Starshine and Seabaugh Find Independence

Congratulations on hiring Starshine -- she is a really talented writer. I enjoyed her Sunday columns and was sure she would leave the dying News-Press soon after they killed her column.

Joe Cole was really the first casualty last May, and when added to the 6 community columnists (including Seabaugh) dumped, the total is 32 terminated and/or resigned. And, yes, I did rely on CraigSmithBlog for the latest count to which I added those others noted here.

Starshine could do her own version of "Why I left the News-Press" even with the alleged cursing.

After spending six years as Wendy's hatchet man, I don't know if Mr. Cole should be classified as a casualty -- I'm guessing it was a case of nip and tuck to the door, what with the tried and true "spending more time with my family" excuse. And his dead silence throughout this year speaks volumes.

And that's five, not six community columnists as per two other N-P alums, here.

Sheesh, Dave, you're slipping.

--virtual fact-check

I do not know who any "Dave" is, but I do know that 5 community columnists were dumped on one day, and later the medical columnist was axed for his "attack", for a total of 6. We all know that Cole was pushed out, and his buffer role worked for a couple of years between the ownership and the Executive Editor. Maybe Cole refused to be the hatchet on Jerry Roberts, so thus was pushed out. I consider him to be the first casualty, for a total (today at least) of 32.

An analysis of whether Cole was the hatchet and/or the casualty can be written by others who know more than I.

DON'T WORRY STARSHINE

And what about Michael Kew, the surfing columnist? Doesn't that make 7 columnists dropped?

Then there is Morgan Green, who left (retired, apparently, although she's in her 50's) around March.

Who knows the total body count.

Thanks for hiring Seabaugh and Roshell, Indy! Just hire Jennie Paradise too, in memory of Quill Max.

What about Tom Bolton, Tad Weber and Dave Bemis? They got out early, but the cause was the same as the later exits.

Indy, you have captured the cream from the Newsprison's spilled milk! Congrats on bringing Starshine and Seabaugh on board...their work definitely enhances my reading pleasure!

You can add Bill Macfadyen to the list plus some others throughout the building.

As long as you're going back further in time, why not include Linda Strean?

It is a very long list and growing longer all the time!

My count was 32 for this year, but the surfer columnist also should be included too, as well as the well-liked security guard who was there for years and even wrote a long comment at a much earlier Indy Media Blog.

And the carnage goes back for more years with all those other past editors and publishers, some noted above. So since the current owner acquired the NewsPress as a company, is the total now 50 or more casualties of career professionals??

So great to know that all these talented people are finding a home at the Indy.

Way to go. Thanks for confirming what a lot of us have known for a long time -- The Independent really is SB's best paper.

Ann Peyrat, a special sections editor, and Rich Barth, the marketing director, also left or were fired after the co-publishers took over -- increasing David Pritchett's count to 34.

I often wonder about the content of the editorials that the Santa Barbara News-Supress receives but refuses to publish. Well, looks like we are going to see a transfer of talent from the SB-Supress to the Independent. And the plot thickens.....

It’s a local Iraq but, but as smart as David is, let’s don’t quibble right now over who’s a soldier and which person should be in which bodybag. Virtually everyone (except for the paid mercenaries) is a loser in this war and there will be plenty of time later for historians.

How about batting around some new ideas about how to keep the carnage from increasing?

The rallies and the subscription boycott haven’t really caught Wendy McCaw’s attention. She won’t meet with clergy, respected national journalists or even her own employees. As Craig Smith notes, she’s a dictator with no shareholders or directors to tamp down her whims and incredible flights of self-inflicted damage—she’s looking older and heavier and something seems a bit psyco. Human decency or good business judgment have no impact, even from her paid and presumably once human “bagmen” such as Millstein, Huff, Steepleton, Apodaca, Armstrong, and, last but not least, the Nipper.

So, what else, beyond giving up on the traditional daily newspaper and supporting other media, including new forms like this blog??

Ask our local long-standing “establishment” to boycott the upcoming lifetime achievement dinner – either as nominees or ticket buyers??

Ask someone to fund a local conference of respected national publishers to use the News-Press mess as a case study, with a panel picked by former publisher (and now Boston Globe publisher) Steve Ainsley??

Lots of things have been tried and admittedly those are weak -- any better ideas?

Check out the Doc Searls and News-Press Mess blogs today.

Starshine, congratulations. Can't wait to see your columns back in action again.

Didn't want to urge you to join the crowd -- most of us have to make a living -- but it sure was a nuisance to hunt for old used News Press papers in order to read your lively writing! And soon it was beginning not to even BE there. So hurray, now I can pick up my Independents, go home, and ENJOY. Thank you!!! You're back in my life again.

GOOD!

This whole thing is one for NewsThatSucks.com

I t is interesting, but not surprising, that the news-supress will run a story about the firing of the LA Times publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson (today's snooze-press business section)yet omitt almost all coverage about their own meltdown.

It is also telling that they had to pick the story up from Associated Press

Starshine's apt looking-in-the-mirror comment could well apply to Joe Cole.
Cole may well have had an epiphany and become a buffer during the Jerry Roberts era, but for those of us who suffered his and Wendy's "leadership" before then, he was nothing more than a shill and a hatchet man, and a highly paid one at that.
Joe likes people to think he's a nice guy -- and possibly he could be -- but much of what he did for Wendy was shameful, and he owes apologies to quite a number of people.
Should he ever chose to do so, only then will he be eligible for forgiveness and redemption.
In the meantime, his sins far unweigh his good deeds. Many of us have the scars to prove it.

As I still get free subscriptions on the company computer, the text below is the by-line opinion today by our favorite local hypocrite. Even I know the difference between other news organizations not tattling about former employees, versus what the News-Press bosses and hirelings are doing to libel the former editors and writers who would rather resign then prop up the teetering house of cards that the newspaper has become.

And even when I worked for the San Diego college paper in late 2004, I received that rambling "stack of documents" from Allen what's-his-name, the weirdo disgruntled former volunteer at Channel 17 who could not get along with the other quirky staff there. No credible news reporter bit on that freaky conspiracy then, and it is not news now. But good to know Travis has such a good filing system to find those documents. If the videos of the various News-Press mess rallies and forums make him mad when they are each shown a few times on Channel 17, imagine how infuriated he will get when those videos will live forever on private web sites.

Obviously, this opinion piece today is a classic paranoid response to criticisms, with the cliche of one finger pointing out and three others pointing back to the blamer. Instead of a rational discussion with real people and current and former readers, more shots from the bunker are all we get. (Even though I did not vote in the Teamsters unionization last week, I still consider myself part of the public "we" of readers.)

I suppose people will now have to look up synonyms for the word "hypocrisy" for this latest Travis hissy fit.

Does he really wonder why no one will return his phone calls or give an interview on the spot, when his only communications are shots from the bunker? Does Travis think Paliminteri of KEYT wants to call him when the News-Press hack lawyer Millstein sent a multi-page bitchy letter to the KEYT owners complaining about Palminteri doing his job to report the actual news about the News-Press mess? Does he understand that Michele Cole of KEYT might not have anything to say about the departure of Kate Wentzel because the whole insider story already was told two days earlier at Craig Smith's Blog? And, does Travis Armstrong not just get it by criticizing Los Angeles Times, where the writer James Rainey has written 8 lengthy articles about the Times own internal managerial strife, and the Times actually published all of them, compared with the News-Press killing its own articles that give a dry but accurate report of the mass staff resignations and firings?

So few people are reading the News-Press lately, that the biggest boost is when the text is copied and pasted elsewhere. Seems like I better go back to grad school if I want any career security.

Here is the opinion piece today:

Opinion: Their policies say they can't speak
Travis Armstrong
October 6, 2006 7:56 AM

the article (reg. required)

Too right, Vladster; I've been telling my peeps that it ain't so much that people don't want to talk, they simply don't want to talk to him.

--virtual diplomat

Since the Baron is such an authority on fluids, perhaps he can inform the public as to whether the stream of invective recently from Travis Armstrong is bile or piss...

October 05, 2006 06:41 PM Eastern Time
Do University Student Drinking Preferences Include H20?

U.C. Santa Barbara Students Choose Bottled
Water as Beverage of Choice

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A recently completed micro survey among university students at University of California’s Santa Barbara campus reveals some interesting water drinking tendencies among the twenty-something generation. If California students are any indication, their strong preferences may signal a new trend in bottled water consumption on university campuses nationally among this young intellectual demographic.

“University students today are really the first generation to have grown up in America when bottled water became main stream in the 1980s,” said Arthur von Wiesenberger, a renowned water expert, author and president of BottledWaterWeb.com who commissioned this year’s survey. “Their parents, the baby boomers, brought bottled water into the home as a primary beverage of choice, so from an early age, these 20-year-olds were accustomed to drinking bottled water as a part of the American lifestyle,” he added.

Highlights of the survey confirmed:
Students drink a lot of bottled water because they feel it is healthy, convenient and tastes good, describing it as “clean,” “refreshing” and “pure.”
42% said they drink water "all the time," while 33% indicated they drink water more than half the time.
The majority chose water as their beverage of choice followed by juice, flavored teas, diet soft drinks and milk. Over 50% said they drink bottled water at home and when they are out.
More than 50% said that they never or rarely "drink tap water." They believe that "bottled water is better than tap water."
The majority of those surveyed prefer spring water, but filtered water is a close second.
The overwhelming majority of respondents prefer non-carbonated water over carbonated water.
Store brands tend to be the most popular bottled water, followed by Arrowhead. The majority of students preferred their water in PET plastic bottles.

This sampling of university students and their water drinking habits highlight that the choice of water as a preferred beverage is on the rise and that given a choice, bottled water is a more desirable first choice of beverage among this group of university students. While the results cannot be generalized to all college students, they do provide a glimpse into the mindset and preferences of this group and potentially signal the beginning of a trend.

The micro survey involved more than 100 students attending the University of California at Santa Barbara. Randomly selected students participated in a brief interview during the spring of 2006. The survey explored their perceptions about bottled water, drinking habits, product and package preferences and where they consume bottled water. 68% of respondents were female, 26% were male, and 6% did not specify gender, with a median age of 20. The survey was conducted by BottledWaterWeb.com.

The complete survey results were discussed by Mr. von Wiesenberger at the International Bottled Water Association’s (IBWA) 2006 Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel where he hosted a “Water Bar.” For the complete survey results and more information on bottled water, visit the Web site at www.bottledwaterweb.com.

Interviews with Arthur von Wiesenberger are available by contacting the media representative.
Contacts

Agnes Huff Communications Group
Agnes Huff, PhD, 310-641-2525

Now that's WEIRD! The water expert/bar owner/thong seller/newspaper co-publisher in Santa Barbara is represented by a failed writer/travel agent/publicist/damage controller in Los Angeles. Does it get any weirder than that?

Now there's a good way to water down Wendy's money...a personal publicist! I used to see this in Hollywood. The least talented hangers-on hired the ONLY PR people who'd take 'em--the starving no-talent flacks at the lowest end of the feeding chain. As mom used to say, water seeks its own level!

Legendary publishers Tom Storke and Stuart Taylor must be spinning in their graves. The current publisher of the News-Press ("Nipper") tending a "water bar" in Las Vegas while their beloved newspaper falls apart under his watch? Another one for the history books in an unsavory mess without end.

The Travistian opinion piece I analyzed above is now a free link at the hit parade of paranormal hypocritical opinion pieces now collected at their web site:

http://www.newspress.com/npsite/commenta...

I hear "Dr. Laura" addressed the community in her Sunday column. Can I read this on line without paying? Her main concerns are children and war. Does anyone know what she is saying about the current situation of internet predators and some in Congress ?

I read the Travis Sunday editorial, ....yes really. The problem with Travis and Wendy and the whole bunch of them is they keep knocking people who are very well liked in Santa Barbara.... like the Mayor and Lois Capps in Sunday's piece. It comes back to Travis and makes him look like he's in the wrong.

http://wendy4pressmess.blogspot.com/2006...

No one has said what happened to Maria Zate, whose commercial real estate column was a highlight of the once-excellent business section.

Don't worry, Dave. Maria Zate has been on maternity leave but will be back soon (she's one of The Organized, BTW).

The UCSB Nexus is very good this year... the Indy feels like a mausoleum by comparison... read

Jenny Paradise

Alas, some hard news that the Nipster and the Huffer can handle:
http://www.ucsbdailynexus.com/news/2006/...