One of the most common complaints I hear about the News-Press since Wendy McCaw acquired the daily is that it's hard to get letters or op-ed pieces into the paper that take positions opposing those of the paper's editorials or the columns of editorial page editor Travis Armstrong.
The producers of Citizen McCaw are now offering an opportunity to anyone who feels they have been wronged by a News-Press editorial or an Armstrong column to go in front of a camera, make a two or three minute video and have it posted on the Citizen McCaw website.
The goal of the producers of the documentary film is to provide a forum, with potentially the ability to reach far more people than the struggling News-Press, for Armstrong's targets to reply.
First to be invited to rebut were Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum and City Council Member Helene Schneider. Schneider talked about "Helenegate" (a phrase that Armstrong coined) while Mayor Blum responded to Armstrong's allegation, which he apparently made up out of whole cloth, that she was contemplating resigning.
The second weekend in October will mark the return engagement of Citizen McCaw. The movie will screen at the Fiesta Five Theatre in Downtown Santa Barbara October 9, 10 and 11 at 7:30PM and October 12 at 2:30PM.
Tickets can be purchased now at the Fiesta Five box office.
And several new trailers have been added to the Citizen McCaw website.
With the second full weekend of prep football getting underway tonight, Presidio Sports, the new website devoted to local sports started by former News-Press sports writers Blake Dorfman and John Dvorak is up and running and in high gear.
The News-Press finally got around to doing a story on Judge Ochoa's decision Monday to reduce Heather Hulsey's sentence for vehicular manslaughter and hit and run and to free her on probation. As for the reasons for the delay in reporting the story, reader Joe Allegretti offered this possible explanation.
The reason the SBNP didn't write about it before today was probably because they were trying to find a way to blame Ochoa's decision on Mayor Blum, Roger Horton, and Helene Schneider.
Now why didn't I figure that out?
