Putting the peddle to the meddle

It felt a little, I don’t know, discomfiting reading about the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s recent coverage of its change of ownership. It was like stumbling into someone’s private party that I wasn’t invited to and wondering “What am I doing here?”
 I felt like I should apologize for my intrusion and quietly back out the door.
I know they had an obligation to report the paper had been sold and identify who bought it. That was news. I knew they wouldn’t reveal what the new guys paid for it (“Terms of the agreement were not disclosed” is the standard boilerplate).
That’s fine, it’s what we’d expect, but that was the least of it. More disquieting was all the stuff about newsroom jubilation and editors and reporters (and the new owners) sobbing with joy and relief over the paper once again being “locally owned.”
What’s all this gushing about being locally owned? I wondered. The New York Times owned the paper for years and we never heard any public complaints about it not being locally owned then.
Why was being “locally owned” suddenly enough to make grown men and women cry? That was not really spelled out. Halifax Media Group, the departing owners who bought the PeeDee and 15 other newspapers from the New York Times last year, seemed to have provided much of the catalyst for this great outburst of happiness. I guess it isn’t exactly a glowing testament to your leadership skills when former colleagues celebrate your departure by agreeing to work for less money if that’s what it takes to get you out the door.
The news accounts — several columns and stories — said there were pay cuts and other give-backs but the quid pro quo was job security and you could once again wear Levis to work and everyone was crying and rejoicing over their great good fortune.
One of the new owners is Sandy Weill, one of the richest guys in the world, and his reporters and editors are taking salary and benefit cuts and weeping with joy?
It sounded suspect. It sounded fishy. It wasn’t fully explained, maybe because it’s still not fully understood.
The paper is now locally owned, and that’s good because the new people are, you know, locals who are therefore more culturally attuned to their immediate civilization and presumably care more about what’s going on around them.
What we know is that  several affluent, influential and politically savvy people just bought themselves a newspaper which they seem to care enough about to want to own. They also want to improve it; so practically the first thing they did was swear to God they have no intention whatsoever — zero, zip, zilch — of even thinking about invoking any kind of control (“meddling” was the exact word) over the paper’s news coverage or editorial policies.
Well of course not. Why would anyone even think such a thought?
It’s not clear what we’re being asked to buy into with this new-ownership-no-meddling narrative. So what if the new people meddle? Who cares? Would anyone notice?
One of the new buyers is a prominent political lobbyist — in other words a professional meddler, who I hear is very good at it. And didn’t Sandy Weill get rich by buying companies and meddling with them?
What’s wrong with meddling? The U.S. Government does it all the time.
To an outsider it all looked a little bizarre. The cheering in the press box seemed to have more to do with job security than journalistic integrity. The sarcastic little guy who occupies a spare room in the back of my brain was saying, “What is this, ‘The Stepford Wives?’”
The paper may be locally owned again, but it’s a new version of local. Like Gallo is local. It’s the local 1 percent.
 What does local mean anymore, anyway? I think what it’s starting to mean, at least in California, is, “Do you get paid in U.S. currency?”
Frank Robertson is a columnist for the Tribune’s sister publication, Sonoma West Times & News.