Posted on 07/10/2006 1:36:49 PM PDT by abb
Local newspaper ownership has earned praise lately, but perhaps not in the offices of The Santa Barbara News-Press in California. Last week, six top editors and a veteran columnist resigned from the paper, claiming the owner and her management had repeatedly undermined news coverage.
The journalists included the editor, Jerry Roberts; managing editor, George Foulsham; deputy managing editor, Donald Murphy; metro editor, Jane Hulse; business editor, Michael Todd; sports editor, Gerry Spratt; and Barney Brantingham, a longtime columnist who had been working at the daily since 1960 when he began as a copy editor.
The News-Press, which was founded in 1855 and now has a circulation of around 41,000, is owned by Wendy P. McCaw, a philanthropist and the ex-wife of Craig McCaw, the cellphone magnate. (Ms. McCaw's holding company, Ampersand Holdings, bought the paper from The New York Times Company in 2000.)
Ms. McCaw and the new acting publisher, Travis K. Armstrong, did not return calls seeking comment. Sam Singer, a spokesman for Ms. McCaw, said the resignations came as a result of the owner's plan to increase local news coverage.
Mr. Roberts disputed that explanation. Employees quit, he said, "largely because of ethical concerns" over the policies of Ms. McCaw; the co-publisher, Arthur von Wiesenberger (who is also Ms. McCaw's fiancé); and Mr. Armstrong, who is also the editorial page editor.
"These are primary ethical issues of the blurring of the line between opinion and fact, editorial page and news page," Mr. Roberts said. "More than 100 papers ran a story about the resignations on Friday, but The News-Press was not among them. It ran a column by Travis Armstrong spinning it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Fresh information...
New Editors Named at Santa Barbara Paper
Published: July 11, 2006 9:05 PM ET
SANTA BARBARA The new publisher at the Santa Barbara News-Press named four people to top editing positions, a step toward restocking management ranks decimated by a mass resignation last week to protest moves by the paper's ownership.
Among the new hires is fomer KTVU-Ch. 2 business editor Brian Banmiller. Acting publisher Travis Armstrong said that Banmiller has been tapped to be contributing business editor.
Armstrong also announced the appointment of Charles Bucher as the new assistant managing editor, Scott Steepleton as city editor and Tony Peck as interim sports editor.
``I am pleased to promote these excellent journalists,'' Armstrong said. ``They bring to their positions an intense focus on the reader, a creative approach to the presentation of news and a dedication to local reporting.''
More appointments are expected to fill remaining vacancies created by the resignations, newspaper spokesman Sam Singer said today.
Bucher previously served as the paper's nation and world editor. Steepleton was a senior writer and Peck was an associate editorial page editor. Banmiller worked at KTVU Channel 2 News in San Francisco for 16 years.
The News-Press, founded in 1855, is locally owned and published by Wendy McCaw's Ampersand Publishing LLC, which purchased the paper in 2000 from the New York Times Co.
Last week, editor Jerry Roberts, managing editor George Foulsham and the others quit, citing dissatisfaction with McCaw and her associates. Among other things, the editors claimed McCaw and her team meddled in news coverage.
The News-Press has a 57-person editorial staff. It publishes seven days a week and a has a daily circulation of about 41,000.
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