Hatlo wants to know what I think about the contretemps at the Santa Barbara News-Press, where the owner is nuking the line between church (the newsroom) and state (the business office).
I’m not sure what deeper meaning this has, but there are some observers who are using it to argue that maybe local ownership isn’t such a good thing after all. I couldn’t disagree more — local owners are invested in their communities, and though moving away from corporate chain ownership is hardly a cure-all for what ails the newspaper business, it could prove to be a valuable part of the mix.
Jay Rosen has an excellent post on a mindless critique of local ownership that appeared in Fortune magazine.
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Don
Ownership isn’t the issue. Every owner has the right to set policy. The issue is “What is responsible journalism.” This owner has it right. The news is presented without any bias. Opinions belong only in that 1-2 pages of editorials and special “investigative” features. I haven’t tracked it down yet, but I suspect that Ms McCaw detects too much liberal slant that creeps into much mainstream reporting.