Santa Barbara Paper’s Response to ‘Illegals’ Headline Confirms Their Journalistic Bigotry

Jan 10, 2015
3:46 PM

Who knew that the following image from the front page of The Santa Barbara News-Press tweeted to us by @ChipsterLife on January 4 would lead to the story winding up in outlets such as the LA Times and FOX News?

(CREDIT: @ChipsterLife)

(CREDIT: @ChipsterLife)

But that is exactly what happened this week after there was a protest Thursday night in front of one of California’s oldest papers.

At some point during the protest, someone wrote the following in front of the newspaper’s building:

All this caused the newspaper to publish its own “report” about it. Since the newspaper is behind a paywall (so 2003), we paid for a subscription so you can all read screen grabs of what the paper published in response to the protest. Are you ready? Are you sure? Because we will let you know that the story’s “reporter,” Scott Steepleton begins his story by referencing the Charlie Hebdo tragedy. Yes, he does. Read on. It speaks for itself. SBPage1 SPpage2 SBPage3 SBPage4 SBPage5

How’s that for showing your true colors? “Open-border sentiments.” Nope. it’s about treating people with dignity, but that’s a minor detail.

The newspapers seems to forget that the January 3 headline was also accompanied by a full-color photo showing a group of people lining up in the DMV plus one incredibly xenophobic news article? This is not about being “politically correct” and choosing words. It’s about stopping the promulgation of fear-based journalism at a time when California is seeing dramatic demographic changes.

You don’t think so? Tell that to CNN.

We guess the paper missed the point of why its headline just bit the big one. This is 2015, not 1962. But keep spreading the fear, because that’s the narrative the paper spins and perpetuates. In addition, don’t forget the clear smugness in a response, because journalistic bigotry must thrive! We applaud those people who are fed up and spoke out against the fear. We applaud @ChipsterLife for sharing the news with us and many others.

Fifty bucks tells us we are beginning to see the end of one of California’s oldest newspapers. It will happen. Maybe not this year, but it will happen eventually, and the world will be a better place for it.