SantaBarabaraNewsroom.com Closes

As per LA Observed: A news Web site founded by eight former employees of Wendy McCaw(ful)’s Santa Barbara News-Press have called it quits Friday after three months, saying they don’t have the money to operate indefinitely, but promising not to give up the bigger fight:

But we are not going away! It’s time to step up our campaign for reinstatement to the News-Press and a Teamster contract in the newsroom. Beginning Aug. 14, we will be on the witness stand as the News-Press goes on trial in Santa Barbara on charges of 15 violations of federal labor law, including our firings.

You may ask why we would even consider returning to a newspaper that has become a bad example in the industry, a cautionary tale of what happens when a publisher throws ethics to the winds. More than 50 journalists have quit the News-Press in protest since July of last year, when McCaw began attacking her own staff.

We want to make sure that McCaw treats her employees fairly and respects our right to have a voice in the workplace. We want to ensure that she establishes a clear separation between opinion and news and abides by the standards of ethical journalism set by former News-Press Publisher Thomas Storke, who vowed to tell the truth “without fear or favor of friend or foe.”