News-Press in Turmoil

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OUR DEMOCRACY depends in large part on strong news gathering and reporting, free from bias and undue influence. A community needs trustworthy news sources to make informed decisions about critical issues of all dimensions.

Unfortunately, News-Press owner Wendy McCaw and acting editor Travis Armstrong have aggressively injected bias into the news reported by the local daily. In other instances, newsworthy stories have been suppressed. The result is the damaged credibility of the News-Press.

Beginning with the sudden resignations of six editors on July 6, and continuing until today, the News-Press has increasingly emerged as a local institution defiant of the community and resistant to allowing an open exchange of ideas on its pages. Treatment of longtime employees has deteriorated to the point that employees are being subjected to surveillance, suspensions, and harassment on a scale many of us have never before witnessed. And it's happening "in our own backyard." In the process, 23 journalists, many with decades of local and regional experience, have resigned or been terminated. Among those who have been terminated are several of our local community columnists.

Why is this an SB CAN issue?

SB CAN's primary mission—to bring together progressives with the goal of achieving greater social justice and environmental public policy initiatives county-wide—is dependent in large part on the existence of a local free press which allows and encourages the free exchange of ideas. Our government watchdog function, crucial to SB CAN's goals, relies in part upon vigorous reporting by our daily press of the actions of local government. Op-eds, letters to the editor, and "debates in print" are also important tools in our quest to shed light upon the actions of local government, and encourage citizens to participate in the shaping of public policy. With the demise of the News-Press, these goals cannot be met in the South County.

Further, SB CAN's commitment to the furtherance of social justice led us to support a Living Wage. We opposed last year's anti-union ballot initiatives. The oppressive conditions forced on the News-Press newsroom employees have been so extraordinary that they have made international news. Their struggle is our struggle.

SB CAN's commitment to civil liberties, including free speech, and the rights of workers to organize demands that SB CAN formally adopt a response to the situation.

Therefore, SB CAN:

  • Supports the rights of the newsroom staff to union representation, and to pursue these rights free from harassment or intimidation (or suspension and termination, actions that have recently been imposed upon several employees)
  • Supports the efforts and goals of organized newsroom staff, former News-Press and other journalists, and community members to restore journalistic ethics and restore "the wall" between news and opinion

To find out more about how you can help, visit SaveTheNewsPress.com.