became a profanity-laced resurrection over two incidents.
- Contrary to the paper’s policy on reporting drunken driving dispositions, McCaw blocked publication of the fact that the paper’s editorial page editor had been sentenced on a DUI charge after the paper had earlier reported his arrest;
- After a reporter included the address of West Wing actor Rob Lowe’s property, which was made public during a zoning hearing for the proposed construction of a new home, McCaw reprimanded those involved. She also revised company policy to say that the publisher’s approval was necessary to publish any addresses.
McCaw has refused to be interviewed, but she said in statements and editorials that the resignations stemmed from violations of company policies and standards, not the owner’s perceived “assault on the purity of journalism.” Circulation has dropped 9.5 percent from 42,000 to 38,000 during a nine-month period ending March 31.
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