Yellow Journalism

I believe in the First Amendment and its protections of religion, speech and the press. At times in our history all three have suffered, though more recently speech and the press that have been the most circumscribed. Recently the New York Times has been charged with treason by some politicians for "revealing" something the present administration has been crowing about. Anyway, enough of that.

On a more local level, the Santa Barbara News Press is in an upheaval, in large part because of an owners attempt to "control" the news. She and her editorial page editor (now acting publisher) want the news to reflect their often strange views of the world -- which interestingly enough have a tint of anti-religion to them. Six editors, a long time columnist/reporter (of 46 years), and now a reporter have all resigned in protest of recent changes. Of course there are news outlets that reflect the odd ball views of their owners -- witness Fox News -- but this is our hometown paper upon which we're dependent for reliable and accurate news reporting. That the editorials are bizarre, well that's okay as long as it doesn't get mixed in elsewhere. Now we're not sure where to turn!