Santa Barbara Publisher Sought To Derail SPJ Award to Editors

By: Joe Strupp Publisher Wendy McCaw of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press tried to derail the recent awarding of a journalism ethics prize to nine of her former employees who quit last month in protest, by writing a stinging letter to the Society of Professional Journalists that called their actions "a smokescreen to hide their personal agendas."

The letter, dated Aug. 4 and sent to SPJ ethics committee chair Gary Hill, was apparently sent in response to the group's investigation into the recent mass resignations at the paper that began July 6 with the departure of former editor Jerry Roberts and five others.

"There is more to this than has been reported, and leads one to wonder what personality or other issues are involved. We would urge you to carefully look at all the facts," the letter, a copy of which was obtained by E&P, stated in part. "It is our belief that the SPJ is being used by this group to further their own personal and political agendas, and not as an expression of ethical principals."

McCaw also complained that SPJ had not sought to properly get her side of the story. "To date, no one from SPJ has contacted anyone connected with the paper except for your letter asking for my reaction and rationale. To what?," she wrote. "As journalists, isn't it incumbent upon you to investigate and report both sides? We would be glad to make ourselves available to you to discuss this in detail via phone or in person. Should you require any further documentation, please let me know."

Hill said SPJ had first sought to get information from the paper in late July, and did not get a response until five days after Hill called the paper on July 31.

"We had asked Ms. McCaw to explain or provide any rationale as to why we should not give this award," Hill told E&P. "We asked for a response in a day or two. Then asked again and they sent it five days later."

Hill said the letter did not offer a compelling reason for SPJ to hold back the awards. "We didn't think that most of the response was germane to the ethical issues and went off on tangents and general matters we weren't necessarily concerned with," he said.

Last Friday, SPJ announced it was awarding its ethics in journalism prize to Roberts and eight other journalists who have quit the paper since the paper's first wave of resignations. Those who left have accused McCaw of meddling in newsroom decisions and unfairly reprimanding employees. In the award announcement, SPJ said it had conducted an investigation of the situation prior to the award.

McCaw's letter accused the journalism organization of failing to find out the whole story and criticized the group for seeking to honor her former workers.

"As every journalist knows, there are at least two sides to every story. The recent events at the Santa Barbara News-Press are no exception," the letter stated. "So far, the majority of coverage has only reported the claims and comments of those employees who resigned. ... In order to clarify the situation, we would like you to consider the following facts before deciding to award them for their actions."

McCaw then went on to note that when she bought the paper from The New York Times Co. several years ago "everyone cheered that they were finally getting a hands-on owner involved in the community. Now, the people who quit seem to be upset that I am hands-on."

She added that "No one has been fired. All those who left resigned of their own free will." McCaw then defended the issuing of four cease-and-desist letters, explaining that "one letter went to each of three former employees and the other was sent to the Santa Barbara Independent. The letter to the employees was based on the company's confidentiality policy, something almost all organizations have in place.

"That policy clearly states that proprietary and confidential information concerning the internal operations of the paper and internal matters may not be disclosed to our competitors or publicly, even after resigning. All employees have signed this policy and have respected it to our knowledge, with the exception of those who quit."

McCaw then backed up her decision not to agree to union representation in the newsroom, saying, "While the paper does not believe that this is in the best interests of the paper, employees, or the community, we respect their right to do so. We are now moving strictly along those guidelines set down by the NLRB."

The publisher added that claims by some employees, including Roberts, that the "wall" between editorial and news had been breached, were unfounded. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Mr. Roberts himself served for over a year as both publisher and editor of the paper before being demoted. It appears that this wall is a wall of convenience to Mr. Roberts.

"In every newsroom in this country the relationships between owner/publisher/editor/editorial/news are complex and dynamic. They are based on human emotions, personalities, policies and politics," the letter added. "Even the SPJ Code takes these dynamics into account in that the Code is a guide, rather than a mandate.

"One of the great dangers that any journalist faces is taking something out of context," McCaw's letter continued. "We believe that the alleged ethical violations the paper has been accused of are inaccurate and out of context. Looked at in context and full detail, they are insignificant and no different than issues raised every day in newsrooms everywhere."