The star of hypocrisy?

All, since we probably won't read about it on the News-Press website today, or in the paper tomorrow morning, what happened at the rally and at Rudy's?

I read the Sunday opinion essay today by the infamous editorialist. He whined and kvetched as usual, and parsed the distinctions the Ventura Star and the Santa Barbara Independent have for separating, or building, the wall, between opinion and news content. The differences indeed are that few if any newspapers have the editorial writers with zero accountability to the news chief editor(s), as Travis Armstrong has enjoyed his whole tenure at NewsPress. (Bets are on for how much longer he will last there.)

At the NewsPress, this minimal chain of command with no Wall has allowed all the nonsensical vitriol by Travis to fill the editorial pages for years, along with his highly selective choices for selecting published letters to the editor that seldom contradict the opinionated position of the newspaper ownership and friends. Lately, the friends of the publisher Nipper have even been getting a personal column on Sunday, the barely readable drivel by Buddy Winston, a friend of the Nipster. And the un-readable Laura Schlessinger columns are another example.

The Travis opinion piece today ranted about how the editorial wall was not so clear in other newspapers, but, of course, he fails to admit again and again how killing stories that he and his publisher bosses do not like is the most egregious violation of the wall between news and opinion. A few examples are now widely known about news stories that have been subject to direct interference by Travis Armstrong, including his own drunken driving sentencing, the Lowe spat with his other rich neighbors, the Carpinteria City Council profile, just about anything that criticizes the local real estate sales industry, and several articles about the NewsPress mess itself, especially the story by Hadly.

Interfereing with news content and articles selectede is the true Wall readers need to be concerned about. As I read elsewhere in these blogs, Hypocricy Is as Hypocricy Does, and it does for thee.

Has anyone checked out the website of Agnes Huff? It's at http://www.ahuffgroup.com/

Is it just me, or does this site have the same awkward lack of grace, the same off-kilter feel, the same weird unprofessional vibe as this whole McCawCaw affair?

BIG headline on page one of today's Santa Barbara Daily Sound, "NEWS-PRESS VOTES LOOMS." Also a news story about the rally yesterday, including a photo of Dolores Huerta with reporters standing behind her, and the two press releases by Wendy McCaw.

Funny, though, not a word about any of this in today's News-Press. And McCaw maintains she respects the separation of news from the front office--and not one word.

A small city newspaper owner communicates with her LOCAL readers by using a SAN FRANCISCO lawyer and a LOS ANGELES spokeswoman to send out NATIONAL business wire press releases. Won’t meet with her customers, as Craig Smith notes. Weird. Lame, as Doc Searls notes. Certainly ineffective, as the union vote and departing readers show. Bizarre … which somehow reminds me of a song.

This morning’s “sour grapes” editorial about St. Francis: as the vote by the planning commission shows, respect for News-Press editorials has dropped to such a low level that it is no longer a factor in any public controversy. By censuring letters and other opinions, it has given over to the blogs the function of carrying on the public debate about local issues. I live near St. Francis and it hurts the cause rather than helps with the city council when Wendy and Travis try to “come to our aid.”

Then we need to stop reading it. Lead by action not by reporting on what the NP is writing about.

Hey, Amazed,
Checking out the Agnes Huff website, I think the "lack of grace" you note is because this so-called "Communications expert" has a website that hasn't been updated, it looks like, since 2002. That's the date/year of the one lone story on the website of their magnificent work, about some groundbreaking activity as reported in a 2002 L.A. Times article.
I.E., looks like this firm is outta touch, just like one of its clients.

I found a bio of Agnes Huff on the Girls on the Go website. Seems she started her career as a flight attendent, became a psychologist along the way, is a travel agent, and also a PR person. You know, this kind flitting around from one career to another reminds of McCawCaw and Nipper. One day a socialite vegetarian and bar owner social climber, the next day co-publishers. Have these people ever heard of having a career you deeply believe in and becoming proficient at it? Or is enough to pretend you are something you are not?

The Girls on the Go bio:

Agnes Huff, PhD is President & CEO of Girls On The Go. A respected travel professional, psychologist and marketing expert, Agnes has circumnavigated the world several times for business and pleasure. Born in Budapest, Hungary, this Magyar began her career in the travel industry as a flight attendant for PSA and US Airways. A professional travel planner, enthusiastic vacationer and avid writer, she is most happy planning and organizing the next trip to indulge in her passion for travel, excitement and shopping.

One of her most memorable experiences was flying from New York to London on the British Airways Concorde, which she hopes to experience again in the (very) near future. As president & CEO of Agnes Huff Communications Group, a public relations, marketing and crisis management firm headquartered in Los Angeles, the company represents a wide range of prestigious clients in a variety of industries, including corporate, entertainment, healthcare, government, high tech, non-profit and travel and tourism.

From my research, I see that Agnes Huff wanted to become a writer, but as you can tell from her press releases, the talent is just not there. Maybe that's why she's so harsh on real writers. Jealousy? Could be. Many who can't make it in journalism (or who don't want to accept the low wages of journalism) turn to PR. But most of them don't go on to try and destroy writers who did make it.

It is just me, or does everyone have trouble following the Indy's article above? Had trouble with the last `Sunday Funnies' Indy post too.

I found the News-Press editorial on Sunday bizarre, even for the News-Press. But somehow the Indy is lost its congency here on the Media Page too.

Yes, the intitial posting by Indy's Club Reporter was hard to follow with much of it seemingly a quote or paraphrase from the intial bizzaro editorial. But at least Indy is getting new stuff posted at all.

The bigger point is about the Newspress editorial hypocricy on The Wall and how killing news articles that are not the facts that benefit their friends is the real test of the durability of any Wall between news and opinion content of a newspaper.

Yes, moteofdust, I agree. Especially "The News-Press is the only purient newspaper..." huh? What is "purient"? If the writer meant "prurient" it doesn't make sense either.

I agree, moteofdust. Thank you for pointing that out. At first, I blamed myself for not understanding it. But now I see that it is nonsensical. I'm a little disappointed in the Indy. I feel there was an opening for them to become the source of news in Santa Barbara. But they haven't stepped up the plate. It feels like a staff in hiding. A lost opportuniity, to be sure.

Thanks for the heads up on the typo, Harriet. It has been fixed.

--Club

It's easy to fault the Indy for not trying harder to supplant a free-falling N-P, but it's also not realistic. The Indy, even if Nick and the rest were game, would quickly implode into an ugly pile of rubble. It's just not set up for the high-stress grind of daily journalism.

The Indy puts out a good, if increasingly ugly, paper based on the weekly model. That means it leans heavily on cheap, largely unprofessional labor (unpaid interns and a staff that makes squat). Crank up the production and the real pros like Nick wouldn't be able to clean up the messes created by his interns fast enough. The result? A crappy paper filled with rookie mistakes. Sort of like the News-Press now.

(And Nick? Can you do something about the design? It's starting to look like a surfing magazine -- a bunch of different fonts and zero visual cohesion. It's giving me a headache these days. Thanks.)

The Sound might be a candidate to replace the N-P, but it's a long way off. Operating a daily paper is an expensive, complicated job and who knows if Jeramy is that ambitious.

My post had a few typos too... I'm not intending to criticize the Indy in a substantial way, just wondering why the last two lead postings in this spot have been oddly disorganized.

As someone who's been inside the Indy and is a reader of publications worldwide, I can say that "your pal" is somewhat right when it comes to underpaid staff, as is typical in journalism no matter where you are in the world. As well, if the Indy were to go daily, it would be quite a mess. Just putting it out every week is a miracle.
But other than that, Your Pal is a little off: there aren't many Indy interns at all these days (literally like two), the paper is considered by and large as the top of the alternative heap nationwide (both for profitability and editorial quality), and it's winning more and more design awards each year, including a fourth place in this year's nationwide contest.

So give props where props are due.

As for the disorganization, they do seem a little confusing. However, I believe what the Club Reporter was trying to do is use the same editorial and just change a few words to make the N-P look silly. Too bad it wasn't all that clear for the rest of you, I guess.

I thought the Indy blog was flowing along rather nicely until it froze up 10 days ago. It's been a bit underwater ever since. I particularly like the instant gratification of immediate posting at this site. So, folks, let's not get too critical of our limited functioning local media--it's all we've got and, honestly, these blogs have really allowed SB info to flow.

RALLY TV SCHEDULE

The Newspress staff and Teamsters rally from Sunday afternoon (Sept. 24) is shown on SBChannels17 (cable channel 17) this week in this schedule below. It is a 40-minute video by Larry Nimmer and GirlMan Media.

Wednesday 0900 hrs.
Wednesday 2000
Saturday 1400
Saturday 1900
Sunday 2200

Oy, Apologist, I really didn't intend to diss (or dis -- copy desk, help me out) the Indy. For the record, I love it, and have been a faithful reader since ... oh, back in the day.

And props, I got plenty: good read, fine mix of columns and news, a great sense of iconoclasm. It deserves national recognition.

But it's gotta do something, at minimum, about those pages in the back that seemed like they were done by Quark geeks with too much time on their hands. Really, less is more, dude.

Maybe it's time for a serious, comprehensive redesign. Lots to do, sure, but think of the possibilities ...

One man's purity of design is another's prurience.

--virtual re-design

Dear "Your Pal..."

You are quite off the mark in your attempt to lend insight into the workings and of our paper, The Independent.

First off, your premise that the daily production cycle places a higher stress level upon staff is not a given; in fact the rhythm of a daily production, due primarily to greater specialization and a larger work force often results in a calmer newsroom.

My primary reason not to provide a daily newspaper is the futility of investing in a dying business model and publishing paradigm. We have seen the future, and it is us.

Secondly, you clearly are ill-informed on the level of professionals who work at the Independent. Over 3/4 of our staff has worked 5 or more years with the paper, half have worked more than 10 as we creep up to our 20th anniversary. I won't delve into specifics, but our compensation across the board is at the top of the scale in Santa Barbara media. Interns, as Apologist said, have been rarely used in the last 10 years. There is no more experienced media staff in Santa Barbara county, and to say they make "squat" is both an insult to my colleagues and thoroughly wrong.

I've published a newspaper in Santa Barbara since 1980 -- at least twice as long as any other Santa Barbara county publisher, and Marianne has more Santa Barbara editorial experience (22 years) than anyone else, let alone 15 years prior on the national stage.

The point is, the only model we are following is our own; an editorial budget commitment without peer nationally in our market size, with a 401k, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, and a Profit Sharing program, liberal vacation policy, free lunches two days a week, deadline stress relieving massages, free sodas, coffee and bagels, and many, many parties for both the staff and our clients and friends.

And we haven't used Quark for at least four years.

--Randy Campbell

I may not know squat about local news, but that defensive posting by the Indy publisher Randy is a delusional fantasy on par with the frequent Rivers of Denial by Travis Armstrong. The Indy business model is widely known to hire staff young and eager, never give them a substantial salary increase, burn them out, and watch them move on to bigger markets and jobs with less stress that pay a living wage, and then start the cycle over again. I just hear the sales staff are paid well, but the news and arts staff are not. Why?

A few free bagels per week does not replace affordable health insurance for their families.

With the inevitable exodus of many News-Press news staff after they vote in the union, the Indy is poised to take over the news business for the south County market, with no recovery by the News-Press. The Internets can be the medium, and it works fine for the LA Times and can for the Indy as well, with a growing reliance on the web site for the content more readers are reading only.

The Daily Sound is hiring, so why isn't the Indy? The News-Press still is about one-quarter worth reading anymore, but if the Indy gets bold and strategic, the Indy can really take over what little market share is left.

Randy Campbell comments are accurate and truthfull..It's also a work hard, play hard environment..I was there for 6 years and Randy will always be ONE of the best bosses I've every had...

your pal in the newsroom: Since it's short for "disrespect," I'm pretty sure "dis" is the correct spelling.

I find it typical of the SB mentality that you folks only consider The Independent and The Sound for South Coast news. You all forget that there is another daily paper that is just up the road, staffed by several quality ex NP editors and reporters, that is poised to expand into the South Coast. What an opportunity for them to truly become a county wide paper serving all of SB County. Have any of you taken a look at the Santa Maria Times lately? It has greatly improved and has the benefit of being staffed by journalists who are sensitive to the South Coast needs. The north/south division is historical but it really does not benefit the county. The South Coast snobs forget that the North County agribusiness is a vital part of the county economy. They also forget that many of the employees they rely on to keep their businesses alive moved to the more affordable north and commute so they can afford to raise their families on the central coast. These people have roots in both ends of the county and maybe it is time to heal the division and give the North County some respect. The SM Times could be a integral part of that process but it will take support from South Coast readers and advertisers. To SB Advertisers, consider the SM Times and encourage them to cover the South Coast. You never know, it could be a good thing for everyone!

Ex Inmate

Mr. Vladdy:

I hate to disabuse you of your prejudices, but we provide both bagels AND health insurance. Our edit staff has and average age closer to middle than young, although we like them eager (and good). We've also added at least 4 full time equivalent positions since July. I don’t think we will ever be charged with overpaying our staff, but my previous comments about the relative standing of our compensation remain undeniable. We have launched many careers over the past 20 years, a few who still are with us. And with every bit of growth we plow money back into our paper.

Although you may characterize my previous comments as defensive, I prefer to correct inaccuracies when paraded as fact, particularly regarding people and a company for which I have great pride and allegiance.

--Randy Campbell

Point(s) taken, Randy. I meant no offense. Perhaps my information is old -- when a friend went to the Indy back in the 90s he was making considerably less than he was at a daily, and the Indy was loaded with interns.

Now that the N-P has taken to hiring fresh graduates for squat, it's clear the Indy provides better pay and benefits. Hell, it's a *way* better place to work than the N-P, which is simply toxic these days.

Need any help?

And ex-inmate, you're right: the SM Times *is* a good paper these days, but do you really think the snobs down here will deign to pick it up?

I think a lot depends on how aggressively the Times wants to infiltrate the South Coast market. They definitely have the potential, talent and infrastructure in place to go head to head with Ms. McCaw. I think it will come down to an effective marketing campaign backed up with a quality South Coast edition that blows away the NP. Marketing is the key element to overcoming the North/South rift but many other papers print editions outside their immediate base successfully. I would say the timing couldn't be better to expand their market considerably. At least they are a SB County paper unlike the Ventura Star or L A Times. We can all be sure those papers will be looking for their share of the pie also. Honestly, unless Wendy does a 180 (unlikely) or sells the NP (also unlikely), The Santa Maria Times is the best local option for a daily news product in Santa Barbara. I really hope people will start to understand that and start supporting the Times should they make a more definite move in the South County.

Also, best of luck to the Newsroom today. This is just a first step and should you vote in the union, it will be a difficult fight to negotiate with the Wendy. These folks are putting it on the line because you know Ms McCaw will make their lives hell for joining a union every which way she can. As the lady is completely unapproachable, this was the employees only option. I truly hope that they can make it work for themselves.

Ex Inmate

As an avid newspaper reader, here's my two cents. The best paper around is the SLO Tribune. Much better than both the NP and the SM Times. Packed with local stuff and decent writing. The NP is pretty much a joke these days. The SM Times has improved, but remains out of touch with its own community and is boring as hell. I mean Booooriiing!! The best non-dailies inlcude the Central Coast Business Times and a little paper I pick up in Buellton called Latino Today. (By a former NP guy, I think.) Those two papers really understand their audiences.
The Indy is fun, but not very imaginative. It is never to be taken seriously and hardly ever has any real news. Sorry Indy lovers, but it's true.

Have to hand it to the employees staying on the job to be able to vote today in the union election. The whole point, maybe unique in American union drives, is that these employees are standing up to management to maintain truthfulness, untainted by business necessities or Wendy’s whims. They’ve shown courage.

Blogabarbara. Edhat. Craig Smith. The Indy media blog. SB Star-Free Press. Even Spendy McFlaw.

Who had heard of any of them a couple of months ago? Now I read them every day. They fill in the breaking news and balanced opinion spaces abandoned by the News-Press. Otherwise, we would never know stuff like the newspaper’s lawsuit against its editor, Sunday’s rally or today’s union election details. Stories like these are on the radio and in other papers, but not a word in the News-Suppress. If the paper doesn’t treat itself like anyone else, it just highlights what it is trying to hide. It's good for the blogs--gives them something to chew on.

Hey, Paper Dawg, speaking of booorrrinnnnningggg, anyone take a hard look at the NP recently? It's become like those women Nipper talks about in Vanity Faire. Bring back Starshine’s column, if not the now legendary Spendy.

Randy Campbell, "I've published a newspaper in Santa Barbara since 1980 -- at least twice as long as any other Santa Barbara county publisher." I thought George Thurlow was the publisher for many years and that instead of working Mr. Campbell surfed.

Hey Paper Dawg,
What do you base your negative comments about the Indy on?

Not newsy? Then why is it then that the Indy wins news coverage awards all the time, not to mention best writing out of all California newspapers this year?

And if it's not taken seriously, why does the whole town follow its election cheat sheets every year? The phones ring off the hook around election time with people straight up asking how to vote.

And if it's not imaginative, then why does it have the lowest return rate out of any weekly paper in the United States?

Do some homework before making empty comments.

(I can't believe I'm stooping to this Comment level, but someone's gotta set the record straight.)

The N-P voted to unionize, 33-6.

Hey Indy Apologist, or should I call you Nick Welsh's clone, the silence you hear on my end is the sound of noone caring. I don't care if the Indy wins awards or has a low return rate or any of that other stuff. I only know what I read in the papers. I scan tons of local papers and weeklies each week while on my cookie delivery route, which takes me across the Central Coast. I'm impressed by newspapers that carry original stories that show some initiative in gathering factual material. I dislike papers that simply carry the same Associated Press repeats or the same press release rewrites and canned photos as every other newspaper. It's amazing how the competing media rarely compete but simply carry the same information provided by the same public relations and news wires sources each day. Anyway, I like to check out the Indy for the entertainment around town because it's easier to access than the SB weekly entertainment section but otherwise I don't rely on the Indy for news because most of what's in it has already been reported elswhere by the time the Indy publishes. Any original reporting the Indy seems to do falls into the category of featurish rather than "hard news" that I prefer. Bark, bark, bark.

I just picked up the newest edition of Vanity Fair, the one with Scientologists Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and the Asian baby they adopted on the cover. While flipping pages to the Cruise photo spread, I spotted Santa Barbara billionaire Wendy McCaw and her fiance Arthur Von Trapp (something like that) on page 188. My first thought was "Gawd, she's put on a few pounds!" But at least she can say that she isn't some dumb blond (is it blonde?) trophy wife. Anyway, I'm sure you read the article which portrayed her as our county's 2nd freakiest resident after Michael Jackson so I don't need to repeat it. But I stopped cold on page 195 when it said that Jeramy Gordon, the 23-year-old publisher of the "little" Santa Barbara Daily Sound, might be facing legal action from the not-so-little Wendy McCaw. McCaw's legal eagle, David Millstein, "said the look and feel of Gordon's paper are too similar to that of the News-Press..." Truer words have never been spoken. To prove her point, I grabbed a copy of each paper and did a comparison, and the results were hideously shocking. Here are my PowerPoint points, if were to do a PowerPoint on this.

Size
N-P: 22 X 12.5"
Sound: 16" x 10.5"

Page surface area
N-P: 275-square-inches
Sound: 168-square-inches

Number of pages
N-P: 40-60 per day
Sound: 20 per day

Content
N-P: Mostly wire copy with a few local stories
Sound: Mostly local stories with a few wire stories

Front page logo
N-P: Condensed serif bold typeface with a cute illustration of an adobe mission surrounded by sail boats. (Adobe mission-style buildings with terra cotta tile roofs are the registered trademark of Amperstand Publications, all rights reserved.)
Sound: No cute illustration, non-condensed Century Typeface

Editorial Page spin
N-P: Right-wing kook
Sound: No editorial page

Advertising
N-P: National chains and those who haven't figured out that locals hate the N-P
Sound: Local businesses

Photos
N-P: Color
Sound: B&W

Willingness to print addresses of TV stars
N-P: none
Sound: unknown

Desire of owner to become chummy with TV stars by not printing their addresses
N-P: Strong
Sound: unknown, probably none

Cost
N-P: 50 cents
Sound: Free

There you have it. This comparison clearly shows that these two newspapers are extremely similar, and yet I can't understand why Wendy hasn't sued already. Sure, she'll be hit with what's called an anti-SLAPP motion, a costly penalty designed to stop billionaire fat cats (did I say "fat" again?) from trying to silence others who use the First Amendment. It will cost her millions and the money will make Jeremy's day. But she's got the bucks and should sue anyway. Besides, the people in our legal system have nothing better to do than hear her complaints.