Independent.com Banished from News-Press Computers

I voted for Wikepedia as the next web site they should block. That way, the biggest database of facts would be excluded most effectively. We do not expect facts any more in a newspaper, do we?

But why only Wikepedia and the Independent? Why not just ban all of the Internets, just to be sure? This is becoming the modern equivalent of the Nazis controlling radio broadcasts in Europe, with the Freedom Fighters resorting to hidden handmade radios receiving the BBC. History shows the attempts to block communications always fails. Will the News-Press building next have a radio jammer that blocks the phone signals and data streams to the personal wireless phones with internet connections on PDAs and hand-held computers (Treos, Blackberrys, etc.)?

Today, as I was depositing my filled dog poop bag in the rubbish bin by the nearby bus stop, I also noticed the News-Press in that bin and an article contained this "fact" today:

"Currently, the seats of Das Williams, Brian Barnwell and Helene Schneider are scheduled for re-election in 2009. If the change in election years is approved, those seats would instead be filled in the election in November 2010."

Apparently, the web sites of the County elections office and the Santa Barbara City Council also are blocked from News-Press computers.

The child porn story aside, the owner of the paper can do pretty much what she wants, as long as it isn't illegal. Even a charge to be prosecuted by the NLRB does not add up to a crime, but an allegation of wrongdoing. That's just a fact and she no doubt believes she has been slimed and that turnabout is fair play. As for the pending union certification, all it means is this: she will be forced to bargain "in good faith." She will not accede to union demands, nor will the union abide the conditions she will propose. Then what? A strike. Then she will hire replacement workers and wait out the strike, continuing to publish. She has deep pockets and is still selling ads.
As for the folks who hung that banner on the overpass, when the case gets to Washington, they will not win as they were undermining the source of their very paychecks. Can't do that.
You don't know my opinion on who is right or wrong in this matter so don't assume you do, but the above analysis is correct, however painful.

Guess again, menoliki. McCaw has committed multiple violations of the law. By her very admission that she fired the six for their protected activity, she has effectively conceded that she violated the law. Employees who strike, or advocate boycotts (including against advertisers as well as in relation to subscriptions) against their employers in the context of labor disputes are protected by federal labor law; even the NP has recognized as much in subsequent proceedings. Given the transparent falsity of her charges against the other two reporters she fired, those violations will also be easy to prove. The non-firing violations will be slam dunks.

The fact that she feels she's been slimed -- when the only people who have been truly harmed are those she has fired, threatened, defamed and sued -- just shows her contemptuous, delusional view of the world, which you apparently share. This is not a level playing field, both because McCaw has more money and resources than anyone else, and also because her ethical challenges and inability to empathize with anyone else are far greater. Not one of her charges against her adversaries has stuck, her suit against Sue Paterno will go away, relatively soon, she already has lost any hope of public sympathy, and two of her chief witnesses before the NLRB were loudly and emphatically found to be perjurers.

It is your fantasy, not the union's or the employees', that there will be a strike. Sooner or later her house of cards will crumble, and we can only hope it will be sooner.

Sorry, Me No Like-y Kiddie Porno (clever moniker). The "correctness" of your "opinion" is totally meaningless until the atrocity done to Jerry Roberts and suffered by both his family and many friends is completely and unmitigatedly condemned. The facile, puerile defense of McCaw's sordid modus operandi that you and other quislings like you proffer is what is especially "painful" , made even worse by your cynical name choice.

Just when I thought the morale at the News-Press could not get any worse, this happens. Security chief Nick Montano's efforts to order the systems folks to spy on employees and report who was visiting enemy Web sites failed. So, this must be the backup plan, to block access to alternative news sources that report information that the News-Press wants to suppress, such as Jerry Roberts' recent news conference giving his side of the story.

First, it was do not attend farewell gatherings for staff who were fired or decided to quit. Undercover spies will report that you did, and you will be fired for disloyalty.

Second, don't participate in or show support for past employees in protest rallies, or you will be fired for disloyalty.

Third, do not look out the window at De La Guerra Plaza when a protest rally is occuring; that can be construed as a show of support, and you will be fired for disloyalty.

Fourth, if you're walking around outside while on lunch break or walking to or from your car and encounter a former employee, you must avoid eye contact, keep walking and talk out of the side of your mouth while pretending to ignore your former co-worker, or you will be fired for disloyalty.

What's next, spy cameras installed throughout the building with ongoing monitoring of employees? Anyone say something negative about the work environment, or pro-union, will be greeted with an envelope containing their final paycheck by the HR director, and told they are being fired for disloyalty.

Advice to anyone considering taking a job at the News-Press to help "turn it around" and improve it. Been there, done that, and learned the hard way that is definitely not a desirable trait to bring to the job.

To succeed at the News-Press, you need the personality traits, human relations skills, character and leadership abilities of folks such as editorial page editor Travis Armstrong, associate editor Scott Steepleton and human resources director Yolanda Apodaca. These three individuals have played vital roles in the "transition" of the Santa Barbara News-Press since July 2006 to what it is today, as key advisers to owner Wendy McCaw and co-publisher Arthur von Wiesenberger, neither of whom has journalism experience.

Perhaps this trio can tour the country to share their insights on how other newspapers can experience similar transitions, so media nationwide can benefit. They can take Dr. Laura with them to chronicle their successes in her column.

For those employees who wish to be able to view local news websites take a look at these resources:

- Boing Boing's "Guide to Defeating Censorware"
http://www.boingboing.net/censorroute.ht...

- Reporter's Without Borders' "Technical ways to get around censorship" (part of their Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-dissidents)
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_artic...

Looking at the Reporter's Without Borders handbook, they discuss the need for journalists to encrypt emails. I'm not sure if the News-Press staff are doing this when sending email from their work computers but hearing the numerous horror stories about Ampersand's computer security branch, perhaps it would be a good idea for local bloggers to publish their public key so that tips could be sent in more securely.

Reporters Without Borders essay - http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_artic...

Instructions for encrypting email - http://lifehacker.com/software/encryptio...

Good luck!

JoeHill, et al:
Apparently innocent until proven guilty only applies to Jerry, IYLTHO. You don't know what I condone or don't condone, you just know that anyone who doesn't agree with your position is wrong, even when you know little about their position. No one has a monopoly on truth, not WM, not Jerry, not you. Sunday's story stank. So do journo's with no objectivity. My analysis is correct. The staffers who hung the banner weren't part of a job action, they weren't on strike, they thought they could return to their desks and collect a paycheck from the very business they sought to undermine. They won't win. The union certification will succeed and then... as I said... I've seen unions in more powerful positions fail. She already has replacement workers. And assume nothing about where I stand. You don't know, you only think you do.

Joan(Baez)Hill:
Perjury? I missed that. When were the charges filed? When was the conviction handed down? Or do you mean an administration law judge's comment from the bench about "extreme embellishment?" The two are not the same and you cannot analyze a situation accurately when you are guilty of extreme embellishment. Histrionics and journalism don't mix, Joan. What is clear is that anyone who doesn't line up behind the paragons of ethics and virtue or those who even try to approach the situation with balanced analysis will be vilified. Get in line or shut up and get out, right? In that sense you all have more in common with ownership than I ever will.

I am guilty of a cynical name choice and that is the only thing for which I will apologize. Sliming people is either wrong or not. Punk-ass attacks are either wrong or not. Any journo who presupposes guilt or innocence in their writing (other than clearly stated commentary) isn't worth their salt.

This new tactic of blocking web sites with news and opinion content contrary to that of the N-P party line is much like the one employed by communist governments for decades. The Chinese and North Korean governments continue to use this social-control model, in fact. People in the former USSR were forced to live their entire lives in lockstep with the party-sponsored (translation: often ficticious) reports published in Pravda and broadcast on state-run radio and TV stations, even though the citizens knew the reported events were partially or wholly untrue.

Wendy & Co. should know by now that they can block websites and libel community heroes, they can dictate the N-P employees' conduct on the job, and they can continue slanting the news and spinning the rhetoric to the paper's alleged advantage, but in the end the truth will come out. It always has, and it always will.

Menolikikidepuerno: I admire your forthrightness and preference for logic and reason over self-righteousness, name-calling, and proclamations of 'the only truth". I particularly like your point separating your view (whatever it might be) from the logic of your comments. In my experience on the Independent's blogs, and esp as regards McCaw, you'll find shamefully few who adhere to the 'innocent until proven guilty' theory and even fewer who seem able to debate a topic rather than simply claim victory through superior knowledge or intellect. As you've already seen, if you take any position other than that of the 'true believers' (i.e. the anti-Wendy forces) you are some lesser life form and will be treated as suc. Too bad for the future of democracy. But if you keep presenting logic and reason, so will I.

While I agree with almost everything the Independent says about the News-Press, I have to disagree with one point: They DO publish certain points of view counter to their position.

Case in point: I wrote a letter critical of Travis Armstrong's take on the Chumash Casino and they printed it so they will publish letters taking the counter point of view. (Ironically, my letter got published in this week's Independent taking a view counter to the position of the Angry Poodle on gun control and apart from the pleasure one derives from getting their letter published, I commend the Independent for publishing such a letter)

The underlying issue is that there must ALWAYS be at least two news sources in a given location. Furthermore, unlike the News-Press, the Independent provides us with the ability to blog, which allows the truth to come out and I find it quite interesting in that vain that the News-Press DOESN'T have a blog.

No matter what one thinks of another's point of view, the lines must be kept clear for counterviews. -Bill Clausen-

I have a question: With the information coming out about Nick Montono, can any link be established between the firing of the previous security company (securitas) and the hiring of Montono's guys.

What I'm trying to say is that I had heard that Wendy chucked Securitas because she was afraid they would be loyal to the employees there. (Something I thought of as useless gossip) But with these allegations (I don't want to get sued for libel so I will say "allegations") about Montono, I'm seeing that perhaps there could be some truth to that.

For what it's worth I worked there doing security from 1994-2004 and when they fired Securitas the main guard there, Mike Mantino, had worked there from about 1981 and Mike absolutely loved the employees there and they loved him back so while I won't put words in Mike's mouth it almost makes sense why this dedicated security guard was unceremoniously dumped from the place to which he was so devoted. Nice going Wendy.

menoliki, you are believing the hype about not being able to collect a paycheck while advocating a boycott. There may be superficial "logic" to that argument, and certainly Cappello et al can be expected to harp on it, but the NLRB has historically found such activity protected. The employees were protesting the illegal firings of two other reporters, and the NP's failure to give up the b.s. election objections and bargain. With that readily-established connection, the NP's defense is doomed.

As for perjury, no, Judge Schmidt did not use the "p" word, but he went beyond merely saying Steeplechase and Travisty were "embellishing", especially Travis, who he labelled a prevaricator, and a person who fabricated his testimony for the purposes of the proceeding (including Travis' bogus "ID" of the union organizer allegedly outside his window in the middle of the night; perhaps ol' Trav left out the part about whether he was pickled at the time). True, the judge does not have the authority to toss them in jail (where they belong), but he did call them liars, meaning people who know the truth and consciously testify under oath at variance with that truth. That is perjury, since they lied about matters material to the proceeding. The NLRB is not going to overturn that finding, and they will be branded liars forever, like their boss, Wendy, who none other than former Justice Eagleson of the Cal Supreme Court found to be not credible, her conduct "despicable."

Kudos to the generally civil postings of opposing views in this blog. IMHO, this is what these forums should be.

Insider sources just confirmed that Wikipedia now IS blocked from the internet connections at the NewsPress and its subsidiaries. No joke.

Are they earning yet another derisive name?
"News-Censor"
"News-Block"
"News-Lesser" (both going out and going in now)
"News-Least"

A lively discussion of such updated and more accurate names was once here:
http://independent.com/news/2007/apr/06/...

Hey menoliki - Before you pontificate on labor issues, maybe you should know that "Joe Hill" is not just the name of a Joan Baez song.

How about Nippers.com?

Pretty soon they'll have no communication with the outsider world. Kinda limits the news reporting capability doncha think?

Not too many years ago when Mrs. McCaw came to our lovely town, she took up residence in Hope Ranch near Hope Ranch Beach. For those who have been long time Santa Barbara citizens you might remember that horse lovers originally conceived Hope Ranch. Those developers set aside easements throughout all of Hope Ranch so that one could ride their horses, as fences were not meant to be a restriction. Aside from the early SB history lesson, Mrs. McCaw as a new resident disliked that horse lovers had the “right” to cross her property. So what did she do? She hired a prestigious SB law firm hoping she could sue the Hope Ranch homeowners association to rescind this 70-year-old right. The law firm knew this would be a tremendous undertaking, and frivolous lawsuit, so to discourage Mrs. McCaw they wanted a million plus retainer.

One additional bit of unknown facts about Ms. McCaw: Adjacent to Ms. McCaw’s home is the infamous Nudie Beach aka Moore Mesa. Now days it is one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land on our coast. One of the 100’s of users of the parcel happens to be a small group of individuals, paragliders. You see when the southerly coastal breezes are just right; one can fly their paragliders just like the birds so often do by taking advantage of the air currents.

Ms. McCaw, has very recently threatened to sue the owners of the Moore Mesa property, because she wants to stop the users of this gentle, quiet sport from taking off and landing their paragliders because they have been using the adjacent land to enjoy their sport. You see, when paragliding you are sometimes a 100’+ above the ground giving one a birds-eye view of the beach. Mrs. McCaw thinks that paragliders have nothing better to do as they fly buy at 20 mph+ to look in her windows of her home.

Aspiringdiva: your insinuation about my lack of labor history knowledge couldn't be more wobby than if you had accused me of not knowing the Ghost of Tom Joad was more than a song too. For entitled Santa Barbarians to be comparing themselves to labor activists who strode the earth as many as 100 years ago is a bit disingenuous, don't you think? The Tom Joads and Joe Hills of present day SB are in the fields picking your food and working three service jobs to be able to afford to live 20 people to a house in your lovely mission-style city. Only when their kids die in the bushes behind Saks do you even notice them.

menoliki, your diversion doesn't work. Yes, farmworkers are probably the most mistreated group of workers in the United States these days, and that's probably been true for decades. That, however, does not let other malefactors like Wendy McCaw off the hook. If you pay minimum wage and no benefits, fire people for no reason or for bad reasons, encourage them to go on welfare, scare and lie to workers about union organizing (which is an American right), as Wal-Mart does, is that OK?

If you overwork reporters, fire them for engaging in protected activity, lie about them on their evaluations so you can decline them bonuses, have them look over their shoulders when doing reporting because their union activity makes them vulnerable to managerial whim, cut off their access to information sources because they are perceived to be anti-NP, cancel the column of one reporter because of her union activity, slime a resigned editor and defame one fired reporter, send out cease and desist letters and call them "dialogue", spy on employees at meetings and rallies, lie under oath about peaceful activity at the workplace, as Wendy and her management do, is that OK?

From this morning's LA Times,

*Newspaper circulation continues to fall*
--The decline is 2.1% weekdays and 3.1% on Sundays for the six months ended March 31, a trade group says. However, it says websites are seeing more traffic.--
By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer,May 1, 2007
....
[snip-- and at the bottom of the article]
"One of the biggest declines in the region was experienced by the Santa Barbara News-Press, where owner Wendy McCaw and some of her employees have been feuding. They have accused her of meddling in news decisions. News-Press circulation during the week dropped 9.5% to 38,000."

Joe Rockhead:
I make no excuses for ownership/management, but you and the others from the N-P have likened yourselves to the most oppressed workers who have ever suffered at the hands of cruel bosses. You attack those with views even slightly out of line with your own. You chastise people for not living in SB as long as you have. You are mostly white over-priviledged whiners. And just so you know: I support legal unionization efforts; I abhor unsigned hit pieces aimed at damaging reputations; I think DUI is a serious offense and that arrests and convictions for same, esp. by people of standing, should be covered in the press; I think the address of Rob Lowe's hacienda should be published if it's public information. I also think without the McCaw story, SB goes back to being the one-horse town called malice that it was before the story erupted.
Lastly, I think someone rich shouldn hire someone with the initials JR, gather up everyone in the county named Barney, align with a proper union like the Newspaper Guild and launch a new daily in town and bury the News-Press once and for all.

Menoliki scores again with his flawed assessment of me and my fellow "entitled Santa Barbarians." Meno seems to assume that I'm a whitebread guera who doesn't know my culo from a hole in the ground when it comes to poor folks with brown skin. Pues, senor, in the 1950s when I was very young, my parents were a couple of working class political activists; my mother labored in a packing house and was a grassroots union organizer. My dad worked for the railroad while my mom processed lemons and picked strawberries to help support the family. By the time I reached high school, she "moved up" to cleaning toilets and makiing beds at San Ysidro Ranch and the Biltmore. Our palatial home - an ancient railroad building ten feet from the tracks - had no bathroom when we moved in; we walked down two flights to use the public facilities. But at least it was better than the converted railroad car my family lived in before I was born. As a girl I wasn't wild about Elvis - my musical idol was el gran cantante, Miguel Aceves Mejia, whose movie posters today grace the walls of my small home. My friends and classmates were in the same boat, except that some of their parents spoke less English than miine. My life is different today, but "entitled" certainly isn't an accurate description. Judging me - or anyone else - by preconceived notions could leave Meno with with huevos on his face.

I'm confused; is someone grouping Tom Joad with Joe Hill? One's a fictional character, the other isn't.

Blocking Wikipedia is just plain silly. Albeit imperfect, Wikipedia is an amazing source of info, heavily used by those of us under 30. So is Facebook... it will be hard to report on anything at UCSB without using Facebook. Kind of like reporting on Montecito without allowing access to telephones, doorbells, and the U.S. Mail... just about every philanthropic event among students (and there are many, just ignored by all the media except sometimes the Nexus) is now advertised on Facebook.

Aspiring: Thanks for informing me that Grapes of Wrath is in fact fiction. Further, the credentials you laid out are unassailable. I wish I could say I had a big welt from an LAPD rubber bullet on my ass from yesterday's rally in MacArthur Park, but alas, I am a white devil who was engaged in more mundane pursuits. Sorry for ruining your May Day. I feel like a burro. Ooops. Am I allowed to even say that, being white and all?