California Newspaper Battles Ex-Editors

CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPER BATTLES EX-EDITORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: John Pomfret]
A battle inside the local newspaper in a wealthy seaside town has turned into a citywide controversy, with hundreds of readers, politicians and activists protesting against the newspaper and the beleaguered owner threatening another paper, former editors and writers with lawsuits. On Tuesday, a crowd estimated by Santa Barbara police at 500 massed in front of the Spanish-style headquarters of the Santa Barbara News-Press. The protesters accused the paper's owner, Wendy P. McCaw; its co-publisher, Arthur von Wiesenberger; and its assistant publisher and editorial writer, Travis Armstrong, of unethical journalism. Rumors have circulated in the town that local bigwigs were preparing an offer to buy the paper, which McCaw purchased in 2000 from the New York Times. At a time when newspapers are losing circulation and struggling with the challenges posed by the Internet and other news outlets, the sight of demonstrators -- in shorts and shades, chugging bottles of designer water -- protesting for the local daily was unusual. "No News-Suppress" read the signs. "Wendy: Money Does Not Buy Everything." Local ownership of newspapers has become a hot topic in recent months with the breaking up of the Knight Ridder chain of newspapers, once the biggest in the nation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR200607...
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