Another shoe drops in Santa Barbara

Randy Alcorn, chief financial officer for the News-Press for 23 years, was escorted out of the building just before he could quit in exasperation with Wendy McCaw. Alcorn told his story to former N-P columnist Barney Brantingham, who also quit over McCaw's antics and now toils for the Santa Barbara Independent:

Alcorn told me that he was deeply discouraged that the paper had degenerated into a “propaganda campaign and petty vindictiveness” instead of dealing with the serious problems of running a daily newspaper....

Alcorn admits that he was critical of how the paper was run. “I was critical that our focus was off running the News-Press” and instead was focusing on “enemies” in the community. “I’m a professional,” said Alcorn. “I manage with facts and report things as they are. I pretty much say it like it is.”

Twenty-nine journalists have left the paper by resignation or firing since McCaw's putsch began this summer.

(Via Romenesko)