Former Chronicle managing editor Jerry Roberts is a central figure in a New York Times story this morning about the newsroom rebellion at the Santa Barbara News-Press, where he has been editor since 2002.

The article includes comments from the paper’s owner, Wendy McCaw, who says eight newsroom staffers resigned because of “personality differences.”

McCaw said that Roberts decision to run a story about the drunken driving arrest of the paper’s publisher on page 3 reflected a vendetta, and Roberts was not allowed to run a second story on the publisher’s sentencing — he got four days in jail. Roberts said he realized at that point he would have to leave.