'CITIZEN McCAW' release set

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

“CITIZEN McCAW,” a feature-length documentary that chronicles the events surrounding a string of resignations, firings and a contentions labor dispute over the past year-and-a-half at the Santa Barbara News-Press, will make its world premier at the Arlington Theatre in March.
According to Rod Lathim, one of the film’s co-producers, a ruling in late December by an administrative law judge saying the News-Press violated labor law when its management fired eight reporters last year, made for a good, open-ended stopping point.


“The judge’s ruling was very helpful in helping us bring some kind of a button to the end of the film,” Lathim told the Daily Sound last night.
Because News-Press owner and co-publisher Wendy McCaw has appealed the judge’s ruling, the story will likely continue well past the film’s completion.
“It doesn’t finish the story,” Lathim said. “There is definitely more story to tell and we will continue to capture the story as it goes along.”
Filming began shortly after former News-Press Executive Editor Jerry Roberts and five of the paper’s other top editors quit on July 6, 2006. Since then, the paper’s owner and co-publisher, Wendy McCaw, has battled against existing and former employees who voted to join a branch of the Teamsters union.
According to a press release issued by the filmmakers, more than 80 hours of footage was shot and dozens of the paper’s former employees and newspaper industry experts were interviewed.
Footage was shot in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and throughout Santa Barbara.
Some of the industry leaders that appear in the film are Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, journalist Ann Louise Bardach, former NBC reporter Sander Vanocur and former Washington Post reporter and Ronald Reagan biographer Lou Cannon.
The press release says the producers have received four warning letters from McCaw’s attorneys that threaten legal action depending on the film’s content. Last year, the press release says McCaw’s attorneys subpoenaed all of the raw footage shot for the film, as well as the production and interview notes.
“The subpoena was considered a ‘fishing expedition’ and was immediately revoked by William Kocol, the administrative law judge who oversaw the trial of the Santa Barbara News-Press on charges of violating federal labor laws,” the press release says.
The film will make its debut on Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and go on sale at the Arlington Theatre ticket booth tomorrow.
VIP tickets for $200 are also available and according to the press release will help the filmmakers pay for production costs.
Other co-producers include, Charles Minsky, Peter Seaman, Brent Sumner and local PBS documentary filmmaker Sam Tyler.
“We’ve been pretty quiet about it and we’ve been working away very diligently,” Lathim said. “Now it’s time to share it with people.
“It should be a wonderful gathering of people who are very passionate about this story and we think that it’s an important story.”
Lathim said the film will be available for purchase on DVD in the future and after the March premier, the film will be released for a national television debut.