About two dozen Santa Barbara News-Press journalists gathered Friday in De la Guerra Plaza and stood silently with tape over their mouths - the latest salvo in their bitter battle with their employer, newspaper owner and co-publisher Wendy McCaw.

The hastily arranged press conference and rally in front of the News-Press' ornate downtown offices were punctuated by the ninth resignation of a key news staff member in recent days: Presentation Editor Colin Powers announced he was stepping down.

The group of journalists, rocked last week by the resignation of virtually the entire senior editing staff of the paper, also announced they will seek union representation.

Those who quit have said McCaw has interfered with their journalistic work.

They say that among other things she killed a story reporting on acting publisher Travis Armstrong's recent sentencing for drunken driving. The newspaper had previously reported on his arrest. They said she also reprimanded staffers for publishing the address where actor Rob Lowe plans to build a mansion.

Before nearly 200 supporters and a bevy of news cameras, a majority of the paper's staff - including reporters, sportswriters and copy editors, most dressed in black - filed from the building and stood single file in the hot sunshine.

Melinda Burns, a 20-year veteran reporter, spoke briefly for the group, saying that while they would like to talk about their grievances, they've been prevented from doing so by the newspaper's management.

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“We have been ordered not to speak to any members of the media ...” Burns said. “If we break that new rule, we will be fired.”

With that, the journalists whipped out short pieces of gray duct tape and placed them across their mouths, to loud applause.

Former senior reporter Scott Hadly, who resigned Thursday, said the paper had lost “credibility” following the resignations of six editors and a veteran columnist last week over what they said were censorship issues. To the newsroom employees arrayed behind him, Hadly said, “It took a lot of courage to resign but a lot more courage to stay,” citing pressure by management.

While there were “other motivating factors” triggering his resignation, he said, he called a front-page commentary by McCaw, published in Thursday's edition, “the last straw.”

Powers, promoted just last week to a senior editor position by Armstrong - who was the target of much of the group's ire - cited the same letter in his decision to step down.

Powers, 29, considered a rising star in page design, was a 10-year veteran at the paper after starting as an intern. Powers said McCaw's letter “was an attack on my colleagues and by

extension an attack on me. I couldn't edit another front page again.”

He said he has no immediate plans but will apply for a job elsewhere.

Hadly said money was not a factor in the grievances, which center on restoring “journalistic ethics,” including separation of opinion, advertising and news, and restoring less stressful working conditions. He said there was “overwhelming” interest in joining the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters union.

Many in the crowd hoisted signs reading “Free the News,” “No More News Suppress” and “Stop the Travesty,” the latter a reference to Travis Armstrong.

Armstrong said he watched from his office part of the protest, which he blamed partly on the paper's enemies, among them developers and politicians.

“I do recognize that some of the people who attended the rally had political axes to grind with the News-Press editorial page,” said Armstrong, who was editorial page editor before being named acting publisher.

He said employees who protested would not be disciplined, adding he was disappointed by how the newspaper's order not to discuss internal operations had been portrayed.

“We do have personnel policies about talking to the media, just as other companies do,” Armstrong said.

McCaw reportedly has been vacationing in Europe.

Former columnist Barney Brantingham, a 46-year fixture of the News-Press, wrote a sharply critical piece headlined “Why I Quit the News-Press” for this week's Santa Barbara Independent, a weekly newspaper published in Santa Barbara.

He broke down as he spoke to the crowd.

“I look at my friends behind me,” he said. “It hurts me so much. What happened to freedom of the press? When Tom Storke (longtime News-Press publisher) was here, that never would have happened.”

As the group silently returned to work, supporters chorused, “Shame, shame, shame!” at editors presumably still inside the News-Press building, a handsome, towered structure on De la Guerra Plaza that has served as the newspaper's headquarters since 1922.

Other editors who resigned last week include Jerry Roberts, executive editor; George Foulsham, managing editor; Don Murphy, deputy managing editor; Jane Hulse, metro editor; Michael Todd, business editor, and Gerry Spratt, sports editor.

The Associated Press contributed to this

report.