By Editorial Board Friday, January 23rd, 2015

Oops, she did it again.

Channeling her inner Britney Spears, Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw once again has thrust herself into the public spotlight in a nasty way.

So far she’s feuded with her own employees, the cops over DUI arrests and several  elected officials who happen to be women. Now she has enraged the Latino community by using the inflammatory word “illegals” in a headline, first on Jan. 3, in a move that brought howls of protest. And just to make sure everybody knew she wasn’t backing down, she did it again.

We’re not fans of McCaw and her high-handed tactics. Nor are we fans of the creeps who recently vandalized the News-Press offices. We’re also not fans of those who would want to form a community press oversight committee to police “inappropriate” language.

A robust and spirited public debate is what the framers had in mind when they created the First Amendment. And to that end, we’ll defend McCaw’s right to be tacky and cruel.

We’ll also defend the public’s right to protest, to boycott and to hold her up to ridicule. That, not violence or censorship, is the American way.