Anniversary: Santa Barbara's Day of Infamy

A year ago today the fall of a once great newspaper began. Because of the petulance of an owner who believes that she can determine what is news and what is not, Santa Barbara no longer has a reliable, readable newspaper. I long ago canceled my subscription, but when I pick it up here or there to look at it, I see that I don't miss much.

Yes newspapers are a for profit venture, but they also have a responsibility to the people. There is a thing called journalistic ethics to be considered, and Wendy Macaw's supposed poll that discovered "bias" in the newspaper's articles is a joke. But as she says, she's the owner and what she thinks is news is apparently the news, or at least that's what she says in a rambling tirade that responds to a Lou Cannon LA Times editorial.. But, we don't have to read it and advertisers can choose to ignore it.

So, for the local news we must turn elsewhere and we have! Greater Santa Barbara is a community of more than 150,000 people. We have a world class university and more. We deserve better than the News Press, but we will move on and in time Wendy and Travis will become increasingly irrelevant!

Thanks to Craig Smith we can keep tabs on what is happening with those who once wrote for our benefit. We stand with Jerry Roberts and the rest of the 50 odd people who have left voluntarily or not.