Barry Punzal had labored hard for a quarter-century in the sports department at the Santa Barbara News-Press. He won sports editor post in mid-2006, just as the paper was shaken to its roots by a controversy involving the news independence of the paper and its owner, 57-year-old cell phone heiress Wendy McCaw.
Punzal worked to protect the paper’s sports department from the turmoil wracking the newsroom, where several editors had walked out and seven reporters were fired in the midst of the their efforts to join a union.
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