From Inside the Witness Box: Scoop on the NLRB Hearing

Community Post Written by Bob Guiliano

When the NLRB prosecution of the Santa Barbara News-Press resumes this week, courtroom observers should pay keen attention to the strategy pursued by labor board attorneys, in contrast with Barry Cappello & Co.

While NLRB attorney Steven Wyllie told me to simply tell the truth on the stand, Cappello took a more complicated route of twisting the facts and distorting the truth to build false premises leading to false conclusions in his cross-examination of me. He spewed out smokescreens to cloud the courtroom with a haze of confusion.

Example No. 1: After I filed my complaint in early February with the National Labor Relations Board that my firing occured after not giving one reporter an unmerited written reprimand, Wyllie called me to say that the News-Press responded that oh, yeah, Guiliano was really fired for falsely accusing another reporter of plagiarism.

Cappello's strategy to show that I was fired for poor performance fell apart when he learned that I had kept copies of the stories, proving that quotes were plagiarized from an Associated Press story that I had given the reporter for background information. With the News-Press caught in a lie, Cappello now had to twist the facts and distort the truth to show in court that I was guilty, instead, of not giving that reporter a written reprimand for plagiarizing. Cappello knew full well that I had e-mailed Scott Steepleton of my concerns, and Scott never asked me to issue this reporter a reprimand. Since this reporter was non-union and considered a loyal McCaw subject, I was given great leeway to work with her to resolve even such a serious reporting offense as plagiarizing.

Example No. 2: My being "caught in a lie" on the stand about being concerned of a possible sexual harassment claim that might be made against me. I was warned before my first day on the job to watch out for two non-union female reporters hired after the mass exodus. First, they were new to print journalism and their reporting needed lots of editing; second, the unionized reporters and copy editors were suspicious that they were planted in the newsroom to spy and to possibly testify in January that the union vote was coerced. And I was told that one of them filed a sexual harassment claim against an editor who had chastised her for a poorly written story, and that I should watch my back too.

Since my answer on the stand to Cappello's battery of questions had to be limited to yes or no, it was impossible, thus, to explain, that yes, I was concerned about a possible complaint, but no, I had not done anything to merit one.

Example No. 3: Reporter Leana Orsua refused to write the story about the Jan. 9 NLRB hearing, telling me that part of the reason was her boss, Scott, had lied on the stand. Leana was present the day that the unionized reporters attempted to deliver a letter peacefully to Wendy McCaw, asking for clarification of beats and a wall between the newsroom and editorial page. They were NOT stomping their feet as Scott testifed. Well, I had to relay to Scott, my boss, that we were not going to have a story the next day. But I did not have to reveal what Leana said about Scott, because I did not want her to be fired for being honest with me.

And that was the day that I learned that the suspicions floating around the newsroom about Leana were false. She was not a spy, she was not going to testify that the union vote was coerced, she had the guts to stick to her principles and not report as truth what her boss lied about on the stand, and she was not inclined to file an unwarranted harassment complaint against any editor.

I personally feel that Leana is one of the nicest, most genuine persons I have ever met in my 30 years in the journalism profession. I was determined to file off the rough edges to help hone her into the fine print reporter she could be. Today I am proud to watch her as a broadcast journalist. I learned by working and talking with her that she had been forced earlier in her career to stop giving credit to outside sources of quotes in her broadcast stories, because her producer would hassle her about the short time alloted for her broadcasts. She was told, "If it was said, it was said. Just report it!" I told her that the producer was wrong! Part of my job was to watch KEYT 3 News at 11 p.m. to report to Scott if they used any of our stories without attributing them to the News-Press.

Cappello also hit me with a line of questioning as to why I did not report to Mrs. McCaw that her top editor had lied on the stand. He also made it sound like I had firsthand knowledge of a serious crime that I should have reported to police. Yeah right, like I'm going to tell the person who is manipulating Scott like a puppet that the strings got tangled up. That would have only served to get Leana in trouble. Or like I'm going to call 911 and say, "I just became aware of a crime. Please arrest my boss for extreme embellishment!" I could picture the men in white coats coming to take me away.

Example No. 4: Last but not least, my attempts to be humorous in two e-mails to Mrs. McCaw. Cappello highlighted only my tail-end jokes, but refrained from revealing the other 98 percent of my e-mails giving Mrs. McCaw serious advice on how to turn the newspaper around and get it back on course. That information will come to light at another time.

So, courtroom observers, bring your gas masks should you venture into the courtroom this week because I'm sure there will be more smokescreens filling the air. I'd recommend reviewing any books on Logic and Probability, or read a Sherlock Holmes novel to see how he uses deductive reasoning to solve crimes. You'll be better equipped to analyse Cappello's faulty line of logic.

P.S. I was not nervous on the stand as reported in some media accounts. Actually, I had been practicing Transcendental Meditation in the attorney chambers, so my alpha brain waves were practically at the level of a deep sleep. I had to snap myself alert and get psyched up before taking the stand. I thought of Muhammed Ali playing rope-a-dope with George Foreman as I anticipated the pounding I was about to receive from Cappello. If I was fidgeting, that was me blocking some of the blows. I figured he would kick my butt in that court, but I would fight back on redirect testimony and also in the court of public opinion.