Washington Post's Woodward Backs The Organized
In a press release from The Organized today -- a list of speakers for the upcoming rally on Saturday was announced. Although he will not be present, a statement from famed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward will be read which concerns a News-Press ad on March 8th which wrongfully used a quote from him. The statement will say that the quote was used out of context and against the unionization effort. other scheduled speakers include Congresswoman Capps, Mayor Blum, several union representatives and three of the illegally fired reporters from the paper -- Dawn Hobbs, Melinda Burns and Tom Schultz.
The rally is scheduled for 1:30 pm at De la Guerra Plaza.
The rally is scheduled for 1:30 pm at De la Guerra Plaza.
Labels: Rally, Santa Barbara News-Press, Teamsters
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 3/22/2007 11:34:00 AM
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14 Comments:
Why is it that the Mayor and Lois Capps get involved with this issue, a private company, but you can barely get our elected officials to acknowledge our gang problem?
Why is it that 'anonymous' commenters get involved with throwing red herrings into blog topic comments, but you can barely get our armchair pundits to offer original or non-inflammatory critical thought on a subject?
Why?! Why, I ask you?!
What if the elected officials do acknowledge the gang problem and show up repeatedly at town forums while the private company does not send its own officials?
What if the private company does not like the elected officials and decides to withhold from readers what those officials are doing about the gang problem?
Sounds like the private company, since it is "not part of the solution, is part of the problem."
Then, there are those folks who post comments, asking why all the fuss about this issue with a private company.
All the media of America should have one owner, and the American public should only be informed via news stories, letters to the editor and editorials that dictate the beliefs of that owner.
Then, maybe posters like anonymous above will be satisfied.
As Forrest Gump's mother said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Re 1:03
I'm not sure your premise can be sustained, well not unless you limit the basis for your knowledge to SBNP editorials.
Great question anon 1:03! You'd think our so-called congressional representative would be too busy with important issues to meddle in something so relatively insignificant. Petty politics trumps substance once again.
1:03 PM: that's an unfair comment. Mayor Blum (and other local elected officials - I don't know about Capps, though) have been involved and concerned since it happened. (See the rerun of the city council hearing for an example; read the reports of the Casa de la Raza meeting, attended by Blum and other council members.)
As for the involvement with the N-P, true, it's a private company, but the press and the fairness of it, the lack of boundary between the ownership/editorial interests and the news reporting is of great public concern, including to the elected officials.
Some of us think that our Member of Congress actually being in the home District and actually meeting and talking with constituents on the hottest local news issue of the past year or more IS an IMPORTANT ISSUE worthy of her time and effort.
Plenty of Federal policies and legislation applies here. The N in NLRB ain't for Nimrod.
Seems to me the issue of all issues is the press....not all of it but in particular the local SBNP management is obviously hell bent on destroying the governemnt and all it's agencies.
It stands to reason that those falsely accused or blamed in the SBNP editorial section, for any and all ills, would stand up and speak in support of the journalists and more importantly a press not only "free" but free from management interferrence.
I don't mind a watchdog press or watchdog citizens groups, howevever the SBNP management is not doing this community and country a favor by firing reporters who will not compliment their bent editorial pages.
You'd think our so-called congressional representative would be too busy with important issues to meddle in something so relatively insignificant.
Actually, I and every other intelligent, informed, and ethical person would, and do, think something quite different.
Lois Capps is, and should be, concerned about the enforcement of labor laws in this town, and how weak the enforcement powers of the NLRB are. This whole situation not only raises First Amendment and journalistic ethics questions, but also questions of how we can regain the strength of the middle class in this country, which is losing ground, through union revival.
Wealthy individuals controlling the media has been one of the most significant issues, on a national level, for the past several years. One that has changed the direction of not only our country, but the stability of the world. Our local situation reflects this issue, even though the details look different.
Anyone see Travis' column today in which he uses the LA Times opinion editor's departure to support his own causes?
It's hilarious, and yet another example of how they just don't get it at the N-P.
Here's the thing Travy-baby: newspapers such as the LA Times are smart, respected by their community, actually provide local news, deliver opinions with suggestions on positive change, and are not mean-spirited, knee-jerk, and assinine the way the News-Press editorials are. And guess what: these papers involve the newsroom in their editorial decision-making because their reporters are the ones out there getting the information. That's a valuable asset. Opinion page editors should always consult their reporters when trying to determine their stance on certain issues. The reporters are their tool box. Who else would they consult?
The problem with the News-Press is the other way around, Trav-dog: the opinion people/owners/management seek to change the way the newsroom covers the news. This is well documented in both court papers and sworn testimony from former employees (uh, "too many quotations from Marty Blum" is about as obvious as it comes), a subject of multiple federal inquiries, and plain deplorable, which is why the whole country's journalism industry is laughing at the News-Press today.
Meanwhile, they are applauding the LA Times because the publisher realized that there may be a perceived conflict of interest between the editorial page director and the person he hired to guest edit a section. It's an entirely different situation, and shame on you Travinator for once again trying to twist the facts your way.
Get the hell out of town already!
It was refreshing reading the L.A. Times blog site on which the opinion editor explained his side and readers were allowed to comment freely pro and con.
Now that is freedom of speech and what an editorial section of a newspaper is supposed to be like, not the crap that passes for one under Travis Armstrong's reign at the News-Press.
As for freedom of speech, wasn't the banner held by John Zant promoting freedom of speech, of all things, for which he got fired by the News-Press for participating in that overpass protest?
Yep, that's par for the course.
Wish I could read all the letters to the editor with opinions that differed from Travis' over the last five years, and which he trashed. That collection would be a best seller book.
"How I Suppressed Freedom of Speech," would be a good title. It could be made into a movie and one of those actors who portrayed Truman Capote could play the role of Travis.
To catch a younger audience, the movie could perhaps be titled, "The American Rivera Hills Have Eyes," and the newsroom managers at the News-Press such as Travis could have been exposed to radioactive fallout and become mutants, dragging people's reputations through the mud, totally distorting what a newspaper should be, and devouring the remaining staff's brains while they're still barely alive.
"Why?! Why, I ask you?!" There are those who earn a living by TROLLING. I understand it's a lucrative career. They are paid to be the early bird that gets the worm.
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