News on the Santa Barbara News-Press?

VJ:

I never thought it possible, but you have me searching for an answer.

 

At some point people have to go there with the intention of fixing the problem and becoming part of the solution.

Won't be easy, but Santa Barbara's a cool town. Can't just let a newsroom go to hell like this.

What about you Dye? I've read your blog and you certainly have ideas on what's right and what's wrong with the biz. Would you be willing to go there to help fix the problems? (That's a serious question for anybody here, I suppose).

 

No one can fix problems in a newsroom unless that newsroom wants the problems to be fixed.

Otherwise it just turns into a lot of resistance at ridiculous times.

 

There's got to be someone willing. Jaime Escalante had resistance, too.

 

Hypothetically, let's say I were willing. The paper would not be.

I bet Lou Diamond Phillips would kill to be in "Stand and Deliver 2: Electric Boogaloo."

 

"What's cal-coo-liss?"

 

After that movie, I found out. The teachers and the curve were not nearly as forgiving as they were in that movie.

 

You couldn't go there with the intention of fixing things unless you had the authority to do so, say as ME. Reporters and line editors were being co-opted by management, which led to the mass walkout.

 

Sleep with the woman who has caused this ruckus, or short of that, get incriminating photos of her. That's a start.

 

Santa Barbara rocks! The Forresters! The Gauchos! Preps! Censorship! Awesome!

 

Given the current situation, I'd say that's a hell of an assumption.

Remember, the person who hires you is probably even money to be fired themselves sometime in the next three months.

Plus, even if they pay your expenses to move out there, if it blows up in 90 days, then YOU get to pay the expenses to move back.

If you're living light -- if one U-Haul truckload can carry your stuff -- it might be doable. But if you've accumulated much of a household and need to hire professional movers, you're talking big bucks.

As Randal Graves put it so well, "There are other jobs out there; you're bound to be qualified for one of 'em."

 

I doubt McCay pays moving expenses. I've never worked for her (thank God), but I cannot imagine how any other publisher can be worse than her, a yellow journalism practicing billionare *bad word*r.

Seriously, Santa Barbara is probably my favorite place in the world. I love the Gauchos, one of my old roomates (now in the minors) played for the foresters, and for what it's worth, I love SB.

But don't apply at the N-P, unless you get a kick out of irate employees and a general unhapiness among the long-timers.

Sure, I'm biased, but this is a solid account of how the good news-press folk feel:

http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2006/11915.html

Sure, the News-Press is a daily, but is it worth it? For your sake, I hope not.