Santa Barbara News-Press

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

History

The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara ''Post'') of the ''News-Press'' started publishing on May 30, 1868.

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''. 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, 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 another nephew of Robert McLean.) Under Stuart S. Taylor's tutelage news writers flourished, including Dick Smith, Walker Tompkins, and others. The nearby Dick Smith Wilderness Area was named for Dick, a noted environmentalist. Larry Pidgeon was a well-known editorial writer for the paper. 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.

Controversy

In early summer 2006, six editors and a long-time columnist suddenly resigned. The group cited the imposition of McCaw and her managers' personal opinions onto the process of reporting and publishing the news; McCaw 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.

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.

The parent company of the ''News-Press'', Ampersand Publishing, filed a copyright infringement suit on November 9, 2006, against the ''Santa Barbara Independent'' ("SBI")—where many former ''News-Press'' columnists had become contributors to the community weekly—claiming that a link on independent.com violated copyright law. The case never reached trial, as an undisclosed settlement was reached on April 28, 2008, resulting in a dismissal at the request of the parties.

See also

* ''Santa Barbara Independent''
* ''Santa Barbara Daily Sound''
* History of Santa Barbara, California
* Labor relations at the ''Santa Barbara News-Press''

Notes

External links

*

Thomas M. Storke at the California Newspaper Association Hall of Fame

Controversy

Save the ''Santa Barbara News-Press''
site critical of the ''News-Press''

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Daily newspapers published in California
Santa Barbara, California
1868 establishments in California
Newspapers established in 1868