Topic: Cincinnati Enquirer

[jmecklenborg]

The Enquirer just deleted the reader comments from Thursday's Blue Ash City Council meeting for the third time in 24 hours. 

[OTR]

The Enquirer just deleted the reader comments from Thursday's Blue Ash City Council meeting for the third time in 24 hours.

Why do you think they did this?

[jmecklenborg]

I've heard people say that the web hosting does it itself by accident.  I don't know. 

[Living in Gin]

On another thread, somebody claimed this happens whenever the URL of the article changes. This begs the question: why does the URL need to change? This wrecks havoc on anybody who tries to link to an Enquirer article from a blog site or social media platform, which means fewer eyes reading the article and more incentive for people just to copy and paste the whole damn thing instead of linking to it. Even the most basic freebie blog platforms have permalink capabilities, as do newspapers that actually have a clue what they're doing (New York Times, etc.).

It's 2012, and the Enquirer still hasn't figured out how the internet works. And when they occasionally show the slightest interest in doing something internet-based, it's always a pathetic attempt to copy some concept that has already taken off on a different platform at least a year ago. Foursquare becomes a thing, and then a year or two later the Enquirer rolls out Porkapolis with great fanfare. A year or so after Groupon becomes popular, they roll out DealChicken. I can't wait to see what kind of Instagram knock-off they develop in 2014, if they still exist at that point.

I'm convinced that most of their corporate decisions regarding the internet are made by a bunch of 60-year-old men in some mahogany boardroom who barely even know how to turn on a computer, and they can't figure out why bloggers and new media types are running circles around them. Instead of concentrating on their core product (you know, journalism), they're laying off writers and editors while they pump scarce resources into playing a futile game of catch-up to years-old technology.

[OTR]

^ completely agreed except replace "mahogany" with "vinyl"

[Living in Gin]

Oh, I'm sure they put top dollar into the executive office suites in their new building, even if it meant laying off a few more writers to do so.

[Ram23]

I've heard people say that the web hosting does it itself by accident.  I don't know. 

The way the Enquirer (and all Gannet's papers) create their URL's does not work well with the Facebook comment system, which needs static URL's.  If you look at an Enquirer URL (for instance: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120812/NEWS/308120040/Police-investigate-Westwood-homicide?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE), all the junk after the "?" changes depending upon where the link was clicked, but it still always takes you to the same page.  The facebook comments depend on the entire URL, even though web browsing doesn't.  Comments always disappearing are just the result of bad practices on the part of Gannet's web team, combined with a far-from-perfect Facebook commenting system.  Really, they should be using something like Disqus or spend the time and money to create their own system. 

And on a side note, when linking to stories on the Enquirer's site, just drop the "?" and everything after it.

[OTR]

Oh, I'm sure they put top dollar into the executive office suites in their new building, even if it meant laying off a few more writers to do so.

 

Their new building: http://goo.gl/maps/62WFF

[dmerkow]

Not to defend the Enquirer, but I do think that nearly all the blame should be laid at the foot of Gannett.

[OHSnap]

And on a side note, when linking to stories on the Enquirer's site, just drop the "?" and everything after it.

One might argue that the Enquirer has been dropping the questions from its stories for years.

[northsider]

One might argue that the Enquirer has been dropping the questions from its stories for years.

and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why he's called OHSnap. 

[jmecklenborg]

...and The Enquirer is now having reporters and random staffers do their restaurant reviews, with photography courtesy their cell phones:
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=AB&Dato=20120611&Kategori=NEWS06&Lopenr=611004&Ref=PH

So they are literally down to the point where their online content has no more credibility than a blogger's, and quite often less.

[Living in Gin]

Wow... The Enquirer is really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days. I'd say the bloggers generally have more credibility, since most of them do their blogs purely as a hobby and not as a livelihood, and have no (or very little) financial interest in the topics they cover. Or if they do have a particular bias or potential conflict of interest, they're usually pretty upfront about disclosing them. I put much more stock in somebody who lays all their biases out on the table from the start, rather than a writer that claims to uphold some mythical standard of objectivity.

Traditional newspapers like the Enquirer could've really carved out a niche for themselves by focusing on the types of in-depth features and investigative reporting that bloggers typically don't have the resources or expertise to do, rather than trying to imitate the bloggers and rolling out useless gimmicks like DealChicken. (And when I say investigative reporting, I mean the real stuff, not "he said / she said" manufactured controversies over the streetcar.) That's the type of stuff I'd gladly pay money to access via a paywall. More and more, though, the Enquirer is simply becoming a localized version of USA Today.

[OHSnap]

It's not the Enquirer, so maybe it doesn't fit here, but WKRC front-paged a story about the casino hiring that's no more than a press release:

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Horseshoe-Casino-Cincinnati-Wants-to-Hire-You/ElVZVceZdUGyvWKM9GTivA.cspx

So now pretty much all of Cincinnati's news sources are bloggers or PRNewswire.

[OTR]

Professional journalism is nearly extinct in Cincinnati.

[Quimbob]

heck, they haven't updated their LTE's since Friday around noon.
Of course, there might not be any.....

[FakeCinEnquirer]

Don't know if this was on here earlier but....

Enquirer did have a bright spot not too long ago.

An NYT opinion piece picked up this investigative report from the Enquirer about how Ohio Republicans are trying to limit early voting only in democratic counties

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/opinion/overt-discrimination-in-ohio.html
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201208052259/NEWS0106/308050053

And then again today:

http://news.cincinnati.com/comments/article/20120815/NEWS/308150027/Statewide-policy-early-vote-possible

I had to do a double take when I saw a National Political pundit retweet an Enquirer article

[ryanlammi]

Something that bothers me is the misrepresentation of data. They mention "Cincinnati, for example, is 45 percent black, and Cleveland 53 percent. Butler County, however, is 8 percent black, and Warren 3.5 percent."

If you look at Hamilton County, though (which is where the decision is made, not in the City of Cincinnati), it is about 25% black. By only including the City of Cincinnati instead of Hamilton County they are misrepresenting the information. And I believe that even 25% is enough to make a point. The NYT shouldn't have skewed the data like this as it is an easy target for people to attack the NYT (and the Enquirer).

Though it is good that they are picking up on the story. The Detroit Free Press had an opinion piece on voter supression too that mostly talks about Voter ID Laws.

A part of me wishes that the Democrats on the BoE for other counties (like Warren, Butler, etc) would vote against early voting and see what Husted does when it is a Republican county that will not have the early voting. Then again, it is good that the Democrats don't stoop that low and just play politics. Hopefully Husted makes a statewide decision to allow voting on at least the weekend before the election.

[ryanlammi]

And now the Enquirer is patting themselves on the back.

[Quimbob]

The Enquirer is reversing itself on commenting policy on the article about a guy viciously assaulted by a half dozen teens.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120815/NEWS0107/308150032
Police: Man attacked because teens 'were just bored'

and the LTEs haven't been updated in 6 days. Dunno if somebody just lost a password or does the Enquirer really not want to hear from it's readers?

[ryanlammi]

^Maybe the unpaid LTE intern was laid off

[JYP]

I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between 24 feet and 24 inches. Unfortunately, there are no editors to catch that difference...


Link
smh.

[Cygnus]

Meanwhile on Twitter:

[Living in Gin]

[taestell]

Any they've taken the story down (for now). Too anxious to get it posted quickly, not enough time to proofread or check the facts...

[mattsledge]

From UrbanCincy: New Enquirer format delayed until 2013, corresponding paywalls unphased

As for the paywall... there will be an easy way to get around it once it goes up.

[unusualfire]

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Cincinnati-Enquirer-Raises-Prices/Ny_Y3DSer0SafMvdwXW8Rg.cspx#.UFyE8dQr8Bc.twitter

[Living in Gin]

Gotta love that business model. Imagine a neighborhood grocery store trying to compete with a new Jungle Jim's down the street by jacking up their prices by 40% while decreasing their selection and reducing the number of available checkout lanes.

[tedders55]

^ My parents live out by Mason, and yes I did grow up there it was miserable.  They still get the Enquirer, and are always amazed at how the Plain Dealer still feels and reads like a real paper.  I am amazed as well, every time I am back home it feels like the Enquirer keeps getting smaller.  I wonder if in 10 years they are just going to be mailing leaflets?

[GCrites80s]

I don't like that the paper has priced itself into luxury-item territory. Thier market research probably revealed that their current readership is wealthy enough to afford it and/or not good with computers.

[Quimbob]

Fishwarp had an online 'chat' with Mdme Washburn awhile ago & people with daily paper subscriptions who didn't read online kept asking why their rates were skyrocketing. Washburn kept telling them they would have online subscriptions in addition to the print edition.

Spinal Tap - 11

[mattsledge]

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Cincinnati-Enquirer-Raises-Prices/Ny_Y3DSer0SafMvdwXW8Rg.cspx#.UFyE8dQr8Bc.twitter

From said article:

...But we know we do something nobody else really does..not in this way and it's so important...

Yeah... Those breathless front page updates about Jeff Ruby, Nick Lachey and other "celebrtities" no one cares about, along with the numerous pictures of people at parties, concerts, and past chicken dances really makes that $10 a month well worth it.

Really!

[mattsledge]

I wonder who picks which Letters To The Editors to run, because this one still has me shaking my head:

Embarrassed by Sunday’s Reds line-up

[Dizzy]

I wonder who picks which Letters To The Editors to run, because this one still has me shaking my head:

Embarrassed by Sunday’s Reds line-up

I can't decide which is worse. People bellyaching about the lineup of a team that has won their division or the local tabloid printing that LTE.  Good ole Cincinnati.  Where people strive for mediocrity and criticize perfection.

[Quimbob]

From the Fishwarp letters page (online)
"The Enquirer receives dozens of letters to the editor each week - and because of space limitations, only a fraction of them can appear in print. Here online, we are able to post all of the letters we receive that add to the community conversation. We do not post letters that we deem inappropriate, however."
So - not all of these are getting printed.
and FWIW, apparently everything I send in is inappropriate or doesn't add to the community conversation.