News-Press Journalistic Ethics Forum Packs ’Em In

The forum was wonderful. It will be broadcast on Channels TV (Ch 17) as follows:
Saturday, July 29th, 7-9 PM
Sunday, July 30th, 7-9 AM and 9-11 PM
Tuesday, August 1 at 6 PM
Thursday, August 3 at 11 AM and 8 PM
Friday, August 4th at 2 PM
Saturday, August 5 at 3 AM
Sunday, August 6 at 10 PM

Scott Hadly, one of the reporters who resigned from the Santa Barbara News Press, guests on KPFK's "Deadline L.A." Saturday at noon.

co-pub nip. heeeeeeeeessssssssssssss back...

the perennial fiancé published the wendy's "i'm setting the record straight (again)" song on his foodie website yesterday and adds his own perceptive (not) insights.

posted pretty early, so he’s still aboard the sinking u.s.s. mccaw or just got back locally from a long night out.

http://nippers.sbwh.com/topic.asp?whichp...
and also posted below, starting right after wend’s sign off on her propaganda.

some of his foodie buddies are not amused.

i hope next the nipper responds to roberts and cannons indy pieces on journalistic ethics. in other words, get out from behind the lunch counter, be a man, show leadership, further a serious debate, be an american daily newspaper publisher, instead of driving editors off the job and hiding behinds the skirts of lawyerisms.

with apologies to churchill, never has a publisher been so unsuccessful in so short of time.

not to mention triggering a tsunami of bad publicity, which still has legs.

before the meltdown and perennial vacation, nip was holding court in restaurants (of course) about his ultra visions for the np. those illusions have now deflated like a bad soufflé.

except for waking up next to blondE, he’d be looking for work like the nine journalists.

oh, well, he’s a union man now.

Sonny
Starting Member

USA
2 Posts Posted - 07/25/2006 : 2:59:06 PM
________________________________________
Wendy's third attempt to explain this fiasco in Tuesday's NP opinion was full of the same BS..who does she think she's kidding...go back and read your own paper and you'll get a clue why you are where you are today, honey...you can't buy credibility

SBbulldog
Bon Vivant

USA
576 Posts Posted - 07/25/2006 : 7:42:00 PM
________________________________________
I was really so surprised to see this post, that someone else responded first.
I don’t care too much for name calling, unless I'm doing it. Howsoever, Ms McCaw, I ask little. Please address these issues;
What were the transgressions of Staff to which you refer?
Why was there an objection to publishing an address that was already part of the public record?
Did Rob Lowe or "his people" specifically complain about the publication of the address?
Was a report about Travis Armstrong's sentencing suppressed and why?
Was an effort made to retain any of the staffers who resigned?
So many heads rolled. Some good heads. Please address the issues. Thanks.
de gustibus non est disputandum

Nipper
Administrator

251 Posts Posted - 07/27/2006 : 01:38:46 AM
________________________________________
SB Bulldog, here are my responses to your questions:
What were the transgressions of Staff to which you refer?
Because of the company’s privacy and confidentiality policy, specific details of internal company matters cannot be discussed publicly, and that includes employee related issues. The paper, like all newsgathering operations, has established editorial policies and employee conduct policies. These policies and guidelines govern news coverage, ethical questions and editorial positions. When those company and employee policies are violated, or when there are internal or legal issues that reflect on someone’s character, then it is the job of the owner/publisher to step in and manage the situation. While some former employees have discussed their side, in respect of company privacy policies, we do not feel it is appropriate to provide further detail as to the specifics of employee issues and as a general rule do not disclose such internal matters. While the employees prior statements clearly permit disclosure by us "fair game" we prefer to stay within the spirit of the confidentiality policies of the company.
Why was there an objection to publishing an address that was already part of the public record?
Irrespective of whether an address was made public by others, our paper’s policy is not to report any information that we feel could potentially compromise the safety of a public figure or possibly endanger their family. By reporting the address of the property in question, the safety of Mr. Lowe and his family was jeopardized. Just because it is available elsewhere does not justify our publishing it. Mr. Lowe contacted the paper and was upset that his address was being reported.
Was a report about Travis Armstrong's sentencing suppressed and why?

No. This is clearly a matter of policy and any misperceptions that have been created need to be cleared up. The paper’s editorial policy is to only report the outcome of a DUI case if there was an injury or death related to the case, or if the defendant is a major public figure. Consistent with this policy, the arrest was reported and the sentencing was not.

Was an effort made to retain any of the staffers who resigned?
No. Once the resignations were submitted, they were accepted.

Sonny
Starting Member

USA
2 Posts Posted - 07/27/2006 : 07:04:41 AM
________________________________________
Oh BOY..more of the same nonsense..Nipper's making excuses as he goes along! What you should have told Rob Lowe is to go jump in a lake and stuck up for your employee! Instead, you chose to reprimand the employee and fret over Lowe's "safety"! HA..the public planning comm meeting had Rob's lawyers referring to his address about TWENTY TIMES!. and by the way, did Travis pass the drug and alcohol screening that you demand of your hires? Your responses, Nipper, are pretty lame!

SBbulldog
Bon Vivant

USA
576 Posts Posted - 07/27/2006 : 07:58:29 AM
________________________________________
I'm sad to note that this sounds like the Bush white House.
No direct answers for "policy" reasons. As the Press, you would never accept it from others.
Am I mistaken, or was Joe Armedariz's sentancing covered? No one was injured.
Just pride and common sense.
I've said this a million times. Humans make mistakes. Humans can make it right. I really respect those who take responsibility. Sure, the NP and its ownership don't take their orders from the public, and, to some degree, it's not a popularity contest.
Self-respect, we all need it. It's missing when we don't show respect to others.
de gustibus non est disputandum

http://nippers.sbwh.com/topic.asp?whichp...

Hey, lay off of Arthur von Wiesenberger! His Swiss high school paper, which he edited 35 years ago, had circulation soaring to at least 100, since the school only had a couple of hundred students then.

http://www.aiglon.ch/info/profile.shtm

How can anyone even question Nipper's news judgement in relation to Roberts, who was down to about 500,000 daily at the Chronicle and 41,000 daily at the News-Press?

Just a few questions for the Publisher:

1. Will the Independent cover the Nipper blog statement from Von Weisenberger? It clearly explains the position of the paper on all points not previously briefed by McCaw. What about his comments about Brantingham?

2. Would the publisher of the Independent comment as to the validity of the policies stated by Von Weisenberger for news gathering organizations?

3. Aside from the following:
- Armstrong Sentencing
- Hadly's "Independent" piece
- Rob Lowe's address
Does anyone know of any other story that was altered or killed?

Speaking of that, what about Barney? Did anyone ever tell him what to write or not at the NP? Everyone knows he was past retirement anyway but just couldn't give up the NP salary and perks for a sixth of a page each inexplicably and invariably containing transcribed phone messages from Sol Morrison twice a week. What a gig? His fickle sentiments toward his previous honey pot now revealed in his first Indy column. Read Nipper's sentiments about Barney's bashing and realize that in addition to the salary he was also probably riding on the coattails of the rich and quasi rich in his failed effort to become a bon vivant.

Santa Barbara offers such chances to the sincere, but its hard to keep the balls in the air when you're really just a hacking hack. Prediction: Brantingham doesn't see Christmas at the Independent. Why? His prattle won't fly with the Indy's sophisticated readers. A Spearmint Rhino Ad will need to be placed and something that is non revenue or politically motivated will have to move. Ok we had space when the NP controversy seemed like it would

4. Isn't part of The Independent's role as the "community alt weekly" to pick up coverage where the "monopolistic daily" leaves off? What's the loss to the community if the Independent covers Armstrong's sentencing and the News Press doesn't. It's a fucking free country for Christ's sake and anyone can march down to the courthouse and check out the case file for themself if they damn well please.

5. Would any paper publish the home address of say a police officer? By the same token, can Rob Lowe really expect to keep his home address private in Montecito?

6. I just read the headline from Henry Dubrow's piece on the front page of the business times this week - something about the union organizers not stopping at the News Press. How do the thousandaires that Publish the Independent feel about the possibility of organization of their own newsroom?

7. BTW the best article of the handful published by others around the country is in the Ventura Star Free Press -especially Matt McAllisters comment about what people around the country think this is all about. We Barbarenos think we are so important and envied. We leave the cage and find that the rest of the world really does not want to smell our stink, maybe just laugh at us a little more.

8. Finally, of the NP staffers who are out, how many got canned and how many quit? You know TMS never would have cottoned to the conversation that McCaw is entertaining and responding to now. He was in DLG everyday and divisive movement within the ranks would be routed before it ever became a coffee club.

9. I've always admired the Independent and its publishers. I think that you have done a great job over the past 20 years.

Prior to their resignations I communicated to Publisher Joe Cole and Executive Editor Jerry Roberts details of the behavior of Travis Armstrong who, as Opinion Editor, worked closely with Gary Earle and others in their efforts to "make news" concerning issues important to them and about which Armstrong provided favorable support in the opinion pages (where he viciously attacked again and again those who took a different view).

The evidence of unethical journalistic behavior in this case was clear to me and, possibly, to Mssrs. Cole and Roberts who may have attempted to address it.

For the record and for either a better News-Press or its passing from our midst,

Marc McGinnes

THE PR firm of Agnes Huff today announces Dr. Laura has been hired as a News-Press columnist: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site...

Have they COMPLETELY LOST THEIR MINDS over there at DLG Plaza?????

The Star has presented the best out of town coverage of the NewsPressMess; believe me, I've read it all.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sta...

--Totally real, virtually

Oh yeah, Dr. Agnes Huff!!!

What sort of person represents these sort of people?

Dr. Huff has a Master of Arts degree from Loyola Marymount University and pursued doctoral studies at Saybrook Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in 1986 from Columbia Pacific University and is a licensed MFT in California.

http://www.disaster-resource.com/article...

Columbia Pacific University? Never heard of it? Neither had I, but these folks have:

http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEduc...

--Just following Doctor's orders

Dear Dr. Laura, I am thinkking of having sex with my unkle, I had it with my cuzzin and it was ok..now um confuzed..what do yoo think I shuud do?? oh yeah..I'm pregnunt

"3. Aside from the following:
- Armstrong Sentencing
- Hadly's "Independent" piece
- Rob Lowe's address
Does anyone know of any other story that was altered or killed?"

There was at least a letter to the editor that was killed as a favor to Rod Lathim, concering both how public property was taken and used as an ego boost for it's current manager and how one backstage manager at the Luke made inappropriate comments to children participating in the Santa Barbara Youth Theatre (which was subsequently forced out of the Luke, despite the fact that its entire purpose for exisiting is to support youth theatre in Santa Barbara).

Dear Dark...

The story on Donna Jordan, retiring from CARP City Council? Politely speaking, my understanding is that its in limbo, thanks to pressure to turn it into an attack piece courtesy Travis/Armendariz

The Wendy-Armstrong editorial line in the News-Mess touts the agenda of a group calling itself the Homeowners Defense Fund.

Question: What actor who lives in Montecito is the president of that outfit?

Answer: Rob Lowe

As the power shifts around at the Newspress it is reflected on page 2 where the "credits" are. Today, Sunday, it changed again. Maybe next week "Dr." Laura will be the new Acting Out Editor?

Here is a Sunday piece by an enlightened publisher and chairman of an independent newspaper in northern Alabama. Pretty clear what he thinks of his colleague at the Santa Barbara News-Press, Wendy McCaw. Next is a profile about that newspaper, The Anniston Star.

“The question arises because of a long-term trend, which shows the bitter fruit of the corporatizing of America, and because of the misbehavior of a California publisher, which led a Fortune magazine columnist to assert that local ownership is a poor form of governance.
First, the bad behavior of billionaire Wendy McCaw, owner of The Santa Barbara News-Press, who has been running the show from Europe, largely through the opinion page editor, who shares her dislike for city hall and her passion for animal rights.
McCaw — who made her money the old-fashioned way, by divorcing cell-phone magnate Craig McCaw — by-passed a respected editor, who quit, and her attorney and briefly the publisher, who also quit.
Since she began treating the paper like a trained pet, editors and reporters have been walking out the door in a steady stream — including a 46-year veteran columnist, who was brought to tears by the separation.
All of this led Fortune magazine columnist Justin Fox to conclude, "If you had to pick the one governance model best equipped to reconcile the conflicting priorities of owners, employees and customers over time, it is that of the publicly traded corporation."
Of course, McCaw is not the first publisher to behave badly. In fact, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and San Francisco Examiner were journalistic bellows inflaming war fever against Spain in the late 19th century.”
Entire article at

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2006...

Media
Small Paper Uses Profits to Train New Reporters
by David Folkenflik


David Folkenflik, NPR
Under the leadership of publisher H. Brandt Ayers, The Anniston Star was judged to be one of the country's best by Time magazine and the Columbia Journalism Review.

“It is the duty of a newspaper to become the attorney for the most defenseless among its subscribers.”
'Anniston Star' philosophy, Col Harry M. Ayers



David Folkenflik, NPR
Chris Waddle, a former top editor at the Star, has been put in charge of overseeing the Ayers Institute for Community Journalism.

All Things Considered, May 2, 2006 • At many newspapers, the top priority is how best to prop up revenues. But the family that owns The Anniston Star in Alabama is quietly planning to devote the paper's profits to training new generations of reporters.
The Star is a small daily that packs an outsized punch, situated in a town west of Atlanta. The paper has a circulation of just 27,000. But under the leadership of publisher Harry Brandt Ayers, it fights above its weight class. It campaigned for racial desegregation at a time when much of Alabama was brawling to keep it out, and it has uncovered pollution and government corruption. The newspaper has maintained a staff that is twice as large as what industry consultants recommend.
The Star has long served as a training ground for aspiring journalists. Rick Bragg and Jim Yardley went on to win Pulitzers at The New York Times. Others graduated to the Chicago Tribune and The Wall Street Journal.
Ayers told longtime Star editor Chris Waddle that he wanted to build on that record. Waddle suggested the University of Alabama could create a graduate program in journalism that would be based at the Star itself.
The Ayers family created a not-for-profit foundation. Over time, the holdings of the Ayers family in the publishing company will be turned over to that trust. The company's earnings will be used to run the paper, and its dividends will help pay the cost of teaching the students. The Knight Foundation has contributed $1.5 million to the project.
Waddle who has held pretty much every senior editorial post at the Star, became president of the trust and is also a professor at the university.
Ultimately, it will be a dozen students reporting -- and learning -- in the newsroom. They won't have to pay tuition, and they'll receive modest monthly stipends, plus a bonus to subsidize a job hunt.
Very few American papers are owned by not-for-profit groups. One paper in Tupelo, Miss., uses its money to encourage regional development. The St. Petersburg Times in Florida is controlled by the Poynter Institute, a professional training center. But there's nothing quite like this.
Ayers says he's driven by his own paper's tradition, and by watching budgets and aspirations being squeezed at newspapers owned by the Knight Ridder, Gannett and Tribune companies.
"We want a great newspaper and we want a school to really add something to our craft. And we want to make enough money to make that happen," Ayers says. "That's what drives us. That's what we want."
A lot of people in Anniston say the paper is a central part of their lives. Ayers has gone to a lot of trouble -- and passed up a lot of money -- to make sure it stays that way.

What about how they handle any Coastal Commision story or the way the NP treated Pedro Nava during his campaign?

Well the news staff turned their backs on the rest of us, yes only newsroom writers can join their union the rest of us be screwed in their opinions just dull tools to be used and tossed away. That opinion is also held by the owner/Co-publishers. Frankly I think those that walked out where by no means journalistic heroes and choice the path of flaming out instead of rusting out. Most will be better off anyway. We grunt workers who can not even afford to quit would never get the same fanfare as we are just not important in anyone’s eyes. You want to close down this paper? In other words you want to take my income away. It does seem to be blown out of proportion when you think about what we do know that caused those nine to walk out. What does not seem to be blown out of proportion is the response by our owner/Co-publishers. They certainly seem to be very George W. in their response to the rights of the business owner. Their current actions speak louder then any walk out protest could and this scares me. Now hiring Dr. Laura Schlessinger well that is just a downright embarrassing way to open a new chapter in the News-Press history. Move over National Enquirer here comes the Tabloid News-Press!

Dear News Press defender.

You say that Travis Armstrong is not a "public figure"??

He had his OWN RADIO SHOW for crying out loud. He controls WHO CAN BE ON THE RADIO REGARDLESS OF WHO THE HOST OR SHOW SPONSOR IS. He made news by refusing to allow the MAYOR and a COUNTY SUPERVISOR to appear on a program. The man has his picture in the news paper all the time, is published under his own name and the editorial mast head. He is high profile enough to be a presenter for the GOLETA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARDS.

But yeah, he is not a "public figure". Sure....

Rumor at blogabarbara... Cohee resigned today. Is it true?

He's ba-a-a-a-c-k!!!

Travis bolts out of the chute with a daring attack on rodeo cruelty, the first epistle to appear since the beginning of the NewsPressMess.

Tomorrow's editorial? What's really wrong with BlumRoseWolf, and why EarleCord gets our vote! Tear down those high-density walls!

--I too could be European Royalty, virtually.

Confirmed: Cami Cohee has departed the NP...

To while away the hours, I posted some blog entries on the age of the News-Press at

http://snugspout.blogspot.com/

Bottom line... there is a justification for the 1855 start date of the News-Press, through the `News' side, which is weak, but not negligible.

Speaking of blogspot...since, apparently, my overzealous lawyers accidently sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding my myspace page be deleted, I've put a new one up at:

http://spendymcflaw.blogspot.com

Not as flashy, but will still allow me to post my schemings (in addition to my newspaper, but of course). Hopefully I'm not too against free speech to try to tear down this one, too...but we'll see!!

Yours,
Spendy McFlaw

Anyone get a load of Trav's rant today? He blasts everyone and anyone who dared to cross him while he was locked away over the last 30 days.

Why was Chas. Bucher listed as Managing Editor for only one day? Short career or a temp?

Re: Wrong-way Armstrong's wild ramblings
1. A rabid dog slings saliva in all directions
2. A dinosaur, up to its haunches in a tar pit, probably thrashed most vigorously near the end.

The junior editor from Santa Barbara is in the process of slipping his mooring lines...and not even Cap't Laura can rescue him.

Travis really outdid himself today; i have friends who are truly dejected that they did not make his enemies list in today's stream of (alcoholic) consciousness diatribe........does Wendy really think he is helping the paper? to the same degree "DR" Laura is, perhaps?
Watching their disintegration is becoming sport...

Molina and Schultz gone too? Rumor at blogabarbara.

Hey Indy, this is your chance, get more frequent news up dudes!