AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Santa Barbara Independent Fights Back in News-Press Case

By AAN Staff

december 13, 2006 11:50 am

The 40,000-circulation SoCal weekly has hired the services of high-powered law firm Leopold, Petrich & Smith -- currently representing 20th Century Fox in the suits against the movie Borat -- in its legal battle against the Santa Barbara News-Press and its litigious owner, Wendy McCaw. McCaw's Ampersand Publishing accuses the alt-weekly of copyright infringement and a host of other offenses for posting a PDF of a story -- originally written for the News-Press -- about a public protest against the daily. Reporter Scott Hadly, who wrote the article, quit the News-Press after his story was killed by the assistant publisher. "We have never bowed to intimidation, and hope that by fighting [Ampersand], we are leading by example and showing that this little freebie weekly [isn't] going to roll over," writes Indy Pop Culture Editor Matt Kettmann.

View full article at The Santa Barbara Independent