Comments by emptynewsroom
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Posted on May 20 at 11:54 a.m.
My goodness, an article about the News-Press and not one posting that supports the idiocy of McCaw wholeheartedly and blindly! Did all the fascists take a break today or have even they seen the light? Perhaps with the GOP finally and deservedly crashing and burning in disgrace, these "patriots" have bigger fish to fry. Some more "principles of jounalism" to consider for anyone still under the impression that publishing a newspaper is similar to running a knitting circle:
Seek Truth and Report it as Fully as Possible
* Inform yourself continuously so you in turn can inform, engage, and educate the public in a clear and compelling way on significant issues.
* Be honest, fair, and courageous in gathering, reporting, and interpreting accurate information.
* Give voice to the voiceless.
* Hold the powerful accountable.
Act Independently
* Guard vigorously the essential stewardship role a free press plays in an open society.
* Seek out and disseminate competing perspectives without being unduly influenced by those who would use their power or position counter to the public interest.
* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise your integrity or damage your credibility.
* Recognize that good ethical decisions require individual responsibility enriched by collaborative efforts.
Minimize Harm
* Be compassionate for those affected by your actions.
* Treat sources, subjects, and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect, not merely as means to your journalistic ends.
* Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort, but balance those negatives by choosing alternatives that maximize your goal of truth telling.
By Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism
Posted on May 7 at 8:31 a.m.
Folks, the tenets of modern journalism are principles based on long standing practices that have been in place for many decades. They aren't subjective ideas plucked out of thin air by blow hards arguing over beer in a saloon or bloggers venting their political biases on a website.
As hard as it may be for some to grasp, owning and publishing a newspaper is different than running a muffler shop, a grocery store or house painting business.
Consider the following suggested ideals deemed worthy of consideration by the Committee of Concerned Journalists. Which of them are sadly absent from Ms. McCaw's little News-Press operation?
1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth
2. Its first loyalty is to citizens
3. Its essence is a discipline of verification
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise
7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
Read them in full here:
http://www.journalism.org/resources/prin...
Posted on May 3 at 9:50 a.m.
The time of inaction is coming to an end. For too long the public in this country has smiled politely and looked the other way while criminals like Bush, Cheney, Rove, Wolfowitz and their ilk have stolen elections, robbed the taxpayer and committed egregious acts against their fellow Americans and humanity, all while lining their pockets and those of their friends. Might I suggest that Wendy McCaw and Arthur Wisenburger (the 'Von' was bought so shouldn't be used) represent a microcosm of the rot that has infected the nation? If this is the case, then are we not compelled to do something about it?
Sure, America has almost always been about greed, self-interest, shortsightedness and the almighty dollar -- sometimes to good effect, other times to very bad ends. However, without question things have come to a point few could have imagined even a decade ago. Special interests, wealthy miscreants and corrupted politicians now rule the land with impunity. Take a stand I say! Stop subscribing to the News-Press, do not insert quarters into their vending machines, tell their (few remaining) advertisers that you do not approve of their support of this ridiculously shoddy newspaper. The goal should be to completely cut off income to the news-Press and ensure that not a single copy is picked up and read - ever again.
As residents of Santa Barbara, Goleta and environs we deserve better. We should not be forced to watch the lives of our fellow citizens be disrupted purely at the whim of a business owner without conscience. We should not be subjected to a news outlet so amateurish that it does not even serve its most basic purpose and in fact is painful to read. We should not be made silent accomplices to the absolute destruction of an institution that has been a central part of our community for over a hundred years. But most of all, we should not continue to allow this to happen.
Surely there must be concrete actions that can be taken to end this pointless charade of an odd couple pretending to be informed, intelligent publishers and dignified members of our community. They are neither. They are despicable.
Posted on April 13 at 10:18 a.m.
Here's some karma for ya: Wouldn't it be great if all of the hundreds of thousands of cheated consumers showed up at the private residences of Christian Hunter, Thomas Adams, Antoine Bordeaux and other "executives" of Bargain and demanded refunds on the spot? In 2000, eight years ago, the FTC had these people nailed and none of them were ever supposed to collect credit card numbers again for the purposes of billing consumers. Too bad the feds didn't enforce this diligently. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/05/settlement...
Not surprisingly, the Santa Barbara News-Press always treated Bargain, a big classified advertiser, with kid gloves lest they rock the boat. Here's a typical valentine article from the Business section dated June 30, 2002: http://www.bargain.com/news-06-30-2002.h...
Posted on March 27 at 10:16 a.m.
Bill, if you're talking about a certain e-mail server software firm, then yes I did (from 1995 - 96).
Regarding your comment above: You are correct that there are PLENTY of documented workers and people will always be looking for employment. However, just as our nation is "addicted to oil", we are also addicted to .99 cent lettuce, $49.00 hotel rooms and all the cheap junk that Wal Mart and other retailers sell.
You do have a point, though: hiring legal workers only DOES drive up wages. A friend working at a high-end restaurant in the Bay area told me that after several "sweeps" by the feds to ferret out illegal workers among the cooks and waitstaff at local restaurants, job applicants with citizenship or work permits immediately began to hold out for better pay. When he'd offer $8.00 an hour, they'd hold up their SSN card and say, "No, I want more, I'm legal." Of course, consumers will pay higher prices for the peace of mind that the people who just cooked and served their meal and who wash the dishes are documented.
Posted on March 26 at 8:49 a.m.
Here's a litmus test question to ask ANYONE to get their brains thinking about the immigration issue:
You are fervently ANTI / PRO immigration (pick one). The phone rings. Its an attorney with news that your uncle has died and left you a 300 acre strawberry farm. You can expect to make $5 million a year from the berries. Oops -- you are now the proud employer of 350 undocumented workers.
Do you:
A) Fire them all and hire American workers, if you can find any, and likely reduce your annual income to one quarter of what it could be.
B) Decide that illegal workers are not such a bad thing after all and start planning how to enjoy your windfall.
C) Sell the property immediately and let someone else be the employer of all these undocumented workers.
Right answer? Trick question, there ISN'T a correct answer until voters, politicans and government begins to look at this complex issue in a realistic and intelligent manner.
Posted on March 12 at 1:38 p.m.
These are great ideas as long as you accept the fact that the entire U.S. agricultural industry would shut down, hotels, motels and restaurants would be without most of their hardest workers and hundreds of thousands of workshops, factories and assembly plants would have to hire and train millions of new employees and would see their labor costs jump by at least 30%, which you and I would pay at the checkout counter.
Why do you think even rightwing knuckleheads like Bush have done nothing to change the status quo? Big business won't allow it!
Until this country decides to have intelligent and in-depth conversations about pressing issues like this (and our war economy, government corruption, our horrible public education and health care systems), expect to see nothing of significance get done, little resolved and the screaming from both the Right and the Left to get louder.
How have we arrived at our current state of being an Idiocracy and Republic of Morons?
Posted on March 5 at 11:21 a.m.
Expect Ms. McCaw's crack legal team to storm into the Arlington on Friday night issuing subpoenas to everyone in the audience. Crowd will jeer and said lawyers will retreat to the projectionist booth, barricading themselves in and demanding the reels of film be handed over for immediate destruction. Oh, sorry, that is what William Randolph Hearst did to 'Citizen Kane'.
Posted on February 20 at 6:34 p.m.
Lack is a hack and absolutely emblematic of the Republican mindset that if you want to build a monstrosity that no one wants, just promise to throw money at the project so you can hijack it and the public be damned. Not surprisingly, this clown was involved in bringing Tom Delay and other convicted Bushie felons to the Biltmore for a neo-fascist summit last year.
Why are some right wingers so totally out of step with reality and the public interest?
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Posted on June 6 at 9:59 a.m.
The only position "completely discredited" is the endless foot stomping tantrums of Wendy McCaw and Arthur Wisenburger. They can continue to fight the community and common sense with their money, attorneys and wrong headed arguments, but ultimately the paper under their management is not viable.
On Fired Reporters Denied Immediate Reinstatement at News-Press