Santa Barbara News-Press

Infobox_Newspaper
name = Santa Barbara News-Press


caption = The December 22, 2006 front page of the
"Santa Barbara News-Press"
type = Daily newspaper
format = Broadsheet
foundation = May 30, 1868
owners = Ampersand Publishing
headquarters = 715 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
United States
editor =
publisher = Wendy P. McCaw,
Arthur von Wiesenberger
website = [http://www.newspress.com/ www.newspress.com]

The "Santa Barbara News-Press" is a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California.

History

The News-Press asserts it is the oldest daily newspaper in Southern California, publishing since 1855. The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara "Post") of the "News-Press" started publishing on May 30, 1868, [ [http://snugspout.blogspot.com/2006/07/source-1941-wpa-guide-to-santa-barbara.html Santa Barbara - A Guide to the Channel City and its Environs, American Guide Series by the Southern California Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration, Hastings House Publishers, New York, 1941.] ] and so the "News-Press" is actually younger than the Bakersfield Californian. The Santa Barbara "Post" became the "Santa Barbara Press", which eventually became the "Morning Press" which was acquired in 1932 by Thomas M. Storke and merged with his paper, the Santa Barbara "News", to make the Santa Barbara "News-Press". [The claim to 1855 rests upon a "person" named B.W. Keep who founded the Santa Barbara "Gazette" in 1855, who left the news business in 1858 or 1861, but then returned to the business when he helped found the Santa Barbara "Democrat" in 1878. The "Democrat" is one of the predecessors of the Santa Barbara "News", which merged with the "Press" in 1932. [http://snugspout.blogspot.com/index.html#1855justification Snug Spouts Blog, Aug. 3, 2006] ] Storke, a prominent local rancher and booster descended from the Spanish founders of Santa Barbara, brought the paper to prominence. For many years his father, Charles A. Storke, ran the editorial page; his son, Charles A. Storke II, oversaw operations between 1932 and 1960. In 1962, T.M. Storke won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing "for his forceful editorials calling public attention to the activities of a semi-secret organization known as the John Birch Society". His children did not express interest in continuing to run the paper, however.

Storke then sold the paper in 1964 to Robert McClean, [ [http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/letters_2.html Santa Barbara "Independent," July 20, 2006] ] owner of the Philadelphia Bulletin, who turned over publishing of the News-Press to one of his nephews, Stuart S. Taylor, father of writer Stuart Taylor, Jr.. (The Philadelphia Bulletin continued to be run by Robert McLean). In turn, the paper was sold to the New York Times in 1984. In 2000 the paper was bought by Wendy P. McCaw, an ex-wife of billionaire Craig McCaw; she obtained around a billion dollars, mostly in Nextel stock, from their divorce settlement. [ [http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/27/0927divorce_2.html Forbes.com, Sep. 22, 2002] ] [ [http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/blogs/dailyweekly/2006/07/battling_wendy_ii.php Seattle Weekly, July 20, 2006] ] [ [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2537663&date=19970506 Seattle Times, May 5, 1997] ]

Circulation and Ownership

The "News-Press" now has a circulation of about 28,000, down from 41,000 of last year. Owner Wendy P. McCaw and fiance Arthur von Cheesenberger are co-publishers, and share "overall responsibility for news and opinion pages and all business activities." Their stated goal is to provide strong, unbiased local coverage of news, unbeholden to any outside interest group.

Controversy

In early summer, 2006, the "News-Press" was featured in international news when six editors and a long-time columnist suddenly resigned. The group publicly cited the imposition of McCaw and her hired managers' personal opinions onto the process of reporting and publishing the news; McCawhas expressed the view that the "News-Press" newsroom staff had become sloppy and biased. Tensions had existed between McCaw and the newsroom since she bought the "News-Press" in 2000. [ [http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4226 American Journalism Review, December/January 2006] ]

Between July, 2006 and February 2007, 60 staff (out of 200 total employees), including all but 2 news reporters, resigned or were fired from the "News-Press". Newsroom employees voted to unionize with the Teamsters, and both the "News-Press" management and the Teamsters made multiple appeals to the National Labor Relations Board. Former employees have encouraged subscribers to cancel their subscriptions to the "News-Press", and have encouraged advertisers to cease advertising in the paper. McCaw's attorneys have filed lawsuits against former employees, journalists, as well as competing newspapers, and have issued numerous cease and desist letters, to websites linking to the News-Press website, to local business that display signs in support of former employees, and to former employees who speak to the local media.

Notes

ee also

* Wendy McCaw
* Santa Barbara Independent
* Santa Barbara Daily Sound
* History of Santa Barbara, California

External links

* [http://www.newspress.com Santa Barbara News-Press] , official site
* [http://www.cnpa.com/CalPress/hall/tstorke.htm Thomas M. Storke at the California Newspaper Association Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.cnpa.com/CalPress/hall/castorke.htm Charles A. Storke at the California Newspaper Association Hall of Fame]

Controversy

* [http://savethenewspress.com/ Save the Santa Barbara News-Press] , site critical of the News-Press