Will News-Press Owner Wendy McCaw Wake Up?

Travis's editorial was ridiculous and particularly petty, especially the details about Camilla Cohee:
Before quitting, Ms. Cohee Barnwell had been away from her job for a month and returned to questions about why she put down unearned vacation time on her time card.

Is it ethical or even legal for an employer to divulge or print information ostensibly from an employee's personnel file? Can any labor law legal experts comment on that?

Also silly is El Travisito's argument that Brian Barnewell "is the developer's best buddy on the council" and that's why Barnwell is uncomfortable with a "free press that disagrees with him." If that's true, why isn't the ostensibly oh-so-pro-development Barnwell at war with the notoriously anti-development Independent?

For Travis, Wendy, and their ilk, they can only see these issues through the lens of the personal attack mentality and they nurture a twisted "you're either with us or against us" and "this is war" worldview in which there is no room for negotiation or dialogue with the community or their own employees or anyone else [and for those who beat the "they OWN the business and don't NEED dialogue with anyone" drum, sorry, but that style of management went out a couple of decades ago; try reading up on it].

One final note, if there's any humor to be found: This whole blackout on opposing views by the SBNP reminds me of the late 1980s, when Spy magazine had a column called "Letters to the Editor of the New Yorker" (since the New Yorker didn't publish letters then). I think the Independent should rename it's letters section "Letters to the Editor of the News-Press that the News-Press Won't Print."

Oh, and in answer to the rhetorical questions about whether Wendy cares or if she's even listening: It seems to me that, like all good hardcore Libertarians, Wendy doesn't care about anyone but herself. For those people, EGO is primary, and any attempt by ANYONE to take away what they view as their own personal, inalieable "freedom" from them and to wrest away any level of control over that which they "own" is tantamount to a capital crime.

Why haven't more people cancelled their subscriptions? The town should shut her down.

Because people are lazy; because some are afraid; because it is hard to get people emotionally involved for a newspaper, especially in this time of online and TV where newspaper readership has been declining. People get emotionally involved for other people and things they know about, such as John Zant and local sports.

Thanks Matt for giving such a detailed account for people who couldn't be there today. About the hot dogs -- the city would not issue Bill Connell a one-day permit, even if he was giving away the food, because the organizers had not purchased a permit to use the park space. Unlike people who have billion$, the organizers couldn't afford the permit and required insurance. The Hot Dog Man didn't want to break the law and serve renegade dogs. So, apologies to everyone who was looking for lunch. ... Bill's gesture at helping by giving away hot dogs is much appreciated and I hope people will remember to stop by his cart at the Baillard exit in Carpinteria to thank him. Peace, Love, and Yellow Mustard to everyone, and remember our motto today: Our Town Won't Back Down!

Since Zant was fired many influential residents have quietly cancelled their subscriptions. The newspaper knows who they are. As McCaw has shunned the community and as credibility and the quality of news reporting have plummeted, so has the newspaper's influence.

Thanks Matt and Indy for the timely reporting. The Independent has become the local "paper of record." A day or two down the line is too long to wait for news, if it arrives at all.

I was at today's rally, was proud of those who supported former NP employees with their heartfelt applause, felt comradeship with those who also so desperately seek clarity and just resolution to these dark past eight months. However, I have come to the conclusion that somehow rebuilding the irreparably shattered, indelibly defamed McCaw-run travesty still known in name as the SBNP into the revered, trusted community daily so many of us wistfully recall is the wrong call here. Fellow Santa Barbarans, it is time to begin planning a new daily newspaper. Though it may loom as a gargantuan task with an incredibly daunting list of requisites - tireless effort from willing community and corporate leaders; unprecedented largesse from wealthy benefactors and everyday start-up seed sowers alike; keen organizational direction from the rich store of professional journalists, planners, legal experts, et. al. both here and elsewhere; and ceaseless creative imagination from all of us SB citizens who do really care that much - starting a new daily from the ground up is the only way to truly "restore" a SB daily we can all be proud of once again. Too much damage has already been done, too much entrenchment on both sides is surely too come to effectively resurrect the old one. Why not choose finally to turn McCaw's current journalistic profanation into the irrelevant propaganda rag it is by simply ignoring her/it? Why not begin the long road back by considering the building of a new paper that we can once again call our own, perhaps bringing the staffs of Indy, the Sound, and all those free-lancers out there in on the bottom floor at the same time? Recall the adage, "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." At today's rally the incipient freshness of a new dawn was almost palpable in the air. Why not act on that, rather than relying solely on the uncertainties of NLRBs, Teamsters, and or others' changes of heart to set the course? It certainly seems an idea worth considering and an apt time to begin planning.

The KSBY report about today's demonstration:

http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/59798...

The Teamsters driven rallies will never push for a replacement paper and the reason is simple... they want to win the legal battle. They don't want to see a competitor created that wouldn't need their services. Their only goal is to get the newsroom and other departments unionized so they can get their dues. A "new" newspaper wouldn't have a need for the Teamsters so what's in it for them. You have a great idea no doubt, and it is necessary and would probably work out great for whoever put it together. It wouldn't surprise me if it's already on the drawing board somewhere in or out of town. Any word on if the Daily Sound is going to become truly that... a daily paper?

in addition to everything else that The Indy has been doing, like becoming the paper of record (good one, First Draft), CHEERS FOR GETTING A PICTURE OF ONE OF MCCAW'S ANONYMOUS GESTAPO AGENTS.

if someone does verify that he does not work for N-P security, please happily take down this post as well.

Burning the books, Soviet style?

Where's Starshine?

http://imnotonetoblogbut.blogspot.com/20...

Ban the bias.

Dear Wendy,
Would you like to know how to really get back at the union? You do the one thing they can't tolerate: you do something they want you to do, but without letting them negotiate for it. In other words, start hiring back some of those people you fired, but don't discuss it with the union. The union bosses will go crazy, because they want to sell their "representation" to your employees. They will be in a position where they will have to file an NLRB complaint against you for actually hiring back some of those employees outside of negotiations. How would that look to the rank and file, from whom the union badly wants to collect part of their paychecks every week?

Bravo Scott...the old reverse psychology try. Great for 5 year olds, not great for a well educated business woman like The Red Queen. Also I don't know why everyone is so obsessed with the Ex's getting their jobs back. What type of relationship would they have back in the castle? Would they have ANY respect from fellow employees after all this noise and SBNP bashing. You would be reuniting the bashers with the bashed. It could never work. The suspicion and magnifying glasses would be so poised, that a hostile work environment would prevail and workers comp claims would be filed like winning lottery tickets. Come on people it is REALLY over. Be sensible about this. Move on already. You know I'm right. even you allegro805!

I think CityWatcher is wrong. Many older people haven't cancelled their subscriptions because the newspaper is the primary place they can get local news. TV stations only cover the bigger news stories and many older people are not online, so they don't have access to blogs and other online sources of news. My 80 year old mother has kept her subscription (even though she hates what Wendy's doing to the paper) just because it has the local adds and obituaries. She now also reads the Daily Sound and the Independent (but only because her children bring them to her, since they don't deliver). I cancelled my NewsPress subscription (I'd been a subscriber for decades) back when the whole mess first exploded. Since then I've found many new sources for local news, but I still miss reading my old NewsPress.

Every one misses the "old News Press".

John Zant is right - it's NOT hte paper we love, it's the people who write the news and report on the community - THAT'S what a local paper is all about. Bravo to Barnwell for stepping up!

hi all,
thanks for reading. it appears that security specialist Nick Montano is also paying attention to these blogs, because he contacted me last night and we exchanged emails this morning. he denies being in las vegas when sinclair was there and says that "he has no employees." so perhaps the man pictured above does not work for montano, but since no one has yet said that he's not a security agent, we'll leave in the reference for now. meanwhile, i updated the paragaph with montano's quotes above, so please make sure to see the changes. i will post them here in this comment too. here they are:

UPDATED PARAGRAPH, THURSDAY A.M.: The human rights references were also appropriate in that many former employees believe that the man videotaping in this picture is an agent of private security specialist Nick Montano, who works for the News-Press. Montano also allegedly, according to Craig Smith's blog, tracked former advertising exec Sarah Sinclair and her colleague to a Las Vegas conference. On Wednesday night, February 21, at 9 p.m., Montano contacted this reporter via email to say that the allegation about Vegas "is a fabrication....Please retract your published fabrication immediately." In a later email, Montano wrote, "If Sara [sic] or ANYONE said I was in Las Vegas after September 2006, they are LYING." When asked to confirm or deny whether this videotaping agent was working for him, Montano responded, "I have no employees." So who is this man? If someone can verify that this man is not working for the News-Press security in some other capacity than as an employee of Montano, we'll happily take down the reference.

Thanks for reading,
Bye,
matt k

RE Montano's comment (quoted from above) "I have no employees"

Sounds like a non-denial denial to me. So he hired a free-lancer? One could argue that not an employee. Bit work? Not an employee.

When he denies that he had anything to do with any surveillance of any former or current employee that would be more significant.

Seems like Montano is yet another incompetent Newspress flak/doofus pretending to be a public relations expert. A request for a retraction with the label "retract your published fabrication" is not too good of a way to be taken seriously.

Montano may not have any "employees" but does he have contractors, friends, lackies, slaves, etc.?
And why his denial to the Indy with the caveat "after September 2006" about surveilling Sarah Sinclair and others at a marketing conference in Las Vegas?

That incident locally was reported first at craigsmithsblog on February 13, where "another manager" is identified as the one who supposedly and actually talked with Montano there surveilling the three Newspress staffers at that conference.

Still, to avoid the hearsay through Sarah Sinclair about whether Sinclair really is lying, as Montano asserts she (a former employee) is, that alleged lying only can be confirmed by the "another manager" who undoubtedly is still a current Newspress employee who would be terminated immediately, becoming yet another notch in Wendy's lipstick case.

Thus, Montano is relying on the anonymous "another manager" to verify if he was made (i.e., discovered with his cover blown) during his surveillance, but the "another manager" cannot verify anything out of fear of being terminated.

How tall can this house of cards be built?

"The Teamsters driven rallies will never push for a replacement paper and the reason is simple... they want to win the legal battle. They don't want to see a competitor created that wouldn't need their services. Their only goal is to get the newsroom and other departments unionized so they can get their dues. A "new" newspaper wouldn't have a need for the Teamsters so what's in it for them."

This pack of lies isn't even halfway intelligent.

Don't believe the propaganda and lies of the corporations and their owners, people with mansions and private planes and automobile collections and servants and vast wealth out of all proportion, while many of us struggle to get by. Unions are groups of working people banding together for the common good, doing what no individual could do alone. Without unions there would be no 8 hour day, no child labor laws, no workplace safety laws. Learn your history.

I'm a well educated woman (albeit not a billionaire). If I were a billionaire, why would I be so angry and mean to people who live to practice their professions in an institution I own? Someone above wrote about reverse psychology working well on 5 year olds; well I suggest you and Wendy remember when you were 5 and the difference between right and wrong.

I truly hope that Wendy lives a long life; but ultimately, when Wendy is to meet her maker how will she explain her part at the helm of the Santa Barbara News Press? A well-educated woman such as Wendy McCaw, may have studied literature and philosophy, and acquired knowledge of some of the world’s great minds, like Kahlil Gibran, who wrote: “Forgive me, my Judge! I did not know that riches would put my life in fragments and lead me into the dungeons of harshness and stupidity.” She has a choice now.

If I were a billionaire how sad would I have to be to take away from any community, the simple treasure of a daily newspaper? A simple treasure produced by gifted people. Wendy, I pray for you; you must have a broken heart.

hi all,
i got a copy of the full list of remarks that david pritchett made yesterday. they're a pretty solid rundown of what people believe are the recent News-Press follies. Here they are:

· I want a newspaper that keeps my city and county government honest with fact-based articles and analyses and not just unsubstantiated insults and accusations on the opinion pages.

· I want a daily newspaper that knows what local news is and actually has more than 2 reporters with more than 2 years total experience on the job.

· I want a newspaper that does not think an imaginary basil shortage or a visit by a fake TV nanny in Santa Maria are worthy content for a front page story.

· I want a newspaper that does not punish or fire its employees for writing the truth, or for coming to a public meeting in De La Guerra Plaza with 500 friends.

· I want a newspaper that is not afraid to report about itself, in good times and in bad, including instances when prominent employees are themselves the subject of a police report.

· I want a newspaper that will not send intimidating letters to local small businesses that display rhetorical signs in support the actions of newsroom employees in a labor union.

· I want a newspaper that does not sue other journalists for doing their jobs investigating my original newspaper.

· I want a newspaper that publishes well reasoned but contrary opinions as letters to the editor, with truly fair and balanced editorials and not a selective disclosure of the personnel files of former employees.

· I want a newspaper that actually reports the news with original, independently researched and written articles and not just recycled press releases and endless syndicated wire stories.

· And… I want a newspaper that respects its employees, values their dedication and experience, and would NOT terminate a veteran sports writer of 38 years because he dared to hold up a sign promoting free speech as part of his protected labor union activities.
--David Pritchett

(Thanks for reading,
matt k)

David Pritchett want a house with a white pickett fence where no one raises their voices and are always smiling. It is called Fantasy Land. It wasn't what the SBNP was or ever will be. Nor any other paper either. So let's get real again and realize that you do your best, to do what you think is right, until you add too uch of your own slant on reality (like your wishlist) and your boss / owner / publisher / superior suggests you change you bias. You argue and arrogantly continue with your own agenda, and you get the boot. And so do your fellow journalists follow you out with bad behavior and mutiny. Then you face the reality that is change. Today. Time for a new job somewhere else...bye bye

From Camilla Barnwell, formerly Cohee.
I have never responded to a blog before, but felt like I needed to this time. In response to a couple of anonymous comments made here and on Blogabarbara, I was not "fired" from the News Press. I quit. I quit because I could not work in the environment of hate and distrust that "leaders" at the News-Press had created. All of the editors I had worked under and respected had left, and I could not stomach the idea of having someone like Travis edit or influence a story with my name on it. I never "whined" to anyone about the Rob Lowe address disaster, as one blogger states. I explained to anyone who wanted to know that after many years in the business, I covered the Lowe dispute with the same care, interest, consideration and thought that I had on any case before the planning commission. In essence, I felt that I was being reprimanded for doing my job: including the who, what, where, when, why, how that every story is supposed to have.
In response to my time card, there was no fraud or theft. At the NP, we always filled out our timecards before the work week had ended, because we were asked to get them in early. Things got crazy the day Jerry was escorted out of the building. I was getting married in two days, with family and friends arriving to town, and was experiencing major anxiety. My editor George told me to go home, and I'm not too proud to say, I left the building shaking and in tears. I thought I'd be back the next day, to work one more day, but truly could not face the pain and suffering going on inside that building when I was supposed to look like the euphoric bride. Fixing my time card when I came back from the honeymoon required moving hours from one category to another. I had both sick time and vacation time coming to me, so it was really only a matter of adjusting the column to reflect accurately those two days before the wedding. It's funny. I wonder why Yolanda or the News-Press didn't question why I was working an 11-hour day without OT to finish a series when I was 8.5 months pregnant. I wonder why they didn't question my time card the day that Starshine and I were sent out to cover El Nino floods at 4 in the morning and didn't leave work until late that evening to finish writing. After ten years there, with OT pay always frowned upon, we all put in odd and long hours that never made it to our time card. Adjustments were commonplace if you had already turned in a time card but then later ended up working later than projected. I'm not complaining about hard work. I loved every minute I spent at the News-Press until everything exploded under Wendy and Travis.
As far as bias, I just laugh at that accusation. Are journalists human beings? Yes. Do we bring our own personal experiences and personalities to our jobs as reporters? Yes. But as John Zant said at the rally, we are absolutely anal about getting the facts straight, about making sure we capture the essence of a story with the right tone and details and voices. I have knocked on doors in dark alleys, called people late at night, conspired to get private cell phone numbers of elected officials, all so that no one could ever say my stories weren't right on target when read in the morning. Reporting is not about pushing an agenda or favoring one side. It's about knowing the beat you cover so well that you can in turn provide readers too busy to attend meetings balanced, interesting, relevant coverage of their community. I loved doing that with all my heart.
As far as my husband, Brian, I will admit my bias. Still, I've covered and have become personally acquainted with many leaders in this town and know only a handful I respect and admire as much as Brian Barnwell. He is a true community servant and civic leader whose biggest flaw may be that he forgets he's a "politician." I am so proud to be by his side and, also, comforted knowing he is helping to shape and lead our beloved city.
Thanks for the chance to respond.
Camilla Barnwell

Thanks, Matt, for the complete list of D. Pritchett's right-on-the-money quotes from rally yesterday. All the more reason for those of us active in this community to now switch at least some of our energies into an active discussion of the feasibility of a new, start-up daily rather than ceaselessly gnash our teeth and addle our brains in the face of NP management's lock-jaw impudence that shows no end. Logic and precedence teach that the pro-active rather than re-active playbook will win the good fight in the long run, and that such a stategy should win here as well.

Hi all,
As anyone who's been following this blog has realized, a commenter who calls him or herself Adam Meeks continually tries to drag the commentary into the gutter. I don't feel good removing his comments, because this issue is largely about free speech. But I do feel comfortable suggesting that we should not take his bait. It's an emotional issue for many legitimate reasons, but don't let your distaste for Meeks' redundant comments cause you to be equally vitriolic. That only hurts open conversation about what many believe is an important issue.
Thanks,
matt k

Gee, Camilla, no wonder the News-Press doesn't like you..you have guts and class! Bravo!

Amen to Matt and his suggestion. This Meeks individual isn't so much interested in the issues at hand and their larger impact on the community, as he is amused by the opportunity to bash those who don't share his personal world view.

I think may have had the best quote ~ "...ultimately, when Wendy is to meet her maker how will she explain her part at the helm of the Santa Barbara News Press? A well-educated woman such as Wendy McCaw, may have studied literature and philosophy, and acquired knowledge of some of the world’s great minds, like Kahlil Gibran, who wrote: “Forgive me, my Judge! I did not know that riches would put my life in fragments and lead me into the dungeons of harshness and stupidity.”

I think it is comical that you blame me for being a different view on this. My view is valid and real. You bash my view as not being informed on the issues (which is not true) I'm not slanting anyone or calling names or saying anyone is right or wrong. The personal issues are exactly what I am commenting on. I'm not being / attacking anyone personally or buying into the bias you (almost all) have against the Red Queen and the SBNP on a whole.

I am just stating the view from the outside of your ring and it does look very one-sided from where I am standing. Ignore me if you like, but I am valid. You'd all be surprised at who I really am...very surprised...

opps, my bad - the quote I quoted was "Bee True's"

allegro805...funny your weakness would appear here today...I wish you had the spine to meet face to face and debate this silliness...but that would take guts and common sense, which you have neither of... ~ A.M.

A.M's quotes from another thread. Sorry folks, just trying to set the record straight. I have been trying to ignore him and yet I feed the Troll...LOL

I'm not slanting anyone or calling names or saying anyone is right or wrong....A.M.

Oh really Adam?

Prisoner of Wendy...YOU pathetic thing!!!...wah wah wah...Pleeeeze ~A.M

allegro805...funny your weakness would appear here today...I wish you had the spine to meet face to face and debate this silliness...but that would take guts and common sense, which you have neither of... ~ A.M.

A.M's quotes from another thread. Sorry folks, just trying to set the record straight. I have been trying to ignore him and yet I feed the Troll...LOL

Matt, to answer your question: No, Wendy doesn't care.

The question itself is sad. To ask a pathologically narcissistic personality to care is like asking a blind person to see.

They can't do it.

I agree with Sitting on the Fence. It's time to channel all the amazing talents and energies of the departed into a new publication.

My 84-year-old mother-in-law still reads the News-Press. She also still backs Bush. She goes through the paper in about 13 seconds, and probably loses track with her elderly diminished mind of what she saw. But it's familiar, and so she continues.

That's what the NP will become: An old person's familiar rag, a touristy advertising throwaway, and a place for the rich people in Santa Barbara to admire each other.

The real newspaper will emerge from some other direction.

I guess we were not following the Ten Facts about the News-Press, http://www.santabarbarasblog.com

Strike papers never succeed, which is why they are not usually supported by union bosses. Somebody has to cover the losses, and the union doesn't want to do it.
What ammo does the union really have in this situation? Not much. They can scream all they want, but Wendy is not going to come to the negotiating table. If she did, the negotiations would go on forever, and agreement would never be reached. Eventually employees would lose interest in the union, because the union would yield no results.
So what is the union to do? Call a strike? That would play directly into Wendy's hands, because she would immediately hire replacement workers and the union would be finished.
It's a no win deal.

Scott gets it!!! Bravo

LOL you prove my point even clearer..you are all focusing on the personal aspects / insults / blah blah blah yet it is business....like it or not business ONLY...sorry for the bleeding hearts...you will not get closure on this one...it's not about feelings...business 101 like it or not...bye bye

Camilla Cohee Barnwel, you rock!

After seeing the interview with John Zant, I keep thinking of the women's UCSB basketball team, which he has covered so thoroughly over the years.

When the team plays their games now and John Zant is not there to record it for all to read about, what will they think? If no reporter at all from the "paper of record" is there, will the enormity of this loss to the community become evident?

The destruction caused by Wendy McCaw continues to draw adverse international comment, even from those she might want to consider her peers.

Here is an interview in The Financial Times with Steven Rattner, Managing Principal of Quadrangle Group, who was interviewed by Chrystia Freeland, FT US Managing Editor, and Joshua Chaffin, FT Senior Media Reporter, in New York on February 21. This is an edited transcript of the interview.

Published: 22/2/2007 | Last Updated: 22/2/2007 16:00 London Time

An excerpt:
“Rattner: I think it's a very mixed blessing. You could certainly imagine more Sulzbergers, and more Grahams emerging like The New York Times and The Washington Post families: incredibly enlightened, incredibly far-sighted.

But look at what happened in Santa Barbara when The New York Times Company (unfortunately they regret this) sold the Santa Barbara paper to Wendy McCaw who created complete havoc.”

More than just the usual headshaking about The Red Queen, the interview contains interesting commentary about newspapers in general.

Business 101 teaches principles and ethics; both require a human response/feeling in order to even begin comprehension of these principles and ethics. You cannot take feelings out of a business, unless no people are involved in the business. When there are people involved in any scenario in life, including business, there are feelings. Every player involved in this SBNP situation has feelings. Gee, I want to do business with people-less businesses - No Way!

Camilla Cohee Barnwell,
I read your reasons for leaving the Santa Barbara News Press. I admire your courage.
You epitomize what journalism is all about.

Raul Hernandez

Part 1 -- "How to write non-biased stories at the News-Press."
(A survival guide for remaining reporters and all other employees who do not want to get fired).

* First and foremost, read Travis Armstrong's editorials and opinion pieces so you know exactly what Wendy thinks. The editorial pages are your Bible.

* Second, make sure any "news" article that you write on a subject for which the newspaper has taken a stance does not "go against" the editorials or opinion pieces. Find sources that will comment in agreement with the paper's opinions, the same way Travis prints only letters to the editor that agree with the paper's opinions. You'll also never see an "op-ed" (opposite editorial) page column that blasts the newspaper's opinions. The only thing "opposite" about that page is it's on the right side, opposite the left side, of the editorial page.

Third, hoard your paycheck and put as much into your savings as possible, because even if you live by the News-Press guidelines, you can be on double-secret probation and not know it. On a moment's notice, you can wind up living off those savings.

Part II -- How to survive double-secret probation at the News-Press.

First, don't speak to anybody in disfavor with Wendy, either by telephone, via e-mail or in person. This includes all former co-workers with whom you were once friends. Shun them in public, turn away from them if they approach. Don't take their phone calls or return e-mails.

Second, compile a list of people in disfavor with Wendy, update it daily and memorize it. These include religious, community, business and political leaders, outspoken citizens and the homeless.

Third, read up on wildlife, including whales, turkeys, feral pigs, and learn to love them and trees. Be prepared to live among the animals and frolic through the forests. This will be the only safe place where you will not be tracked by Wendy's security forces or pursued by the Angel of Death, gown fluttering in the wind, termination letter tightly grasped in her hand.

And enjoy your experience reporting "News-Press style" under the "the new management," because you'll be banned from reporting for any newspaper that values integrity, which is just about everywhere else on the planet. Except maybe for government-owned newspapers of dictators, who only demand your absolute loyalty, and make up journalism rules as they go along.

Part III -- Desperation tactics to try to cling to some semblance of ethics to retain advertisers

As a last resort to gain credibility as a News-Press reporter, just hope that Wendy takes out a full-page ad claiming "The Teamsters did it!" and that everything everybody else says is false and biased, but that the News-Press cannot reveal how they are false and biased because it doesn't want to mudsling.

Don't try to figure out why the News-Press has no forum to communicate its side with the public. Or why a newspaper cannot voice what it claims to be the real truth. Or why the News-Press has to present its side via full-page ads that make outlandish claims and fail to provide any facts to back them up.

Deadline's approaching. Are you ready to file that story? Did you read it twice, make sure it's nice? Feel lucky? Go for it! Oops, see ya at the next farewell party! Hey, they're a great bunch of people out there waiting for you with open arms. :)

Look more carefully at the first pic of the sign on the door of the News-Mess. What does it actually say?

Words can easily be rearranged and messages twisted and misperceived. It is important to pay careful attention as this Orwellian episode plays itself out in our community.

Look closely at the photo in this blog posting, the modified sign on the door reads like this:
"Obey McCaw, the Law"
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/35916...