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by Jim Holman.
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Intolerant

Publisher's Pro-Family Policy Stands Firm

By Christopher Zehnder

What happens when a newspaper reveals its editorial slant? Normally, nothing -- unless that slant is pro-life or pro-family. David Weyrich, publisher of the Gazette newspapers in San Luis Obispo County, discovered in early February of this year that there can be dramatic consequences for a newspaper which bucks the gay-rights and pro-abortion establishment.

It all began when senior management pulled a calendar listing for a homosexual support group called Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered Persons, from the Atascadero Gazette. The listing had been running in that paper for two weeks previous. Management also told Gazette staff that they could no longer run calendar listings, stories or letters to the editor that promoted abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, or issues contrary to the good of the traditional family. The reaction of staff was swift. On Tuesday, February15, Steve Martin, publisher of the Atascadero Gazette, resigned in protest. On Thursday of that week, Ron Bast, editor of the Atascadero paper, also resigned, along with the arts editor and a reporter. The San Luis Obispo Gazette also lost five staffers, including its managing editor. In all, about a dozen full-time employees and columnists quit Weyrich's employ.

These resignations, though, were not the end of the protest against Weyrich's pro-family policy. According to the March 5 San Luis Obispo Tribune, about two dozen advertisers have refused to run their advertisements in the Gazette, and about 500 people have asked not to receive the paper. There have been political repercussions, as well. On Tuesday, February 29, the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce voted to no longer provide copy to the Weyrich's paper. The city's Downtown Association, as well as the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council and the Performing Arts Council, also weighed in against the Gazette.

Weyrich's response to all this has been to stand firm. Though he has rescinded his policy regarding letters to the editor, the Gazette papers will continue their pro-family policy in regards to calendar listings and articles. In a letter, published in the Friday, February 24 issues of his papers, Weyrich explained his policy: "Call us old-fashioned," wrote Weyrich, "but it hasn't been too many years since our professed beliefs were the accepted norm in America. Society has changed to the detriment, we believe, of us all as a people... Believing in the family does not mean we are against homosexuals as individuals, or that we will utilize the newspapers to disseminate information against them. We simply believe that lifestyle is an unnatural choice that we will not promote nor encourage. Abortion, on the other hand, is not about choice, but a child's life."

David Weyrich, a Catholic, began publishing the Gazette newspapers last July. A graduate of Villanova Preparatory high school in Ojai, Weyrich and his brother-in-law built up Martin Media, a billboard company started by Weyrich's father-in-law, until it became the fifth largest in the country. In 1981, the Weyrichs, with several other families, opened Martin Brothers Winery. According to the Tribune, in 1998, the Weyrich's sold Martin Media to Chandler Media Corporation for $610 million. With the proceeds of the sale, Weyrich bought out his partners in the winery, naming it Martin Weyrich Winery; donated $2 million to local schools; bought up $18 million in real estate in San Luis Obispo County; and began marketing an expensive subdivision of 148 new homes on the Santa Ysabel Ranch, south of Paso Robles. Weyrich is also building a luxury hotel in Paso Robles, and has bought Jack Ranch in San Luis Obispo for $2 million. He has invested in Atascadero's Carlton Hotel and provided quarters for a struggling food pantry.

Weyrich has long been a contributor to the pro-life Tree of Life Pregnancy Support Center in Atascadero, along with its umbrella group, Care Net of Sterling, Virginia. Weyrich has helped Care Net to pay for 8,000 billboards nationwide that advertise an 800 number which connects callers to pro-life counselors.

The sale of Martin Media financed Weyrich's foray into journalism. He began publishing the Paso Robles Gazette in July, introducing soon after the San Luis Obispo and Atascadero papers. In February he also debuted papers in south San Luis Obispo County and on the county's north coast. The papers, which are sent out free of charge, have a circulation of about 126,000.

The editorial policy on homosexuality and abortion for the five gazettes, said Todd Hansen, chief operating officer for all the papers, has been present "from day one." However, Hansen admitted, "it
hasn't been in writing; it's just been the principle of the owners. But it was finally put in writing about a couple weeks ago." Hansen told me that some of the employees underneath the publishers did not understand the policy, "but the publishers clearly had this understanding. We just asked the publishers," said Hansen, "to go back to each employee. It is the publisher's responsibility to go to the employees, and I believe it was not correctly relayed to them."

Ron Bast, former editor of the Atascadero Gazette, told the Los Angeles Times that his resignation had to do " with basic freedom-of-press issues.... You don't have a newspaper whose motto is 'Hometown Journalism at Its Best' and then exclude a large percentage of the population." Hansen disagrees. "Every paper has its slant, and every paper chooses and dictates content," said Hansen. "We've just made our stance public. We own the paper, and we clearly have the right to control what goes in our paper. That's the freedom of the press. They're saying we should cover everything, but we clearly have the right to cover what we want. Every paper does that."

Hansen said the Gazette's policy does not imply any editorial stance against homosexuals or abortion. "We will not run negative articles against the homosexual or abortion issues," said Hansen. "We've never done that. We just don't feel like choosing to promote them." Yet, if the gazettes will, in effect, not touch the homosexual issues, will they, say, promote the pro-life position? No, said Hansen.

Hansen said, however, that the papers would not entirely eschew reporting on issues touching homosexuality. "People will say, what about AIDS? Sure, we'll cover issues on AIDS; AIDS is society's problem," said Hansen. "What if the AIDS quilt came through town, would we cover it? Sure we would. But would we do a gay or lesbian gathering? No, we would not promote that or cover it."

Finally, Hansen said that the papers will not report, particularly on homosexual issues, "because we don't want to bring that into the households. We mail our paper into every residence in the county, and we feel that is something parents should talk to their kids about. I've had some people call me and say that they are glad it's not in the paper, because they don't want their kids asking them what it is about. It's not the people, it's the lifestyle; and we don't want to promote the lifestyle into everybody's house. "

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