Santa Barbara News-Press#History
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Short description|Newspaper in Santa Barbara, California}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = Santa Barbara News-Press
| image =
| caption = The December 22, 2006, front page of the
Santa Barbara News-Press
| type = Daily newspaper
| format = Broadsheet
| foundation = May 30, 1868
| ceased publication = July 21, 2023
| owners = Ampersand Publishing
| headquarters = 715 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
| editor =
| publisher = Wendy P. McCaw,
Arthur von Wiesenberger
| oclc = 8769683
| website = {{URL|newspress.com}}
}}
The Santa Barbara News-Press was a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in 1868 as the Post and merged with the rival News to form the News-Press in 1932. On July 21, 2023, it filed for bankruptcy and ceased publication. On January 22, 2025, NEWSWELL, a nonprofit affiliated with Arizona State University Media Enterprise announced it had acquired rights to the Santa Barbara News-Press and intended to resume online-only publication.
History
E. B Boust first published the Santa Barbara Post on May 30, 1868.{{Cite news |date=May 11, 1868 |title=New Paper. |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=3}}{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1868 |title=Santa Barbara Post. |work=The Guardian |pages=2 |publication-place=San Bernardino, California}}[http://snugspout.blogspot.com/2006/07/source-1941-wpa-guide-to-santa-barbara.html Santa Barbara - A Guide to the Channel City and its Environs, American Guide Series by the Southern California Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration, Hastings House Publishers, New York, 1941.] A year later Rev. James Ashbury Johnson became the sole owner and immediately changed the name to the Santa Barbara Press.{{Cite news |date=August 27, 1870 |title=A Case Of Business Honor |work=Santa Barbara Weekly Press |pages=2}}{{Cite news |last= |first= |title=About Santa Barbara press. [volume] (Santa Barbara, Calif.) 1869-1873 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025118/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |work=National Endowment for the Humanities}} Years later Johnson was assaulted and badly beaten by Mayor Jarrett T. Richards on Election Day.{{Cite news |date=September 5, 1875 |title=Local Brevities |work=Los Angeles Herald |pages=3}} The paper's following owners were Harrison Gray Ottis and then J. P. Stearns, who employed Theodore Glancey to work as the paper's editor.{{Cite news |date=October 4, 1896 |title=Santa Barbara Press Sold: Passes Into the Possession of a Stock Corporation - A Newspaper With a History. |work=The San Francisco Call and Post |pages=5}}
In 1880, Glancey was fatally shot by Clarance Gray. Gray was a Republican running for district attorney and attacked Glancey for calling him a hoodlum and a law-breaker in his paper.{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1880 |title=The Santa Barbara Tragedy |work=The Sacramento Union}} C. F. McGlashan, formerly of the Truckee Republican, replaced Glancey as editor and bought the Press in 1881.{{Cite news |date=January 5, 1881 |title=Here and There. |work=The Weekly Calistogian |pages=3}} He later sold it to W. G. Kinsell. In 1887, Kinsell sold the Press to Press Publishing Co., headed by Walter H. Nixon.{{Cite news |date=July 9, 1887 |title=Notice |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=4}} He sold it five years later to J. T. Johnson and George Knepper.{{Cite news |date=July 6, 1892 |title=What They Say, |work=The Morning Press |pages=1}} Johnson retired and was replaced by Charles McDevitt, who also later retired. In 1896, the Santa Barbara Morning Press was sold for $50,000 to a stock company called Press Publishing and Printing Company, with S. Howard Martin serving as company president and managing editor.
The Morning Press was acquired in 1932 by Thomas M. Storke who merged with his paper, the Santa Barbara Daily News (possibly dating back to 1855The claim to 1855 rests upon a person named B.W. Keep who founded the Santa Barbara Gazette in 1855 and left the news business in 1858 or 1861, but then returned to the business when he helped found the Santa Barbara Democrat in 1878. The Democrat is one of the predecessors of the Santa Barbara News, which merged with the Press in 1932.[http://snugspout.blogspot.com/index.html#1855justification Snug Spouts Blog, Aug. 3, 2006]) to create the Santa Barbara News-Press.{{Cite news |date=October 12, 1932 |title=Santa Barbara News, Press Consolidation |work=The San Bernardino County Sun |pages=1 |agency=Associated Press}} Storke, a prominent local rancher and booster descended from the Spanish founders of Santa Barbara, brought the paper to prominence. For many years his father, Charles A. Storke, ran the editorial page; his son, Charles A. Storke II, oversaw operations between 1932 and 1960.{{Cite news |date=January 5, 1960 |title=Assistant Named By Publisher |work=The Sacramento Union |pages=4 |agency=Associated Press}} In 1962, T.M. Storke won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing "for his forceful editorials calling public attention to the activities of a semi-secret organization known as the John Birch Society".{{Cite news |date=November 24, 1962 |title=T. M Storke Wins 'Highest Award' |work=Santa Barbara News-Press |pages=2}}
Storke sold the paper in 1964 to Robert McLean, owner of the Philadelphia Bulletin, who turned over publishing of the News-Press to one of his nephews, Stuart S. Taylor, father of writer Stuart Taylor, Jr.{{Cite news |date=March 3, 1964 |title=Storke Sells News-Press to Philadelphia Publisher |work=Santa Barbara News-Press |pages=1}} Under Stuart S. Taylor's tutelage news writers flourished, including Dick Smith, Walker Tompkins, and others. The nearby Dick Smith Wilderness Area was named for Smith, a noted environmentalist. Larry Pidgeon was a well-known editorial writer for the paper.[http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/letters_2.html Santa Barbara Independent, July 20, 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016223032/http://www.independent.com/opinion/2006/07/letters_2.html|date=October 16, 2006}} The paper was sold to The New York Times in 1985.{{Cite news |last=Rosenstiel |first=Thomas B. |date=June 22, 1985 |title=N. Y. Times to Buy Paper in Santa Barbara |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=77}} In 2000 the paper was bought by Wendy P. McCaw, an ex-wife of billionaire Craig McCaw.{{cite news |date=September 27, 2002 |title=Divorce And Dollars |url=https://www.forbes.com/2002/09/27/0927divorce.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411224310/https://www.forbes.com/2002/09/27/0927divorce.html?sh=7782c2925d8f |archive-date=April 11, 2024 |accessdate=July 12, 2017 |work=Forbes}}{{cite news |url=http://archive.seattleweekly.com/home/937133-129/media |title=Battling Wendy; McCaw and her lawyers take on freedom of the press |work=Seattle Weekly |last=Anderson |first=Rick |date=July 20, 2006 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}{{cite news| url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970506/2537663/13-billion-mccaw-split-states-biggest-divorce-case |title=$1.3 billion McCaw split: State's biggest divorce case |work=The Seattle Times |last=Haines |first=Thomas W. |date=May 6, 1997 |access-date=July 12, 2017}}
=McCaw–newsroom dispute=
{{main|Santa Barbara News-Press controversy}}
In early summer 2006, six editors and a long-time columnist suddenly resigned. The group cited the imposition of McCaw and her managers' personal opinions onto the process of reporting and publishing the news; McCaw expressed the view that the News-Press newsroom staff had become sloppy and biased. Tensions had existed between McCaw and the newsroom since she bought the News-Press in 2000.{{cite news |url=http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=4226 |title=Santa Barbara Smackdown |work=American Journalism Review |last=Paterno |first=Susan |date=December 2006 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}
Between July 2006 and February 2007, 60 staff (out of 200 total employees), including all but two news reporters, resigned or were fired from the News-Press. Newsroom employees voted to unionize with the Teamsters, and both the News-Press management and the Teamsters made multiple appeals to the National Labor Relations Board. Former employees have encouraged subscribers to cancel their subscriptions to the News-Press, and have encouraged advertisers to cease advertising in the paper. McCaw's attorneys filed lawsuits against former employees, journalists, as well as competing newspapers, and issued numerous cease and desist letters, to websites linking to the News-Press website, to local business that display signs in support of former employees, and to former employees who speak to the local media.{{cite news |last1=Kettmann |first1=Matt |title=McCaw Warpath Leads to Small Business |url=https://www.independent.com/2006/12/18/mccaw-warpath-leads-small-business/ |access-date=July 25, 2023 |work=The Santa Barbara Independent |date=December 18, 2006}}
The parent company of the News-Press, Ampersand Publishing, filed a copyright infringement suit on November 9, 2006, against the Santa Barbara Independent ("SBI")—where many former News-Press columnists had become contributors to the community weekly—claiming that a link on independent.com violated copyright law. The case never reached trial, as an undisclosed settlement was reached on April 28, 2008, resulting in a dismissal at the request of the parties.{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.com/news/2008/may/06/emnews-pressem-emindyem-settle-lawsuit/ |title=News-Press, Indy Settle Lawsuit; An End to Dispute Over Alleged Copyright Infringements |work=Santa Barbara Independent |last=Welsh |first=Nick |date=May 6, 2008 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.com/news/2008/mar/27/judge-news-press-independent-copyright-suit-dies/ |title=Judge in News-Press vs. Independent Copyright Suit Dies |work=Santa Barbara Independent |last=Mackie |first=Drew |date=March 27, 2008 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.com/news/2006/dec/12/the-indy-fights-back/ |title=The Indy Fights Back; Defense readied in response to News-Press lawsuit |work=Santa Barbara Independent |last=Kettmann |first=Matt |date=December 12, 2006 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}
=Decline, bankruptcy and closure =
The newsroom was reduced from 65 employees to 20 by 2016. That same year, the News-Press was among the first newspapers to endorse Donald Trump's campaign for president. McCaw authored several right-wing editorials during the following years, including criticism of social distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. The newspaper's printed edition was later reduced to four pages before being eliminated entirely.{{cite news |last=Farhi |first=Paul |date=August 3, 2023 |title=She paid a fortune for her town's paper. Years of turmoil followed. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/08/03/wendy-mccaw-santa-barbara-news-press/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=August 3, 2023}}
On July 21, 2023, the Santa Barbara News-Press' owner, Ampersand Publishing LLC, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.{{Cite web |last=Molina |first=Joshua |date=July 23, 2023 |title='Santa Barbara News-Press Declares Bankruptcy, Staff Told All Jobs 'Eliminated'' |url=https://www.noozhawk.com/santa-barbara-news-press-staff-told-all-jobs-eliminated-as-newspaper-stopped-publishing/ |access-date=July 24, 2023 |website=Noozhawk}} The July 21 edition of the paper was the last as Wendy McCaw said all jobs were eliminated and the business had no money to issue final paychecks. The filing noted $50,000 in assets and between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities. Not long before the bankruptcy, the publication closed its historic Santa Barbara newsroom and moved all operations to its printing facility in Goleta before stopping printing operations in June and going online-only.{{cite news |last1=Sheets |first1=Connor |last2=Rainey |first2=James |date=July 24, 2023 |title=Santa Barbara News-Press declares bankruptcy, ceases publication after more than 150 years |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-23/santa-barbara-news-press-declares-bankruptcy-ceases-publication-after-more-than-150-years |access-date=July 24, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite news |last1=Sainato |first1=Michael |date=July 24, 2023 |title=Longest-running southern California newspaper closes after 168 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/24/santa-barbara-news-press-bankruptcy |access-date=July 24, 2023 |work=The Guardian}}
In March 2024, with a tentative bankruptcy sale for $250,000 to Weyaweya Ltd., a Maltese company, the court scheduled a final bidding opportunity for April 9; bidding started at $260,000 in $5,000 increments and sale included the domain names, website contents and social media accounts.{{Cite web |last=Yamamura |first=Jean |date=2024-03-09 |title='Santa Barbara News-Press' Online Assets to Be Sold |url=https://www.independent.com/2024/03/08/santa-barbara-news-press-online-assets-nearly-sold/ |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=The Santa Barbara Independent |language=en-US}} Two former employees expected to be paid a combined $15,000 for website logins and backups.{{Cite web |last=Magnoli |first=Giana |date=2024-03-09 |title=Bankruptcy Trustee Plans to Sell Santa Barbara News-Press Website, Social Media Accounts {{!}} Local News |url=http://www.noozhawk.com/bankruptcy-trustee-plans-to-sell-santa-barbara-news-press-website-social-media-accounts/ |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=Noozhawk |language=en-US}} The winning bid at $285,000 was from a group managed by Ben Romo, which formed a week before the auction.{{Cite web |last=Yamamura |first=Jean |date=2024-04-10 |title='Santa Barbara News-Press' Website Goes to 'Local Kids' |url=https://www.independent.com/2024/04/09/santa-barbara-news-press-website-goes-to-local-kids/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=The Santa Barbara Independent |language=en-US}} The paper's historical archives, including newspapers bound into books dating back to 1870,{{Cite web |last=Yamamura |first=Jean |date=2024-08-19 |title='Santa Barbara News-Press' Archives Languish Amid Decay |url=https://www.independent.com/2024/08/19/santa-barbara-news-press-archives-languish-amid-decay/ |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=The Santa Barbara Independent |language=en-US}} were sold for $70,000 in another auction to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.{{Cite web |last=Yamamura |first=Jean |date=2024-09-24 |title=Safe Home Found for ‘Santa Barbara News-Press’ Archive |url=https://www.independent.com/2024/09/24/safe-home-found-for-santa-barbara-news-press-archive/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=The Santa Barbara Independent |language=en-US}}
= Relaunch =
Romo donated the News-Press
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{seealso|Santa Barbara News-Press controversy#External links}}
- {{Official|http://www.newspress.com}}
- [http://savethenewspress.com/ Save the Santa Barbara News-Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010155432/http://www.savethenewspress.com/ |date=October 10, 2010 }}, site critical of the News-Press
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Category:Daily newspapers published in California
Category:Santa Barbara, California
Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2023
Category:1868 establishments in California
Category:2023 disestablishments in California