Santa Barbara biz editor among those quitting paper

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that five editors, including the business editor, and a columnist have quit the Santa Barbara News-Press due to meddling by Wendy McCaw, the paper’s owner, in the editorial content.

James Rainey reported that business editor Michael Todd was among those leaving the paper.

Rainey reported, “The Santa Barbara News-Press, with a daily circulation of about 40,000, has long had a reputation as a solid midsize newspaper. For much of the last century, the newspaper was dominated by owner Thomas M. Storke, a firebrand who briefly served as an appointed U.S. senator and who helped bring a University of California campus and a growth-spurring reservoir to the region.

“McCaw, 55, bought the paper in 2000 for an estimated $100 million or more, using a fortune she built from a divorce settlement she won from cellphone magnate Craig McCaw.

“She immediately gained a reputation as an iconoclastic newspaperwoman, favoring strong environmental protections in many instances but also demonstrating a libertarian’s distrust of government. An early editorial during her tenure called for an end to the Thanksgiving tradition of eating turkey because of the suffering of the ‘unwilling participant.'”

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