Editor & Publisher | Fired Santa Barbara Staffers Launch News Web Site

[Heidi]

Published: April 02, 2007 3:40 PM ET

NEW YORK Eight former staffers of the Santa Barbara News-Press, who claim they were illegally fired in the latest dispute at the embattled paper, have launched a new Web site of their own, where they plan to cover local stories until they get their jobs back.

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The news site's staff includes Anna Davison, Melissa Evans, Dawn Hobbs, Rob Kuznia, Barney McManigal, Thomas Schultz and John Zant, all of whom were fired earlier this year from the News-Press after hanging a banner over a freeway urging boycott of the paper. Reporter Melinda Burns, also on staff, was fired last year.

In a related development, Burns wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Los Angeles Times, published Monday, which discussed the need for legislation that would protect efforts to unionize.

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The reporters are hopeful that they will get their jobs back after the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint in March that determined the paper acted improperly in firing the staffers.

The complaint also contends that the paper violated union organizer's rights by issuing negative performance evaluations against several of the leaders, prohibiting them from wearing buttons on the job that promoted unionization, and from placing signs in their own vehicles. In addition, alleged threats by News-Press attorney A. Barry Cappello were deemed to be in violation of the employees' rights.

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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003566276

Also: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070402/205521.shtml