The Buck Stops with Me in the Newsroom!

Like so many samurai ready to commit hari kari, that's what Scott Steepleton said today in defense of Wendy McCaw, Arthur Von Weisenburger and Travis Armstrong. Kudos to Craig Smith for sitting through the hearing today and even becoming a target of Barry Cappello who may call him as a witness along with the many others that may be called upon as well.

Surprising points made by Smith:

Steepleton Didn't Know?

In listening to Steepleton, there were two things in his testimony that tested the bounds of credulity for me. First he claimed he had no idea of whether his wife, Charlotte Boechler, the paper's assistant features editor, had any allegiances to the union. (I wonder what they talk about on those long daily commutes between Santa Barbara and Ventura where they live?)

Where's Wendy? She might be in court later....I won't hold my breath

Armstrong was sitting in the front row of the courtroom and, according to Cappello, he will be the paper's representative at the proceedings. There were four attorneys sitting on the News-Press side of the counsel table. A few feet away, volumes of enormous loose-leaf binders were stacked up shoulder high.

Cappello's Long Opening, from The Santa Barbara Independent:

As an excuse for why he was about to give a longer opening than his opponents combined, Cappello explained that this hearing’s “potpourri of items” amounted to “15 separate trials.” Judge William Kocol assured, “If it gets long, be sure I’ll let you know.” And he did, multiple times.

Dictators?.....maybe according to the NP in The Santa Barbara Independent:

Unlike most NLRB hearing, this case was not about wages and benefits, said Cappello. Rather, he explained, “These are employees who have testified and will testify here that their sole goal is to take over the newspaper so that the owner of the newspaper has no involvement in how they write their stories or when they write their stories.” It was a statement that everyone in the room could agree with.

Then, Cappello made it seem like too much was reported about Travis Armstrong's DUI -- even though it was not reported fully in his own newspaper. Capello then said Robe Lowe's address should not be printed as a 'stalking guide'. After that, somehow Starshine's column -- primarily about Moms, Dads and Apple Pie -- was biased. Hunh? If it could even get worse, Cappello said that the freeway overpass incident wasn't clearly a union activity becasue the banner did not have the word 'Teamsters'. I'm not clear what world he is living in...

About staff reports according to The Santa Barbara Independent:

As a counterpoint, Wyllie produced the article about the first NLRB hearing that was bylined as a “staff report.” Originally assigned to Leana Orsua, she called in later that day to say she couldn’t write the story. When asked if he wrote the story, Steepleton said, “I don’t recall.” It would become a very common response all afternoon. Later, Wyllie asked if the story, which omitted large amounts of information but reported the news that was favorable to the newspaper, was biased, Steepleton said he thought the piece in question was fine.

What a comedy of errors. Unfortunately, Scott Steepleton is being paid handsomely as newsroom editor to take the fall....I'm not clear it is worth it considering his wife was a reporter for the News-Press and a part of this hearing. What does that say about the two of them? How could he or she not see this coming? Why would they want to be a part of this?