We, the eight fired reporters of the Santa Barbara News-Press, have created SantaBarbaraNewsroom.com to provide a daily online source for credible local news in our community. We pledge to bring you fair and honest reporting that is enterprising, intelligent and up-to-date.

It’s our intent to keep our Web site going until we are reinstated at the News-Press. We were fired illegally by Wendy McCaw, the owner and co-publisher, for trying to obtain a union contract. Lawyers for the National Labor Relations Board will prosecute the News-Press so that we can get our jobs back, but it may take months.

We would like to thank our sponsors, the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, for helping us set up this Web site. Last fall, the News-Press newsroom voted 33-6 to join the Teamsters and seek a fair employment contract, one that would help restore journalistic integrity to our newspaper, a historic Santa Barbara institution and a public trust.