Instead, the News-Press ran a "note to our readers" at the bottom of the front page. In it, Armstrong said the journalists had left the newspaper because of "differences of opinion as to direction, goals and vision."
He promised that the newspaper would continue "to enhance our news coverage while maintaining both the standards of journalism as well as the standards of this community with respect to personal privacy, fairness and good taste."
The note didn't sit well with Steve Amerikaner, a prominent Santa Barbara land-use attorney and former city attorney. Santa Barbara is small, but it has a high degree of civic involvement and a sophisticated population that "deserves a first-rate newspaper," he said.
"You wouldn't have known there was something going on at the News-Press by reading the paper today," he said Friday. "You had to look at, oh, I don't know, the L.A. Times."
Amerikaner said the newsroom meltdown was the topic of conversation everywhere he went. At his local Starbucks, "I heard 12 different people talking about what was going on at the News-Press."
Downtown merchants are concerned about the fallout for business, said Marshall Rose, executive director of the Downtown Organization.
"We need a strong daily newspaper," Rose said. "Business relies on the News-Press to provide current events and as a print medium to advertise. To have the classifieds deteriorate in any significant way would be troublesome."
Rose, 62, said he grew up reading, and later advertising in, the News-Press, as did his businessman father. They knew all of the previous owners before McCaw, who arrived six years ago, he said.
"There have been changes, but they have been evolutionary, not revolutionary," he said. "This is a pretty dramatic upheaval."
On sun-drenched State Street, tourists and students filled trendy cafes and shops. Many local residents said they were unaware of the troubles at the newspaper.
But at Joe's Cafe, waitress Cathy McGee, 48, was distressed to learn that Brantingham was among the mass resignations.
"Barney quit? Oh, no!" McGee said, jaw dropping. "He's my favorite. He always stood up for the little guy."
McGee said she is no longer a home subscriber but that she reads the paper's local news each day at work. Now, she said, she will wonder whether what the News-Press is reporting is true.
"It's sad, because you don't have enough time to check things out at the City Council yourself," she said. "You depend on the newspaper to tell you that."
