Jerry RobertsBy Jerry Roberts at Newsmakers
On March 7, 2008, more than two thousand people packed a sold-out Arlington Theatre for the premiere of an historic documentary telling the story of the aughts-era newspaper war that shaped Santa Barbara’s media landscape of today.
Co-produced by Santa Barbara-based filmmakers Rod Lathim, Charles Minsky, Peter Seaman, Brent Sumner and Sam Tyler, the documentary titled “Citizen McCaw,” depicted in detail the remarkable media, legal and political brawl dubbed the “Santa Barbara Smackdown,” ; significantly it also provided a prescient look at the future of the news business here and across the nation, as the internet, social media, the Great Recession and billionaire owners reshaped the ways Americans receive, consume and define “news.”
The film stands up, both as a singular record of a watershed period of Santa Barbara history, and as a harbinger of what was to come for the entire industry of local news coverage, with costly consequences for journalists and citizens alike.
The documentary, which has been shown at journalism schools across the country, may be viewed via this link or on YouTube below:
In a special “Press Clips” edition, Newsmakers TV takes note of the 15th anniversary of the movie with a roundtable discussion including five local journalists who were in the middle of the controversy and contentious events it depicts, as Starshine Roshell, Melinda Burns, Josh Molina and Nick Welsh join the genial host for a conversation about the generation of transformational change, both personal and professional, that has followed.
You can watch this episode of Newsmakers TV via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here. The show airs on TVSB, Cox Channel 17, at 8 p.m. on weeknights and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. KCSB, 91.9 FM, also broadcasts the program on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Summary:
A group of pinkos and disgruntled employees made a film where they misinterpret the first amendment, for monetary gain. In California we have at-will-employment, get with it or get lost.
Spoken as one with absolutely no concept of what journalism truly is.
Oh good! Found the bootlicker!
Wow…you’d have to be a late-19th century robber baron level of mean-spirited and willfully ignorant to side with McCaw. SB had an incredible local paper and her incompetence and general weirdness drove it into the ground along with dozens of careers. Last I checked it was a few pages of wire service articles and mediocre local articles full of typos.
Nik @ 4:56 – Since my first question was penalty-boxed, let me rephrase it. Imbibing, mentally challenged, or trolling?
Qualify it however you like. I do it for the lulz.
ah you must be a paid fav of McCaws. Look dude, she put hundreds of good employees on the street with no notice, no warning. people that were dedicated and had been there over 20 years. So yeah, she’s an asshat of the highest order and doesn’t have much of a fanbase, aside of bootlickers like yourself…
They got censored and shafted by McCaw. Plain and simple. What a waste of talent.
@lemmings and anonymous morons
I was considering the nuance in Manufacturing Consent before you even realized that there was a legitimate debate about Capitalism. I actually consider the counterpoint regardless of my preconceptions.
This xenophobic echo-chamber wants “free” markets and shareholder primacy? Alright, you made your bed, now lie in it.
To quote my favorite philosopher_ “I’ve seen what makes you cheer; your boos mean nothing to me. ”
Nik, of course McCaw can do as she likes with her paper. And she is suffering the consequences. Her unwillingness to comply with court judgments is another issue.
Ooooh, Nik is so superior! Congrats.
Sic semper tyrannis.
Watch the film; watch the panel discussion! she not only ruined a good newspaper (hey, how do you make it now?), she also also lost her arbitration against Jerry Roberts and was found in violation of various NLRB violations- unfair labor practices. She is really unwelcome in this community by the majority of citizens.
Too bad rich Wendy won’t let the Farmer’s Market use her large employee parking lot once per week. The lot sits vacant, like the building, without employees. Is that too much to ask of her? Yes, apparently so….
There is no one who quit or was let go by the SBNP who did not do better personally, professionally, and financially after their departure. Please, those who quit “in protest” did so on their own, so don’t give me this sob story about how they were “wronged” by the Wendy. What seems to be the prevailing attitude amongst those who quit or were fired because they did not go along with the program, is that each one of them wanted and believed that 1) they could not be replaced; 2) that the SBNP would implode and go out of business; 3) that everyone else would agree with their decision. None of these things happened, so get over it and get on with your lives. It sounds so petty to me when former disgruntled employees blame the owner, blame the company, blame the advertisers, blame, blame, blame. Now some want the owner of the SBNP to give up her parking lot for the Farmer’s Market…..really? It would take about two minutes before someone would trip over a hazardous twig or dangerous loose leaves and sue the living shizzassaroonies just to get at her highness. Her paper…..her rules. Her business….not yours. Her employees that want to stay and follow her rules get to stay (even though there are only a handful left). Do not think that you can build yourself up by tearing down someone else….Homie say “It don’t work dat way.”
The SBNP has always been a business. Just because someone such as a former employe is emotionally attached to this business does not change that fact. If people loved the SBNP so much they would not become gleeful with giddiness whenever the circulation drops, advertisers boycott, or cheer the loss of power to their operations. Oh great, the paper is struggling and that makes me happier than a June bug in a barrel of rye whiskey. Traumatized? PTSD? Really…that’s what we have become? I refuse to cheer or support the victim class. Stop the complaining and get on with today’s life…not life as it was nearly 20 years ago.
It wasn’t just a business. It was a newspaper, supposedly a professional journalistic endeavor. Not a rich person’s toy. Some people these days just don’t understand that fact-checking is an important part of delivering news, as opposed to infotainment and propaganda.
Baby–
So if someone is the victim of a crime or illegal labor practice that’s totally okay as long as they are fine later?
Really.
The SBNP DID implode and the majority of SB citizens disagree with Ms. McCaw. As does the NLRB and some courts.
It’s not just disgruntled employees!
BABY @ 11:56 – You forgot to mention that poor Wendy doesn’t deserve all of that criticism. After all, smearing Roberts with that fabricated child pornography thing, and the belated non-apology, was just a clever business as usual trick. After all, he did piss her off, so I guess he had it coming. Anyway, as you said “There is no one who quit … who did not do better personally …”
I highly doubt you have any knowledge of this situation, other than what others have said. i have first hand experience dealing with her. do you? no. you have a very warped and strange view of this. Your comment….er….mindless rant about tripping over twigs in a parking lot is just weird paranoia and isn’t reality. We have had farmers markets downtown for decades. I’m still laughing at your comment. Good god you’re digging DEEP to defend your lame comment…
Babycakes–
why do you love criminals and hate victims of crime?
Weird.
Baby….sometimes injustices continue. If Wendy sold her online blog/aka “newspaper”, folks would be more apt to move on. BTW, if you ever set foot in the “victim class” yourself, the irony would be too rich to mention. Regarding the slip and fall at a Farmer’s Market, the same liability waivers and insurance policies that protects the City of Santa Barbara from these incidents and allow them to hold the Farmer’s Market in the Cota Street public parking lot and the State Street venue, could be accommodated by Citizen McCaw. I’m certain her former private attorney, A. Barry Cappelo, could figure this out, if Wendy had the desire to do this nice act.