Mistah Kurtz, He Dead

I realize I'm supposed to do some victory dance or pen some biting entry about Travis Armstrong finally biting the dust at the News-Press, but I just don't have it in me. The biggest part of that is that the N-P sort of seems like--and pardon me for going all 1970s Jersey on you--Karen Ann Quinlan to me. You mean that rag is still around?

And while one more vile suck-up minion shuffles off into the sunset (aka Palm Springs), the real problem doesn't go away, does it. We're still stuck with Wendy McCaw, and surely some new vile suck-up minion will show up for she's certainly still got the bucks. As long as there's a corporate model, there will be toadies. Some will even convince themselves they are a force for good, either by actually buying into the corporate-think (and McCaw is one freaky corp of one) as Armstrong did or by assuming they can mitigate things a bit. Perhaps those people are the worst, for they then can be pointed to by the corp as evidence it's not all bad. Remember the cover you provide, folks. Just saying.

I'd also like to assume that Armstrong is now a journalist no one would hire, but I know better. I know FOX is out there, say, and if even "real" tv networks can trot out the like of Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin as if they know anything about something beyond their own cretinous hearts, there will be a place for lesser evils and dimmer fools.

I would like to assume this would make Santa Barbara a better place, but it's sort of like removing cancer cells from a corpse. Time we all move on, as so many of us have, and find our news elsewhere. It isn't going to be coming from the south end of DLG Plaza.

While I'm at it, as it's election day without the chance to vote (does anyone else feel cheated by vote by mail, like civic duty just got too friendly?), here's hoping that the east side of DLG Plaza isn't soon over-run by those backed by a billionaire no one knows anything about. Things like that tend not to turn out so well around these parts.

The Miramar Has Two Faces

In his post Wednesday, the venerable Craig Smith wonders how Travis Armstrong can complain that Rick Caruso doesn't take care of the Miramar property as well as previous owners of the seemingly ill-fated spot when there's a history of the News-Press writing how the previous owners did NOT take good care of the property. Craig asks, "Can Armstrong's memory really be that short? Or did an accurate recollection of what kind of a caretaker Schrager was not fit in with his agenda?"

My take on it is simple--Travis Armstrong is no dummy. Like anybody with even half a brain in this town, he doesn't read the News-Press either.

Little Trouble in Big China

It's hard enough getting up in the morning, but this A.M. I do the stiff-backed stumble out of my house to pick up the ever-shrinking LA Times (sure, do away with the Books and Opinion sections on Sunday, that's just stuff that will make me think, but the Food section last Wednesday was a mere 4 pages and most of it was written by stringers, and I need to have recipes!), and I almost gasp as there's a second paper in my driveway. Of all things it's the News-Press, as I guess my "Boycott the News-Press" bumper sticker wasn't enough of a clue that the delivery person should stay away. Of course I took it straight to the recycling bin, worried even touching it might give me anti-real-news cooties or something (luckily it came in a plastic bag, sort of a McCaw prophylactic).

Also inside the bag was a green flyer pushing the paper's "Olympic Special," and all I could do was dream of the contests in a N-P Olympics--the Steepleton 100 yard dash to a donut, the Armstrong wrong way drunken drive 100, the Apodaca and then there were none marathon, the Cappello synchronized suing. Seriously, though it seems I could get 12 weeks of 7 day home delivery for $20. First, that must mean the next round of circulation figures gets determined in October. Second, that's 24¢ a day, so you might call this a loss leader. Third, the flyer looks as if it were designed by a Cub Scout pack member or something, definitely not what you'd expect from people who print things for a living. It's got some clip art columns on each side for "visual appeal" but as far as I know, the Chinese aren't into the Ionic column thing. I know the Olympics started in Greece, but just because I was born in NJ doesn't mean I expect anything about me to feature a Hadrosaurus foulkii.

Of course, the big sell for the flyer is that "The Santa Barbara News-Press is excited to be sending one of our very own to Beijing China. We are the only local news source who will be providing a local view on this exciting world event." There's no word if they'll bring the "one of their own" they send back from Beijing, so that person better be careful--The Chinese are tougher on their journalists than even Wendy is, even if both share a penchant for blocking websites. And all kidding aside, usually part of the point of a sell like this one is to trumpet who that fine reporter will be. Back in 2004 when the News-Press was still a paper it built a whole ad campaign about John Zant reporting live from Athens; in fact his work can still be found on the News-Press website, and not behind the paywall, even. What this means is our town's paper has writers no one knows by name. And no, Staff Report is not a name. In 2004 the paper was proud to say Zant was covering his 7th Olympics for the paper. Now it's possible the writer going to Beijing will be writing his or her 7th story for the paper.

It's also telling that our local news source is most proud about covering an event an ocean away. We're talking about a local paper so committed to its community it couldn't even post all its stories about the recent Gap Fire for free, as a public service or something.

I already called the 800 number on the flyer to report littering as I found a mass of paper on my driveway that doesn't belong. If it happens again I am going to report a violation of V.C. 42001.7 and hope that the police will be willing to prosecute. I really don't appreciate garbage being thrown on my property.

News-Press--Where Contract Is All Verb, Never a Noun

Craig Smith performed such a good take-down of Travis Armstrong's latest ridiculous anti-union screed that I was going to ignore it, but the other day I saw on my counter that someone from the esteemed law firm Cappello & Noel had been visiting INOTBB, and I felt bad there hadn't been any recent items about the News-Press for them to look at. So this is for you, whoever you are. It's good to know someone can bill $600 an hour and read my blog.

The tricky part is to know where to begin, as the editorial is the usual Travis mishmash of half-referenced claims--"the Internet contains sites...," well, it contains sites saying pretty much everything, that doesn't make them true--and unsubtle innuendo--"opinions reporters snuck into their stories," [emphasis mine] since, of course, the News-Press editors were all looking the other way, probably down the hall to see if the Angel of Death Yolanda Apodaca was coming to fire them.

There's also his love of the one-sentence paragraph, sort of the writing equivalent of saying something quick and staring at the person incredulously as if to say, "c'mon you have to get this." For Armstrong acts shocked that in negotiations: "The union last week refused to include the offense of writing biased stories as a cause for disciplinary action." Anyone knowing the News-Press saga and not named Travis, Wendy, or Nipper can't be surprised that the union would think this way. For here's how such disciplinary action would work if contractually permitted:

Steepleton: This story is biased. That goes in your file as a black mark.
Writer: Who says it's biased?
Steepleton: I do.
Writer: But how do you define bias?
Steepleton: Bias is what I say it is.

Of course a good editor would work with a writer to deal with bias--a good newsroom is a place of collaboration where a good editor can help a story get better by suggesting other sources, other ways to phrase something, other ways of seeing a topic. But the News-Press barely has editors anymore, let alone good ones.

Which gets me to another issue about editing--is there anything more tedious than newspress.tv? Dale Ernest seems like a nice guy, so I hate to slag his work, but the live feeds on this site take internet video back about 40 years (yes, to a time before the web). Probably the worst offenders are the Table Talk segments featuring Arthur Von (of Physiology) Wiesenberger--there's a reason radio doesn't have pictures. The real problem is these live-streams almost don't have sound, for the mics in the shots are for 1290AM broadcast and not to pick up what guests are saying for the video feed. And while sometimes the guests are in studio, sometimes they're on the phone. That makes for even more compelling "tv."

Alas Armstrong himself writes, "Daily newspapers across the country are paring back as they try to adapt to the era of electronic news and advertising." Hiding all your local stories behind the pay wall doesn't seem the way to go--if it doesn't work for big papers like the New York Times, how could it work at the much smaller News-Press? Then again the N-P website is about as ugly and unfocused as a news site can be. Of course it's possible with all the recent firings, on top of previous firings and resignations, that no one is really putting the website together. That would be a brilliant adaptation that Wendy would surely love: journalism without journalists.

Corporate Incest Is Just Another Way to Say You're Screwing Yourself

I waited, but if no one else is going to say it, I will--does it seem curious to anyone else that now that Mindy Spar, Life Editor, was one of the most recent firings at the News-Press, that leaves Charlotte Boechler, Scott Steepleton's wife, as the head of the the Life section? (She's not listed as Life Editor, but who would be doing the job ahead of her? There's no one else left.)

Purely a coincidence, I'm sure. I'm mean there's no evidence at the News-Press that sleeping with someone gets you a position at the paper, right Nipper?

Ah, Cappello, You're Singing an Odd Tune

In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Times ran an article on Citizen McCaw today, which means, for those scoring at home, it's LA Times 1, News-Press 0. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the article is the end, focussed on McCaw's attorney/mouthpiece Barry Cappello:

Cappello said McCaw had "no interest" in seeing the documentary bearing her name and will continue to run the News-Press as she sees fit, regardless of criticisms from filmmakers or former employees.

Or from the 2000 moviegoers who booed her first appearance in the film while cheering for every journalist and then giving the former N-P employees at the screening a good 3-minute long standing O after the film.

Or from the 10,000 subscribers the paper has lost since "the troubles" began in July 2006.

Or from Ben Bradlee, Sander Vanocur, Lou Cannon, Ann Bardach, or any of the university journalism faculty interviewed in the film who condemned what Wendy McCaw has done.

"This is, literally, like water off her back," Cappello said of the film. "Barking dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on."

Perhaps we should cut Cappello some slack for having a duck (aren't they the ones with water off their backs?) in a caravan (which should be trucks or camels or a great Duke Ellington song or something). Of course that Cappello says "literally" makes it much harder to cut him some slack, especially when you know he's billing a good $600 an hour or whatever his rate is (anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I guess it's easier to pile up a metaphorical mess than show how Citizen McCaw actually gets anything wrong or misrepresents the official News-Press position.

Ultimately, though, we can't be too surprised that the News-Press hasn't covered the film. I don't think it's because they refuse to give Citizen McCaw any publicity. I simply think it's because they don't have any journalists left to do the job. Then again, Travis Armstrong could write one of his ed-port-orials about it.

INOTBB Offers Wendy McCaw a Few Poynters

Since I've already agreed with George Bush this week, might as well go in for a penny in for a pound. I'm now going to agree with Wendy McCaw, who regular readers of INOTBB might have noticed I'm not too fond of. I subscribe to the great service PoynterOnline, which provides all sorts of state-of-the-art news about news. In an article posted Feb. 20 they included the line, "Surveys have told us for years that a growing number of people don't trust the media." This is something Wendy and her attack dog Travis Armstrong have harped on frequently to justify the paper's meltdown as some sort of cleansing, although instead of saying people don't trust the media, they say people don't trust journalists (and since neither of them are journalists, they're exempt of course).

But PoynterOnline then explains what one paper is doing to build back that trust. Spokane, Washington's Spokesman-Review has created the "transparent newsroom." Wendy-watchers can already see the problem, as she assumes anyone watching her newsroom--besides her hired private dicks trying to make sure there's never heard an encouraging union word--should be sued.

Here are some of the highlights of what that means:

• a written ethics policy
• that is discussed in an open town meeting at the local library
• a blog by the editor discussing how decisions are made
• live webcasts of the paper's daily news meetings, when they decide what to cover and how many resources to bring to bear upon any story
• the hiring of dozens of lawyers

OK, I made that last one up so if Wendy was reading she might stay interested. But it is really worth looking at the full plan. The article goes on to say:

The goal is not, [Spokesman-Review editor Steve] Smith said, for the public to start controlling the press or the content it produces, but rather to strengthen the relationship between the press and communities it serves.

"Journalists always retain the right to say no. Transparency is not the same as passivity," Smith said. "When you’re as open as we are, it's possible to engage in a debate with readers in ways that we couldn't in the past. When people pitch us an idea it still has to be vetted in all the ways that stories do: Is it important enough? Does it match up with our values?"

Speaking of values, here in Santa Barbara, of course, one might argue whether "I own it, damn it" is a value.

What's more, this paper in Spokane isn't some oddball frontier of whacked-out journalism. The PoynterOnline article goes on to discuss other examples of varying degrees of transparency, even at a Coral Gables, Florida Fox TV affiliate. Wendy really has to start wondering what's up when she gets out-thought by a Fox station.

According to the article, the station's news director Forrest Carr said the station aims to uphold democracy, "giving voice to everyday people, in all their diversity, and helping them to hold the powerful accountable. We state what we stand for. And we hold ourselves accountable to the public."

Imagine that.

She Can Have Her Paper, We've Got the Truth

See you there!

Do you think Wendy will try to sue every person who ever sees the film?

Sure We're Guilty--Guilty of Being Right! (Might Is Still Right, Right?)

Given today's news, here's an article we could most likely read in the shell that used to be the News-Press, as buried as you can get in a paper with small sections....

NLRB Judge Rules Against Ampersand Publishing:
Judgment Proves Federal Law Bias

by Shott Credibiliton

National Labor Relations Mr. Judge William Kocol has decreed that the News-Press and its parent company Ampersand Publishing has violated the National Labor Relations Act in more ways than this paper can count with its remaining staff. News-Press legal counsel Mr. Barry Cappello states, "These rulings simply prove our case--the entire world beyond a handful of people willing to sell out all their scrupples is biased against [Mrs.] Wendy McCaw. This obvious bias is proof we'll definitely win upon one of the many appeals that I've had written since the day the original case closed. I figured I needed them prepared as this could go on longer than I might."

Mrs. McCaw originally expressed surprise upon hearing the news, claiming, "I own the building [located at an address we won't print to protect the building] in which the hearing took place. I thought property rights meant something in this country. But it seems I can't own a person or a building. Nipper, go make me a drink; just make sure that boy editor doesn't get one."

Ampersand also announced it will go to court to gain possession of Mr. Judge Kocol's computer.

The News-Press Bugs Me

On our dog walk this morning we passed the News-Press boxes to see one of the top stories is headlined "Bacteria Linked to Many Deaths." All I can think is, "This better be a wire story or else someone in the newsroom is sure to get fired for not being sympathetic enough to the bacteria." After all, if it's humans versus organisms, we all know what side Wendy will be on.

They Don't Call Them Superpoenas

Watching Keith Olbermann last night, getting even more upset about the rightwing bloggers (what do you expect) and Senators (Mitch McConnell's office has spread the lies it seems) attacking a 12-year-old who is lucky to be alive, I got to experience a perhaps even stranger moment when a commercial informed me that MSNBC was partially brought to me by "the Santa Barbara News-Press, serving the community since 1855."

I guess that's better than the tagline: "the Santa Barbara News-Press, serving the community subpoenas and cease-and-desist letters since 2006."

It's also an intriguing income model the N-P website has now. You can't see any content, really, unless you subscribe. But the website will happily provide you with a cheesy pop-up ad as soon as you open the homepage. So you get to see their advertising even if you don't get their content. (That is when there is content--go read Craig Smith to hear why only wire stories run about the Channel Island foxes Ms. McCaw under oath aches for.)

A Watered Down Argument

Over at the essential Blogabarbara I got into a bit of a comment tete-a-tete with good old Nelville Flynn, who has been rumored to be Arthur von (of Physiology) Wiesenberger. I hated for it to be buried in a 50 comment dump, so I thought I'd bring it up for some air on my blog, too, if Sara doesn't mind.

First, here's Flynn's initial comment that set me (and to be fair, others) off:

Nelville Flynn said...
Wendy McCaw's fight belongs to every publisher in America.

It is a fight for standards, for credibility, for unbiased reporting at a time the public holds journalists in low esteem. Newspaper circulation and television news viewership reflect this steady erosion of credibility.

It is a fight for the future. Unions, which stand for archaic work rules, have hobbled our nation's march forward. They stand in the way of progress and innovation on the media. Wendy McCaw's fight is for all publishers struggling to adapt in changing times.

Does it cost money? Absolutely. But this is battle Wendy McCaw can't afford not to fight.

Luckily others pointed out that perhaps those union-won archaic work rules--minor things like a 5 day work week and 8 hour work day and child labor laws--might be sort of ok. So instead I commented:

According to Nelville, "Wendy McCaw's fight belongs to every publisher in America."

So when will all the other publishers in the country come to her side (which is really just their side, after all)? Is she just that much more a visionary?

OK, when will one other publisher?

I guess the best thing about owning a newspaper is you can say "white is black" enough times that someone might actually believe you.

Eventually Nelville Flynn chimed back in and said...

Many publishers have privately expressed their support to Mrs. McCaw.

Unfortunately, they are reluctant to speak out publicly. Many remain in thrall to that aging and increasingly irrelevant Brahmin caste led by Lou Cannon -- the priests who stand on the mountaintops and proclaim "Ethics! Ethics! Ethics!" as the ground slips away beneath their feet. Cannon, Roberts and the American Journalism Review clique have led newspaper journalism to the brink of destruction. Wendy McCaw is seeking ways to win back the public trust, to expand the platform for her journalism. Well-heeled unions and self-interested politicians are standing in the way, and the effort has not been cheap. However, Wendy McCaw believes that a free press is priceless.

I then replied:

Wendy McCaw in the News-Press (7/3/07): "Today the hue and cry of 'journalistic ethics' by your journalist elite, rather than being the noble words you assert, instead have become little more than the chant of an ancient priesthood long discarded by their former flock, our readers. Newspaper owners now realize these elitists were simply trying to preserve their caste which provided them with the sinecure of full employment without responsibility."

Nelville Flynn on Blogabarbara (9/29/07): "Many remain in thrall to that aging and increasingly irrelevant Brahmin caste led by Lou Cannon -- the priests who stand on the mountaintops and proclaim 'Ethics! Ethics! Ethics!' as the ground slips away beneath their feet."

So, Nelville--parrot, plagiarist, or Wendy herself?

You aptly say, "Wendy McCaw is seeking ways to win back the public trust, to expand the platform for her journalism." Her journalism? She might own the paper, but I didn't know her money entitled her to own journalism as well.

I've Got Nothing to Say about Nothing

As others have reported, including Craig Smith:

Documentary filmmaker Sam Tyler will be rolling his camera at the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market on Cota Street this Saturday, September 15th, from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. His film crew wants to talk with people who support McCaw and the News-Press.

I'll try to avoid the easy snide line like "I guess Tyler won't mind doing nothing for 87 minutes" and ask the question that fascinates me more: Why isn't he interviewing all the people who don't seem to care one way or the other? When we walk the dogs in the morning on our various greyhound-nose-approved routes through San Roque it strike me how many News-Press copies still await what can't be more than a 5 minute read at the end of people's driveways. My guess is the majority of people still taking the paper aren't doing it to support Wendy or give the middle finger to labor. But then why? Here are the possibilities, as I see them:

1. They really don't know what's going on. We can't flatter ourselves and think everyone is scouring the blogs and the Indy for the inside story of the News-Press melt-down. And if you just read the News-Press, you won't know very much about it, after all. Of course we can easily take this one step further, as 1/5 of Americans can't find their country on a map. Sadly, 4/5 of Americans can find the YouTube video of Miss Teen South Carolina botching a question about the same. And can you personally believe how out of it Britney seemed at the VMAs.....
2. "It's not my fight, man." To fix this matter, I'm hoping to instate a draft, so every Santa Barbaran learns what's it's like to work for Wendy McCaw. McCaw, of course, will not complain, as of late she's used to having employees who know little about journalism and those forced to work for her can't expect much pay. It's too easy to feel uninvolved when it's other people's children watching their careers and journalistic ethics die there.
3. Inertia. No doubt the majority of folks got the News-Press and will get the News-Press. Do they care if it's good or bad? Nope, it just has to be at the end of the driveway every morning. They ask for nothing, and they shall receive it in abundance.
   

OK, now I've depressed myself.

Hey, That Columnist Has an Opinion

As I actually work for a living (at more than one job at that) I didn't make it to the NLRB hearing that kicked off yesterday in the latest struggle between real journalists and Ampersand Publishing, aka the SB News-Press. But reading the ever-trustworthy Matt Kettmann's write-up on the Independent website, a couple of things struck me as worthy of comment.

First, I simply love this quote from Scott Steepleton: “Sir, there were union people involved, but I don’t know if I thought this was part of a union campaign.”

Perhaps that should be the News-Press management's motto: We don't know if we thought.

Second, there's this passage:

As for the cancellation of Starshine Roshell’s column, which the union and government claims was done in retaliation for her union activities, [News-Press attorney Barry] Cappello explained that her column was just one of eight cancelled as part of a company-wide decision. That decision, Cappello implied, was just one way to root out bias in the paper.

It's simple--if you don't know what a column is, you shouldn't be allowed to own a newspaper. By its very definition a column is "biased." It's supposed to be someone's opinion, a place in the paper where readers can rub up against an actual voice (which can be in part a performance, but we're supposed to be smart enough to know that). That's why columns so often run with a little headshot of the author, while it doesn't really matter what the typical print reporter looks like (which is why TV journalism isn't always about getting the story right, or getting the story at all).

Not to mention if it's so bad to have columns as they add bias, where does bringing in Dr. (of Physiology) Laura put you on the bias continuum? I've never heard a strong opinion from that woman.

How Happy I'd Be with Either of You If the Two of You Left Me Alone

Poor businesses. They would be so much easier to run if only they didn't have to have employees.

At least that's the message we seem to get pretty much everywhere these days. For instance Major League Baseball seems insistent on reminding us as often as possible that baseball had a steroid problem despite having a strong drug testing program now that few of its athletes are failing. Of course much of that is the Bonds Problem, for Barry is pretty much a jerk whether he took steroids or not so it's easy to want to hate him as he approaches Aaron's homerun record. Instead of grinning and bearing it, instead of celebrating the moment--Commisioner Beelze-Bud might not even be there--, they make a huge hand-wringing deal of it. As if we aren't all smart enough to know his record will come in an age of medical wonder, just as Aaron's came in an age of greenies, and Ruth's records were originally set when you couldn't play if you were green, brown, or yellow. People can know these things on their own without asterisks.

Here's what Joe Sheehan said on the Baseball Prospectus website [it's behind the pay wall, but they are worth subscribing to] a couple weeks ago about the Giambi brouhaha that sums up what's particularly dumb about all of this:

Forcing Jason Giambi to talk to the Mitchell Commission under threat of suspension as an act of retribution for Giambi’s pointing out the obvious does what, exactly, to eradicate the use of PEDs by baseball players? The takeaways here are:

• The commissioner’s office is desperate to sustain the illusion that no one other than players knew about PED use.
• The commissioner’s office is desperate to buoy the image of the Mitchell Commission.
• The commissioner’s office is desperate to win the PR battle, even if that means reverting to a confrontational relationship with players and taking positions that will be impossible to defend in front of a third party.

[...]

I’ll say it again: the Mitchell Commission needs to be disbanded, because it can’t do anything positive for the game of baseball. All it does is keep alive a story that should have been ended by the implementation of professional sports’ most stringent drug-testing and punishment policy.

I think Sheehan doesn't just give enough credit to the owners' (and remember, the commish was an owner and serves at their pleasure) distrust of their employees, who, after all, make a very lucrative living playing a game. On some level all of the steroid scandal is merely a battlefield upon which owners express their condescension towards their charges.

But it's not just players who tend to be disliked by management. One of the most mystifying elements of the News-Press saga here in Santa Barbara is Wendy McCaw's nearly pathological views about journalism itself. Much of this in her case is she probably doesn't like to have anyone tell her what to do and she feels her money should insulate her from having to listen to anyone from which she doesn't want to hear. In her latest screed written to Lou Cannon McCaw said:

Today the hue and cry of "journalistic ethics" by your journalist elite, rather than being the noble words you assert, instead have become little more than the chant of an ancient priesthood long discarded by their former flock, our readers. Newspaper owners now realize these elitists were simply trying to preserve their caste which provided them with the sinecure of full employment without responsibility. The reading public knows this, as exemplified by the recent PBS Frontline documentary* referenced in my prior letter. The PBS series evidences the distrust the public has today for your formerly sacred "journalists." It does not trust them for the very reason I deemed it necessary to take action to ensure that the news was reported fairly and accurately: Your brand of reporters write what they want, when they want. That is not good journalism. That is not in keeping with the tenants [sic] of fairness and integrity. Simply put, that is the reason changes were needed at the News-Press.

The good news for McCaw is she's got what she's wanted--a newspaper without any journalists. Of course she doesn't realize that a real reporter doesn't feel beholden to an owner or an ideology but a belief that truth must out. That's where the whole public trust idea of journalism comes into play, but she can't be bothered with that. Instead she's out to market her product by saying anyone who would create it for her sucks. It's like calling your best players drug addicts.

Instead McCaw and Bud Selig and who knows how many other employers (is the UC negotiating a contract with anyone right now?) could all learn a thing or two from a wise column written by Roy Peter Clark on Poynteronline today. Here's a few excerpts, but it's worth reading the whole thing:

Managers of news organizations are forced more often these days to tell the Big Lie.

It goes something like this: "By making these changes, we think the Daily Blank will be a better paper. It will be leaner, more efficient, and will focus more on what our local readers say they need." In other words, they are going to lay off or buy out some of their best people to meet profit margins. The Big Lie is that this will make for a better paper.

[...]

Think for a moment of how many journalists' expectations of what a good career should look like have crashed into a wall of diminishing resources and technological change.

"A good storyteller," argues [screenwriting coach Robert] McKee, "describes what it's like to deal with these opposing forces, calling on the protagonist to dig deeper, work with scarce resources, make difficult decisions, take action despite risks, and ultimately discover the truth."

[...]

Now think of all the inciting incidents that have shaken the stability of the news business: layoffs, buyouts, cutbacks, declining circulation, loss of classified advertising, increase in the cost of paper, the sale and dismemberment of Knight Ridder, Murdoch lurking in the wings of The Wall Street Journal, the loss of prestige and threats to credibility, and on and on and on.

What do we do with all that bad news? If we followed McKee's advice, we'd start telling each other and the world outside stories of how good journalists did great work against all odds.

It's not just an issue of focusing on the positive. But if employers could get over this sense that employees are just a necessary evil maybe we could all do more than just get along.


*I couldn't pass up how this Frontline documentary doesn't really do what McCaw says it does, too. You can go read the entire transcript of all 4 shows if you'd like. What she jumps on is a teaser quote at the beginning of each episode (maybe that's as much as she watched)--"The public has a terrific disdain for the press"--but a lot of that disdain is because of things like the press's inability to see through all the lies the Bush White House put out about Iraq before the war. I doubt anyone in Santa Barbara holds Jerry Roberts accountable for Judith Miller.

Indeed, looking at that transcript it's interesting that McCaw fails to quote lines like:

JOHN CARROLL: A typical newspaper makes a 20 percent operating margin. That's roughly double what the typical Fortune 500 company makes. People think of this as a poor, washed-up old business. It's not. It makes tons of money.

LOWELL BERGMAN: So what's the rationale behind that? I don't understand. I mean, why do you have to cut costs when you're making hundreds of millions of dollars?

JOHN CARROLL: Because you have to make more every year than you made the last year in order to keep the shareholders happy. And so even if you made barrels full of money one year, you've got to make more than that the next year.

And McCaw doesn't even have shareholders.

The Portrait of Dorian McCaw

It's seeming more and more possible that Wendy McCaw uses the same older, more flattering photo of her younger self because she's actually stuck in a time warp. Perhaps hoping to short circuit a broadcast on Los Angeles' KCRW's "The Politics of Culture" today with Lou Cannon and Jerry Roberts (everyone invited from the News-Press declined), she instead offered up over 2200 words on line (and a shorter version in print). And she meant it so much she didn't even hide it behind the pay wall.

Now, one could go through this line by line (pretty much word by word) and pick it apart, but we all have lives and better things to do like dishes, or vacuuming, or nodding off to bad TV. Suffice to say it offers lines that must make Stanford cringe unless their blonde alum writes hefty enough checks. For instance:

You [the rant is addressed to Lou Cannon] assert you are beholden to no union, yet your words mimic the antics of a Union with the gravest history of corruption in its campaign against the News-Press and me as its owner.

OK, I can put up with the inconsistent capitalization of union, but how do words mimic antics? And while she wants, as always, to drag Jimmy Hoffa back kicking and screaming from the Meadowlands or wherever he's buried when discussing the Teamsters, note how that history of corruption immediately connects with a campaign against the N-P? And, of course, poor poor pitiful Wendy.

It's also striking to note her disdain for journalism itself (well, at least journalists--remember, she's an animal lover, not a lover of humanity), a very odd position to take if you actually own a newspaper. I mean, you don't hear the president of ABC say how horrible television is. But instead, she writes things like this:

The world has passed you by. Young people today no longer wear watches, no longer read newspapers, no longer watch TV news.

Here's hoping whatever folks she can still get to work for the shell that was the News-Press can understand how much youth culture is monolithic and stereotypical and more or less dreamed up by someone like Grandpa Simpson.

But separate from her inability to write a sentence, carry on a logical argument, avoid strawmen, and actually have some sense of the real world (no, not the Real World, dearie), there's this--she actually has the nerve to say to Cannon:

I challenge you to state a single legitimate agency "inquiry" that has found we violated a journalistic standard. None exists. It is simply more evidence why certain journalists today have committed a grave disservice to the public they claim to serve.

And, in her entire 2200+ word piece, four words never appear: National Labor Relations Board. It's as if none of the hearings, none of the past year, happened (well, they didn't get reported in the N-P so I guess they didn't). The NLRB isn't a legitimate agency? Maybe McCaw is only accountable to the mysterious fourth branch of US government run by Dick Cheney.

Giant Schlepps

I'm sad to say it took me till today to call and cancel the News-Press Direct (to your recycling bin?), mostly because I like getting the Lazy Acres flyer stuffed into it every other week, not just to know what's on sale-ish (hey, this is Lazy Acres) but also to read one of the best writers in town Bob Wesley, whose wine notes always crack me up. But finally I just couldn't take it anymore, especially after reading on Craig Smith's Blog that Travis Armstrong called up the Goleta Chamber of Commerce for dropping their subscription and told them, "I will ruin you." (What, is he going to take them on a drunken car ride?)

So I try to call at 6:30 am, but the N-P number just rings--there isn't even a phone message saying what their hours are. Guess that's too professional. I call again after 7, a woman answers simply, "Hello," no, "Good morning, this is the News-Press," but can you blame her--I'd be embarrassed about where I worked too. I say I would like to discontinue receiving the News-Press Direct. She says, "I'll transfer you to that department," and I wonder if they have a whole department accepting cancellations. They must be busy, as I get a voice mail. I left my message asking for them to stop sending the rag to my address. No one calls me back to confirm. We'll see what happens.

In other news, the about to be announced UCSB Arts & Lectures season has a Jazz Series, as usual, and it's sponsored by the News-Press. I guess old habits die hard--where else does one advertise and hope to get deals for cheaper advertising?--but it's still disappointing. Did A&L even talk to the Sound for sponsorships? If they did and the Sound said no, why doesn't the Sound really want to be a player in this town? (The Indy, as usual, is all over the brochure.) I assume I might get some comments to help explain....

Nothing Comic about It

Did you see Blondie today?

Tuesday, June 12, 2007


I'd never noticed before how much Dagwood looks like Travis Armstrong and Mr. Dithers looks like Wendy McCaw.

Scene Is No Longer the Beat, Beat, Beat of Tom, Tom

If it wasn't time already, with yesterday's resignation of Tom Jacobs--the last real writer on staff--it's time to turn out the lights at the News-Press. Jacobs was an impassioned, clever writer and perceptive interviewer who gave the Life section and Scene some real intellectual oomph; in fact some of his best writing was when the paper let him do some longer think pieces like those we've come to see from Frank Rich. Jacobs joked that his career loosely followed Rich's, moving from theater writing to political columns, but that does make clear his wide-ranging intellect and curiosity. Alas, the days of his thoughtful examinations were already long gone when the meltdown began last summer. Remember when he and Michael Todd were allowed to do a point-counterpoint about the ramifications of 9/11 four years later in 2005? When the paper actually had writing in it?

It's a sad day that Wendy and her minions (I picture flying monkees--how about you?) have driven out the last reasoned and reasonable voice from the News-Press. One of the hallmarks of Jacobs' fine preview articles was his ability to get people who are partially asked questions for a living to say something fresh and new--he always interviewed prepared, he shook people out of promo time auto-pilot. Most of all, he always listened. The arts community will be poorer without him. If it's true he's now a public information officer with the county of Ventura, Ventura is very lucky.

And I hope if he reads this entry he pardons me for the title pun that even he, an inveterate punster, would never have stooped to.

UPDATE (May 31, 10 am): Turns out that Tom isn't going to be working for the county of Ventura. Nope, he's crossed the Rubicon...He wrote to a friend of both Tom and INOTBB: "On June 11, I begin my new position as communications director of the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura - an organization that produces consistently excellent work in an atmosphere of creativity and collegiality. I look forward to joining that highly regarded team."

Faces and Names, I Wish They Were the Same

How exciting--Wendy McCaw herself opted to write for her paper this past Sunday, as you've probably seen on the Independent or Craig Smith's Blog, since I assume none of my readers still take the News-Press and therefore can't read its lock-boxed website where all the holy of holies are kept. Seems McCaw needed to attack Lou Cannon, since he had the nerve to characterize the meltdown of her paper properly in the LA Times a couple of weeks ago (she was probably most mad the Times used the cover of the Indy with an unflattering image of her mug on it, but she didn't say that). As usual Craig Smith does a fine job dissecting the editorial line by line, but I want to chime in on this moment (italics are Wendy's words, non-ital are Craig's):

"In order to keep our paper running smoothly, we reviewed the two computers Mr. Roberts was using to determine where we could locate the stringers and freelancers, information that apparently was kept only on his computers." Excuse me but you pay those stringers and freelancers don't you? Wouldn't that information have been with human resources or your chief financial officer at the time, Randy Alcorn?

Evidently there's an argument that they actually don't always pay their stringers, or so rumors go, but separate from Craig's good point, don't the issues of the papers themselves make it clear who writes for the paper? After all, last week I ran a list of writers that generated plenty of discussion, but no one argued I put a name on the list that didn't belong there. I managed to do this just by looking on line at material not sequestered away behind the pay wall. I would hope that people at the N-P don't have to pay to have access to their own website (or else Jack Benny better move over and make room in punchlines for Wendy).

If that "read the paper to see who writes for it" method seems too tricky, don't section editors probably know what people write the work that goes into each section? Are we to assume that Josef Woodard, wearing Groucho glasses and moustache, leaves his half of each Friday's Scene in the stump of a hollow tree on the Douglas Family Preserve and Keri Bradford goes and picks it up and leaves a check in its place?

Just because McCaw and von (of Physiology) Weisenberger probably don't know the names or recognize the faces of any of their writers (after all, mere employees aren't invited on the yachting trips unless they're there to twist off the caps of bottled water for the tastings), that doesn't mean no one else in the building does.

Which means, of course, the only reason to pore over Jerry Roberts computer was to find (or place?) something incriminating. Which also means that even if there was bias in the News-Press once, it probably beats the out-and-out lying readers get there now.