Where's the Bias? Continued...
Former News-Press Editor Bob Guiliano understands the word "bias". The Santa Barbara Independent has reprinted an email Guiliano sent to Mayor Marty Blum which outlines a disturbing conversation Guiliano had with Ms. McCaw and Mr. von Wiesenberger.
Essentially, they told Guiliano that Anna Davison's article on a downtown renovation project quoted Mayor Blum too many times and that she didn't want Blum quoted in her paper. When asked how this shows bias -- McCaw intimated that it "went against our editorial page". Davison later got fired for "bias" and Guiliano was fired without cause.
I'm sorry, where's the bias in the newsroom?
Essentially, they told Guiliano that Anna Davison's article on a downtown renovation project quoted Mayor Blum too many times and that she didn't want Blum quoted in her paper. When asked how this shows bias -- McCaw intimated that it "went against our editorial page". Davison later got fired for "bias" and Guiliano was fired without cause.
I'm sorry, where's the bias in the newsroom?
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 2/27/2007 02:42:00 PM
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61 Comments:
Im sorry but your blog mentions "Blum" too many times...oh wait thats not really funny. I wonder what its going to take for people at that place to be treated like humans again.
An incredible but very plausible scene.
If true, Bob’s first-hand observation of McCaw’s personal if ham-handed interference with the news goes straight to the heart of what the editors and reporters have been saying since July.
Here, McCaw personally rebukes an editor because a reporter did not reflect McCaw's own charged emotions (in this story, McCaw's well documented dislike for the Mayor) and bias (in this story, McCaw's well documented love of trees) in what was supposed to be objective reporting. The crazy and sad part is that the reporter is then fired for "bias."
Ordering an editor not to quote the Mayor of the City? The disheveled hair and eyes darting from side to side? Is the owner losing her grip?
Had McCaw waited to talk to Steepleton, McCaw's intimidation would not have seen the light of day.
The scene gives lie to the thrust of McCaw's recent full page ads where she implies she doesn't interfere.
KEYT coverage. One of the "competitors trying to take advantage" or some such full page bs.
http://www.keyt.com/news/local/6113911.html
McCaw may have lots of money and hired muscle, but her credibility is bankrupt.
More and more reasons to take the small but significant step of writing the CEO of Starbucks and asking that our local Starbucks stop selling the News-Press... there is a form letter you can edit at:
http://www.freewebs.com/parkparkpark/
LOL - I should start a campaign and write a letter to Starbucks saying if they stop selling the News Press lots and lots and lots of us will stop buying their coffee.
Give it up!
You've got to be kidding. Asking the mayor to get involved in personnel issues at a private business?
I think the town is melting down, not the Newspaper.
Anonymous 7:52
It may be a rather meaningless exercise, but if it gets down to straight numbers of people, those that are unhappy with the NP will surely be in the majority.
If you think otherwise, you are clearly fooling yourself.
As test, ask people you don't know how they feel.
Not if they have canceled their subscription, but only how they feel.
Don’t ask those people that are your friends because you will only be asking like minded people.
If you think there are more supporters than detractors, I fear you will be very surprised.
That does not mean all those people will boycott the NP or their advertisers nor does it mean they attend the rallies in support of those that have been fired.
However, they will be clear enough on their displeasure to show the clear majority view in our community.
>>if they stop selling the News Press lots and lots and lots of us will stop buying their coffee<<
Sure, all three of the true believers at the N-P. The Starbucks Empire will surely tremble at that prospect.
It does highlight a mild irony (and I'm probably not the first to so note): Starbucks, like most of corporate America, is notoriously anti-union. But it also spends billions trying to persuade people that it's really a nice, progressive company. (Hey! We give away our grounds!)
So where does Starbucks go from there? My guess (unless it gets some serious pressure, which history shows it's vulnerable to): some flack mumbles a few platitudes about supporting a free, unfettered press, then disappears. End of story.
Sure, sending a letter to the Starbuck's CEO is a small gesture, and even getting the News-Press out of their south coast shops would be small too.
But not negligible.
At least Starbuck's contributes to employees' 401(k)s, and most employees I've known have been fairly happy there. A lot happier than News-Press employees. As I say in the letter, I am in no way affiliated with the Teamsters, although others who are are free to alter the letter they send and say so.
I'm just very disgusted with the News-Press and I wanted to do something.
It takes about 5 minutes to edit the letter and send it off. Please help out and do so!
The Newspress has been re-writing the news to suit the owner’s world view for years. Several years ago I was interviewed by Newspress reporter Mark van de Kamp about a court case involving offshore oil. After carefully reviewing the case with him, I was floored to see the key facts stated incorrectly in the front page article. When I called Mark to ask about the inaccuracies, he replied that “a night editor must have changed it.” Wow. Guess it was a night editor who believed that an oil company should not be subject to spill prevention conditions imposed on a prior owner. Hey, what a coincidence, the paper’s owner did not want to abide by the condition accepted by a prior owner allowing coastal access on the beach 60 feet below her bluff top estate.
From my vantage point, that was just the first of a series of articles evidencing a bias against objective reporting. I finally cancelled my paper a year ago in disgust. I am now boycotting businesses that continue to run Newspress ads, and am supporting the legal fund for the reporters. Santa Barbara deserves better.
Better question is,
Where are our community leaders?
Where is our Pearl Chase? Where is our Tom Storke? Where is our Sam Stansfield? Where is our Frederick Peabody? Would they have sat quietly as a local institution was dismembered?
Where are those inspired and influential good citizens who came to Santa Barbara and so loved this city that they gave to it their talent and ambition, their love and their financial means? Where are those who came to give and took nothing for themselves but everlasting gratitude?
I'm not calling on the rank and file who do the working and livng and dying here. I'm not calling on the politicians who always have a finger in the breeze of popular support. I'm not calling on the community activists who always have a cause. I'm calling on the working business owners. The Investors. The Entrepreneurs. The "Made" men and women who have won or brought their fortunes here to seek a better life. You've made an investment in our community. Now see it through!
Where are those who created this lovely place? Who will once again trust us with their legacy by putting it into our hands, knowing that we will fight like hell to protect their good name?
Step up, you who have found this to be a place of rest and nurturing.
Step up, those who have a magical vision for the future of this placid little town.
We're waiting for you to take your place next to those who carved a city from the wilderness. Next to those who built a paradise after disaster. Next to those who looked to the future to provide for your present. Land, water and respect don't come cheap here.
Step forward and earn your place. We need you to speak up.
Bob Guiliano has showed great courage and i hope the people in the coummunity are able to help in some way.
It is sad what has happened to SBNP. It takes years to build a paper, it's gowth is it's heart and soul. That paper has lost what made it great, it's heart and soul. This something that can not be replaced.
The City of Santa Barbara has lost a very dear and good friend to the coummunity in it's loss of the SBNP's history and talent.
It will be interesting to see how history records this event.
That paper is a joke of what it once was.
Hope someone fills the need for a Daily fast in some form.
That email to the Mayor was interesting... sounds like someone has a caretaker. Thanks Indy for doing such a great job and recording the history of this event.
Speaking of Starbucks, the other day this quote was on my coffee cup:
"A very bad (and all too common) way to misread a newspaper: To see whatever supports your point of view as fact, and anything that contradicts your point of view as bias."
-- Daniel Okrent
First ombudsman of The New York Times and author of Public Editor #1.
Isn't there anything else going on to discuss besides bias in the newsroom? I'm really bored with this issue. Let's have some other topics please.
This story, this e-mail by Guliano to Mayor Blum is stunning. It's close to unbelievable that a newspaper, the owner of a newspaper in a city of about 100,000 (actual residents, not the 85,000 or whatever officially) plus outlying 'burbs of Montecito and Goleta area should tell/order the reporters/editors not to quote the mayor!!!
If nothing else, I hope that council member Barnwell so mercilessly attacked last week feels slightly better. There's clearly a madwoman in charge of the paper. How can those who remain there do so! It must be that if you're in an insane asylum all around you seems normal.
Perhaps one should pity Travis Armstrong who has so eaten of the poisoned cake that he no longer knows the difference, no longer can see and understand the real outside world where people do not stab one another gratuitously, where news is not made up by the newspaper editorial and ownership group.
Indeed, a cold shoulder to all participants in the News-Press beyond mess, but sympathies, too, for those still working there without economic choices.
5:21 AM -- sorry about that but the issue is the biggest to face our city in at least a decade. As always, there will be other posts but this is what is big news today...thanks for your patience but consider that this issue makes a huge difference nationally. How a newspaper interelates with its community is an interesting topic...how the News-Press has ignored the community is another,
5:21 AM -- sorry about that but the issue is the biggest to face our city in at least a decade. As always, there will be other posts but this is what is big news today...thanks for your patience but consider that this issue makes a huge difference nationally. How a newspaper interelates with its community is an interesting topic...how the News-Press has ignored the community is another,
The biggest issue, by far, to face this city is uncontrolled growth. The fact that the NewsPress editorial is positioned against uncontrolled growth makes your statement of "ignored the community" all the more foolish or revealing, depending on how much credit we are willing to give you.
Bob Guiliano's e-mail to Marty Blum only demonstrates his increasingly tenuous grip on reality and his own collusion with those would impose their biases on the News-Press.
Guiliano proved his bias and poor judgment by calling on Marty Blum -- a self-interested politician whose misdeeds have been exposed by the News-Press -- as a supposedly neutral arbiter of newsroom ethics.
This is intolerable.
The professional newsroom managers at the News-Press will continue to monitor the news pages for bias and ensure that stories are balanced.
That is not the role for a politician who has worked to silence a strong and independent press in Santa Barbara.
Guiliano demonstrates that his allegiances lie with this politician rather than an independent and vigorous press. He has no right to call himself a journalist.
Where are those inspired and influential good citizens who came to Santa Barbara and so loved this city that they gave to it their talent and ambition, their love and their financial means? Where are those who came to give and took nothing for themselves but everlasting gratitude?
This is a new century, and I comes before WE - We'd rather follow the Anna Nicole story than the silly NP...
Keep it up, Nelville. You only confirm our collective points.
So what in the account by Guiliano is false? Show me the Bias.
If the Mayor sends out a message from Guiliano that reveals the actual source if bias, as written by an eyewitness, why is that so intolerable?
What are you going to do about it?
Put up or shut up.
9:22: The biggest issue, by far, to face this city is uncontrolled growth. The fact that the NewsPress editorial is positioned against uncontrolled growth makes your statement of "ignored the community" all the more foolish or revealing, depending on how much credit we are willing to give you.
The NewPress editiorial is positioned against the working class (middle and lower) of Santa Barbara. At this point, I think anyone living in Montecito or Hope Ranch should be ignored on principle.
Nelville Flynn said: The professional newsroom managers at the News-Press will continue to monitor the news pages for bias and ensure that stories are balanced.
That is not the role for a politician who has worked to silence a strong and independent press in Santa Barbara.
Utter nonsense - just utter nonsense. It's hard for me to imagine that anyone would believe this stuff - but then again, there's also a Flat Earth Society, so I guess some people will believe anything.
Nelville,
When I was younger I used to read Mad Magazine.
And I fondly recall Spy vs. Spy.
Now I have you.
Thanks for the morning chuckle.
For you folks who are complaining about Blogabarbara and its focus on the N-P.
There are other blogs in town, so why do you keep coming back here to post?
Yet again, Neville, you miss the mark by a mile.
In your typically unsubstantiated rant againt Bob, you speak of "professional newsroom managers" standing vigil against bias and ensuring balance.
The problem is, there is no manager left in the NP newsroom who even comes close to filling that description. The few who are left are ethically challenged hacks and posers who should be ashamed of themselves.
Moreover, there's no one less qualified than yourself to judge Giulianno or any other journalist.
To call you ignorant on this topic would be an understatement.
Well, Nelville, I will refrain from speaking directly to your straw man.
But, if you truly feel McCaw has the right to illegally fire people and run her business into the ground, fine by me. I don't care if you remain anonymous if your point is merely philosophical. But to assassinate characters anonymously with neither proof nor enough conviction in the claim to let the defendant know who is taking the shots makes you a cowardly fool, 100 percent.
This isn't a silly game. People's livelihoods, homes, and careers are in the mix. No, this is serious business, and only adults are allowed to participate. I urge everyone to ignore Nelville and posters of his/her ilk unless they develop the courage to face those they accuse. Responding directly to this coward's claims lends the illusion they have ligitimacy.
If you're going to make a personal claim against someone, act like an adult and post with your name.
Sara,
I agree that it is a desirable goal to have a community oriented newspaper. I have no love loss for WM but I do think it is equally important to note that SBNP is a is private business not a gov't entity. It it truely a "free" press if it is required to bend to the demands of local interests? Would it not be better in this free enterprise world to simply start a competeting paper like the Daily Sound did and let the market decide who runs the better paper? It seems like the SBNP should become. Nobody is being forced to read or advertise in the SBNP (I don't). I think the cold shoulder idea will work much more effectively than the constant drone of bias bashing going on nowadays. If SBNP treats their employees poorly than let them resign. Nobody is guaranteed a job there and to demand different is to start that slide toward socialism. I love this blog and agree that there are other important issues we can discuss as many electrons have already been spilt over this issue.
I also reject the notion that the SBNP is an institution that needs saving because of it long history in this town ("the paper of record", c'mon). We dump monoliths all the time in this country, even the mighty oaks eventualy fall.
Well, I see that Nelville feels incapable of denying the substance of Guiliano's e-mail, including McCaw's insistence that the news stories conform to editorial policy. Instead, Nelville seeks to shoot the messenger by trashing Guiliano's alleged motives, nevermind that the apparent motive for his communication to Blum is to alert her to the active injection of McCaw editorial policy against Blum into news reporting. Finally, Nelville concludes with the usual slogans that SBNP stories are balanced and that the paper represents anindependent and vigorous press, all indications to the contrary.
How pathetic!!
Hey, Nelville, if the NP is such a great champion of a "strong and independent press," why won't it print letters from people who disagree with it? Why does it refuse to cover its own very public labor strife? If it's so intent on banning "bias," why does the "news" only present one side? Why does Travis get free license to trash people then refuse to allow them to present their side?
So, Neville, ya think that The Nipper and The Red Queen are "professional newsroom managers"?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Darn right, this private ownership of the NewsPress is NOT the biggest story to hit our town.
Not by a long shot. It appears that way only because there is a pack of unemployed writers lolling around with nothing better to do than publically lick their self-inflcted wounds. And wait for the union to give them their jobs back. (Won't happen)
But one crime the Old NewsPress committed over and over again is between the bias of the reporters and mean-spiritedness of the N/P editorial policy, they made public service so onerous in this town no wonder no one decent wants to run for public office anymore. So we will be stuck with an increasing number of idle incompetents running our fair city. Time to get out of Dodge.
However, Wendy's relentless witch hunt against Blum, Rose, Schwartz and any other Alpha (interestingly) Jewish Female they deigned unacceptable, one does make one wonder what really drives her agenda. It is Christian White Supremacy?
But agree, the worst issue facing this community is the give-away of this formerly fair town to armies panhandlers, vagabonds, massive low-income housing schemes beyond all social reason or good. And that agenda was helped along by the Old News Press. Good riddance to the Old Biased NewsPress.
And good luck Wendy setting a new agenda for this town. But back off on the savage witch hunts that scare people away from public service. Stick to the issues and the process, not the personalities.
Anybody familiar with "Rope," the Alfred Hitchcock classic from 1948?
Two friends murder a third and hide his body in a trunk, which is then used as the buffet table at a dinner party that includes the dead man's relatives and fiancee.
The murderers, whose characters were patterned after the real-life Leopold and Loeb, believe themselves intellectually superior, and enjoy psychologically tormenting their guests who become concerned that the dead man hasn't arrived or contacted anyone.
The dead man, all the while, is inside the trunk on which the food and drink are being served.
Some of us might find even further parallels to the NewsPressMess, but you'll have to watch the film and draw your own conclusions.
About a year ago, I was pretty active writing to Blogabarbara about the News-Press. I had problems personally with my letters to the editor being edited before printing, and I was upset by the slant of the news articles which I believe followed the line of the Armstrong editorials, which followed the leanings of McCaw. I complained in writing twice to Armstrong and McCaw (who never responded), and I complained to Jerry Roberts after he wrote a column describing the “wall of separation” between the news portions of the News-Press and its editorial stance. My example was a Page 1 headline which misrepresented the actions of the Coastal Commission, which had been regularly trashed by the News-Press after it found against McCaw’s desire to close off coastal access to her property. Roberts denied any influence of the editorial page on the news.
I stopped commenting to Blogabarbara before the resignations began last summer because I think there’s nothing more to be said. It’s McCaw’s paper and nothing has changed. She clearly has the resources and the mindset to run it the way she wants. Talk of bias or no bias is irrelevant. No one with the ability to read (including provocateur Nelville Flynn above) can believe that McCaw or Armstrong really thinks there’s bias. In this recent example, bias seems to be defined as quoting the mayor. What they believe is that they have the power to dump anyone who does not toe their line. So far, they’re right, but it’s foolish to discuss bias as though there’s really an issue to debate. That’s not in play here.
It’s fine that more and more people are now aware of the shoddiness of the News-Press, but I don’t believe that there’s anything that can be done other than taking whatever personal actions one is comfortable with. I have my “Boycott the News Press” bumper sticker, I haven’t bought a News Press in over a year, and I convinced friends to cancel their subscriptions. Debating whether there’s bias is a waste of time, and the proof of that is the refusal of the News Press to give any valid examples of it—unless you want to count interviewing the Mayor. Remember last year when Armstrong refused to let Blum appear on HIS radio station? Nothing has changed, and I don’t think anything will until McCaw decides that the money she’s losing is worth more than giving in.
I don't remember any similarly protracted hand-wringing when St. Francis closed its doors, eliminating jobs for hundreds of qualified professionals in one fell swoop, forcing most to leave town, and turning SB into a town served only by a medical monopoly that acquired and coincidentally shut the doors of St. Francis--and coldy shut out the union the nurses tried to organize.
2:31 p.m.
You refer to the News-Press making "public service so onerous in this town no wonder no one decent wants to run for public office anymore."
Maybe that's Wendy's next goal. She's pretty much decimated the N-P.
Maybe now she'll go after City Hall, clean it out and try to put her own people in.
No.... she'll put herself in.
As Queen.
Every time the police tried to make the panhandlers, vagabonds and squatters in this fair city obey the law, the Olde NewsPress would squawk the police were "criminilizing the poor" and "harassing the homeless".
Just because the police were doing what we hired them to do. No wonder everyone got disgusted the Olde News Press. That is one example of bias in reporting.
One big example. The Olde NewsPress romanticized law breakers and made it impossible for the police to do their job. That has to stop and let's see if we can get our town back - or if it is now too late since everyone now knows the door is open to squat all over this town and no one will do anything about it.
And don't even think about squawking back at these comments (or show your bias against them). There are plenty of legitimate homeless resources in this town. Already.
Now it is time to send out a new message. The ship is full. The lucky got on board and got a free ride from this fair city and we are so sorry but there is just not any more room for the entire rest of you also looking for a free ride.
So sorry. Maybe another community will open its doors too. But ours now are closed. We have our share and we take good care of them. So good, that they never want to leave. So doubt if there will be any new openings for a long, long while.
What I don't get is who released to the Independent Joe's private/public email to Mayor Marty Blum?
I sure hope it was Joe himself, because at this point in the current junk yard log litigation hysteria, he just might have set himself up on the wrong end of another Goon Squad legal complaint disclosing private conversations and holding Wendy up to ridicule.
But if someone else within the city thought they were doing a public service releasing this public information email at Joe's expense without his permission, then that would be foul play at best.
From all previous experience here, Wendy can and will intimidate until the entire playing field is clear. Odd way to live a life but I don't myself know exactly what all money can buy.
Wonder what kind of lessons all the fuss and money surrounding Anna Nicole Smith have to say about the power of money in the long run. Lots of very unhappy, but wealthy people.
And where is that poor little Christina Onassis daughter now too? Money in fact does not buy everything; it buys a lot but it does not buy everything.
Thank goodness.
I think John San Roque is absolutely on target with everything he wrote, including classifying Nelville Flynn as a "provocateur" (much nicer than calling him a troll). Glad you are posting again, John--a voice of reason is always welcome here.
1:30 pm -- I have no problem with the News-Press running their business as their own. If they choose to run it into the ground, that is their concern. I agree with you too that perhaps there is no "saving" here. Where I think the actions of the News-Press become our concern is when their editorial bias keeps the public from getting the whole story and that dozens of families are affected by their lack of respect for labor law. Newspapers historically have had a comunity pact of sorts where they have a business to run but they also have a obligation to work with and interact with the community. It's hard to see that herre when they won't come to the table and cease and desist letters are forms of communication. Like all good karma, it will come around.
As for topics -- some weeks we have much more on non-News-Press topics than others. Last week was specially full of happenings at De la Guerra Plaza. Thanks for writing!
Nelville -- yes, growth is of major concern but the News-Press stance that all of our politicians are colluding to bring uncontrolled growth doesn't pass muster with me when their support comes from the environmentalists you make fun of (SBCANt for instance). It's a mixed message.
Also, the News-Press editorials have not been consistent with their supposed anti-growth stance. Lack of editorial coverage on the Veronica Meadows suit and support for pro-growth candidates are just two examples which do little to tell me that they are sincere in their conviction. It seems more like a matter of convenience for personal vendettas against people like Susan Rose, Marty Blum and now Brian Barnwell...its purposeful obfuscation or at least competing priorities that seem to be at play here.
Why no discussion on how we can keep Caltrans from widening the 101?
How could one not be captivated by this ongoing saga that is too surreal to believe? The events taking place within the walls of the SBNP and the community are historic and will influence lectures in colleges and universities for many years to come. The multimillonaire vegetarian and her ne'er do well boyfriend (with high school newspaper experience) single handedly destroying a longstanding community's newspaper. The loss to the hardworking employees and their families is too great to quantify. Honestly, I don't know how McClaw and the Baron sleep at night. Have they no conscious?
"What I don't get is who released to the Independent Joe's private/public email to Mayor Marty Blum?"
Someone probably mentioned that he sent an email to a the Mayor, and someone at the independent heard this, and used the freedom of information act to get it...
Regarding John San Roques comments;
I thought it was Mayor Blum that declined to go on the radio show...who could blame her with TA's rants.
Regarding sara de la guerra's 2-28 6:10 comments;
Vendetta is a word for it but also it just seems as though Travis Armstrong's editorials were designed to intentionally stir up the politcal pot. In doing so he tossed many into the boil and mixed and matched his editorials favorites and foes. T.A. pitted one against the other as he congratulated and flaterried his supposed like-minded likes while castigating those he built a case against.... his dislikes.
Re: "What I don't get is who released to the Independent Joe's private/public email to Mayor Marty Blum?"
By "Joe" I'm assuming you meant Bob Guiliano. I'd also assume that since Bob had been previously written about on the Indy Media Blog & has also posted there, he may have contacted the Indy himself about his e-mail to the mayor. What I'd like to see next is how the mayor responded, since as yet there has been no mention of that. Unlike Wendy McCaw, Marty Blum is known for responding to e-mails.
The mayor forwarded "Joe's" e-mail to the Independent without Joe's permission or knowledge. The Independent's position is that any communication with public officials is public, so they ran it. The mayor did respond, so ask the Independent or the mayor for her response, since that is public information also.
I agree with Sara, with all its editorial harping against growth and for neighborhood protection, the Santa Barbara News-Press turned around and endorsed the pro-growth slate of candidates in Goleta. Such inconsistency would lead one to believe that the News-Press stance on development policy is driven more by animus toward certain personalities than by political or social ideology. Also, Nelville's last post was one of the few of his (or her) posts that has been laced with strong emotion. The Guiliano e-mail must have touched a raw nerve and been spot on the mark to illicit such an emotional response. Although nobody is surprised by the revelation that Ms. McCaw has aligned the bias of the newsroom with the view of the editorial page. Even a cursory read of the paper nowadays will reveal that the news stories align quite nicely with the editorials.
"Also, the News-Press editorials have not been consistent with their supposed anti-growth stance. Lack of editorial coverage on the Veronica Meadows suit"
Let's see that would be a Towbes Group project. Let's see, NP advertisers... Bank of Montecito. Who controls the Bank of Montecito?
So, it's either follow the money, or don't criticize a friend of Wendy
you have got to be kidding- a strong, independent, vigorous press? any silencing that has occured has come from within that institution thanks to the current ownership, the NP is self-destructing before our very eyes
Nelville Flynn said...
"That is not the role for a politician who has worked to silence a strong and independent press in Santa Barbara.
Guiliano demonstrates that his allegiances lie with this politician rather than an independent and vigorous press. He has no right to call himself a journalist."
fyi: I got a call from Matt Kettman at the Independent informing me that Mayor Marty Blum sent a copy of the e-mail I wrote to her to Nick Welsh, and that they planned to post it. I was informed that any correspondence with the mayor was public information. I do not know how or why the e-mail was sent to Welsh, or how he even learned that it existed.
I intended that e-mail to be a communication between just me and Blum, and that she would honor it the same way I honored what sources, even public officials, told me in confidence as a journalist. She could have had the courtesy to let me know she was going public with it. I appreciate that Kettman did have the courtesy to let me know they had received it.
Yes, the mayor did respond to my e-mail. Why that response was not made available to Welsh I do not know. Since that must be public information too, I'm surprised no one has asked for it or posted it. I am not going to reveal it, just as I did not offer my original e-mail to the media. Because I do keep my private communications confidential.
C'mon journalists and blogmeisters, do your jobs, don't just take hand-outs and go with it. Ask questions and dig for the truth. Don't make me come over there and start advising you how to pursue news stories.
Wake Up Wendy NOW SHOWING
A video show of the Wake Up Wendy rally is now showing on cable channel 17 under this schedule below. This show features the first 2/3 of the Wake Up Wendy rally held last week, per this schedule for SBChannels-TV17 (cable channel 17)
Thursday, 3/1 at 10 pm
Friday, 3/2 at 2 pm
Saturday, 3/3 at 11 am
Sunday. 3/4 at 9 pm
Tuesday, March 6 at 5 pm
Wednesday, March 7 at 10 am
Thursday, March 8 at 3 pm
Friday, March 9 at 8 am
Saturday, March 10 at 10 pm
Sunday, March 11 at 9 pm
Bob Guiliano's account of his meeting with the News-Press copublishers was fanciful, not factual.
It was full of unsupported inferences, such as as the existence of a so-called rule against quoting Marty Blum. There is no such prohibition; anyone who has read the News-Press can see that.
Guiliano plays the innocent by claiming that he sent the message to Marty Blum in confidence, but his experience should have told him that correspondence with a public official would be public.
Calling on a biased politician to function as a supposedly neutral arbiter of journalistic ethics demonstrates appallingly bad judgment on Guiliano's part. Lacing his account with lies and distortions reveals his true agenda, which is the agenda of the unions, developers and the politicians they control.
Bob G. It only seems fair that you simply notify Blum that you will be sending her email response to the Independent. Apparently no other courtesies or legalities need apply.
Travis has already informed Blum she may not use her city email for private purposes. She knows all correspondence at that address is public.
New here but it sure seems like some of the posters here are fronts for the NewsPress, just by their writing style and attitude: Neville Flynn gives "himself" away as well as a few oddly worded, oddly angled "anons".
And this is good because at least there is dialogue, be that as it may. I am glad there is a forum for the free exchange of mutual frustrations.
How about a moritorium on Wendy and give her some breathing room to get her paper back in order?
And how about if Travis/Wendy give thier editorial hit list a brief respite as well, and stick just to issues that have manageable solutions?
There are so a many really important issues in this town that are not being given sufficient attention because of all this petty in-fighting on both sides.
Let's get on with the business of holding the city accountable within the process it is responsible for and stop all this personal sniping.
Unless the NewsPress wants to somehow legally impeach the current city council and get some freely elected new representatives, they have to dance with thems that brought them.
So within the current city operating policies, what is a productive role for the free press in this town to be taking.
We need a free and critical press because the 4th Estate is critical to the functioning of any democracy.
Many of us reading the various blogs about the message from Guiliano to Mayor Blum, and the subsequent publication in the Independent, know full well the true facts about who sent what to whom, and when and why.
The account above by a Nelville Flynn is full of deliberate lies intended to cover their asses and deflect about the truth that Guiliano revealed.
These attacks on the messengers and the absurd house ads in the Newspress are all symptoms that the Newspress advocates have nothing left to argue.
Where is all this bias? And if the past reporting and editing was so biased, then why did Steepleton and Armstrong and the others supposedly in charge approve this alleged bias to be published in their own newspaper?
Nelville, how would you know for certain that Guiliano's account of the meeting was fanciful, unless you were present? So far we have only one account published by a participant. The other two participants have refused to comment. At this point, Guiliano's account is unchallenged. Until either or both of the other two participants challenge his account, Guiliano's will be what everyone considers the factual account of the meeting. Also, please stop putting the News-Press management in the anti-developer camp. This such blatant disingenuous pandering. The News-Press endorsed the pro-development slate for Goleta City Council, a group who has been bought and paid for by the owners of Bishop Ranch. It is not believable that the News-Press management is really against build out residential development on the South Coast.
Re: My thoughts on Nelville Flynn's earlier comments about me:
"Bob Guiliano's e-mail to Marty Blum only demonstrates his increasingly tenuous grip on reality and his own collusion with those would impose their biases on the News-Press."
[BG: I have a pretty good grip on reality. That's been my forte as a journalist and why I've succeeded during a 30-year journalism career. And, I never colluded (acted together secretly to achieve a fraudulent, illegal or deceitful purpose) with managers who would impose their biases on the News-Press].
"Guiliano proved his bias and poor judgment by calling on Marty Blum -- a self-interested politician whose misdeeds have been exposed by the News-Press -- as a supposedly neutral arbiter of newsroom ethics."
[BG: it was neither bias nor poor judgment, it was my desire to let the truth be known about how bias is really being defined at the News-Press these days].
"This is intolerable."
[BG: What is intolerable to all the journalists who have resigned or been fired is how they'd have to word their news stories to conform to editorial opinion. Journalists are adamant about writing the plain truth, in contrast with public relations folks who spin the truth to reflect what their client wants the reader to believe].
"The professional newsroom managers at the News-Press will continue to monitor the news pages for bias and ensure that stories are balanced."
[BG: What I and all other ethical journalists are worried about is by what criteria the News-Press now "manages" the news pages and "ensures" balanced stories].
"That is not the role for a politician who has worked to silence a strong and independent press in Santa Barbara."
[BG: As an experienced journalist, I ask, how has Marty Blum worked to silence a strong and independent press? Instead, it seems like the News-Press's radio station worked to silence HER by not allowing her on a show, and the paper admonishes reporters who quote her too often in a single story].
"Guiliano demonstrates that his allegiances lie with this politician rather than an independent and vigorous press. He has no right to call himself a journalist."
[BG: my allegiances belong to an independent and vigorous press. People who really know me and my newspaper background have even called me a "rare breed" journalist, among other things.]
And my comments on several of Flynn’s most recent words above:
"Calling on a biased politician to function as a supposedly neutral arbiter of journalistic ethics demonstrates appallingly bad judgment on Guiliano's part."
[BG: I had appallingly bad judgment the time I bought a used Ford Escort and it sucked money for repairs more enthusiastically than an anteater empties a colony. But I did not call on Mayor Blum to act as a neutral arbiter of journalistic ethics; I asked her to support Operation Cold Shoulder and to suggest that the council pass a resolution honoring all the journalists who were fired or resigned over wanting to maintain ethics and integrity.]
"Lacing his account with lies and distortions reveals his true agenda, which is the agenda of the unions, developers and the politicians they control."
[Lies and distortions … NOT! … as Borat says.The only thing I have ever laced is my shoes, and I don’t even like doing that, so I try to go velcro. True agenda with the unions, developers and their politicians. Ha! I don’t think so!]
This guy Nelville Flynn reminds me of somebody handsome and dashing, like a movie star. His words sound familiar. But, nahhhh, he can’t be Rob Lowe. ;)
Have a nice day, everyone! :)
Hey, Neville, looks like Windy got caught with her hand in the bias cookie jar! In fact, regardless of what you might say, the lid slammed down pretty damn hard.
Thanks, Bob G.
Tnank you, Bob.
I confess to taking some pleasure in watching Nelville squirm.
I'm new here to this blog. Have lived in SB for almost 40 years. Sad to see what is happening to our town.
I used to read the NP occassionally. Had a subscription (online) for awhile for work purposes but have let it expire. Just so little quality left & so much bias.
Wow. That WM just keeps getting more & more meanspirited. Couldn't stand her from the first moment when she moved here & tried to keep people off of her 'beach'. The arrogance mixed with ignorance was & still is mind boggling. And her current boyfriend had one of the sleaziest nightclubs in town at one point. What a pair!
She's got lots of money but her actions keep revealing how little class she possesses.
Speaking of class, it is fascinating to read first hand accounts by some of the recent players in this drama (thinking of Bob G), while others (thinking of N Flynn) don't have the courage to put a real name to theirs.
I'm signing as anonymous because I'm just an everyday citizen with no ties to any side of this issue but who doesn't trust the WM sue-everyone who-disagrees-with-her machine.
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