Bill Sloat on a possible blogger-MSM marriage of sorts:

Quiet talks are underway between four independent Ohio bloggers — two on the left, and two on the right — and The Plain Dealer, which is courting them to become featured commentators of a sort on its branded Website, Cleveland.com….

According to whispers The Daily Bellwether has overheard, the bloggers who are in talks with the PeeDee are Writes Like She Talks, Ohio Daily, NixGuy, and Bizzyblog. An editor from the PeeDee, Jean Dubail, approached Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks recently with a proposal that set in motion the discussions. Nothing has been structured yet, and Dubail reportedly plans to place something on the negotiating table this week with more details.

Interesting. And there’s this:

So far, there is no financial package, nor have any compensation arrangements been offered — and there may never be. Instead, the bloggers might simply choose to be affiliated with Cleveland.com for prestige and leverage that would increase their influence as members of the digital commentariat.

If there’s no money, what does it all amount to? It’s hard to say at this point. Will the blogs be hosted at Cleveland.com? Linked to from there?

Not to queer the deal or anything- and I hope those four bloggers can get the best that they can out of it- but one of the best things a newspaper outlet can do doesn’t require negotiations at all: just engage the public in conversation. Link to citizen media, like blogs, Flickr photos, Facebook profiles, etc. Talk about what’s hot on Digg and Technorati. It’s simply a matter of ending the fiction that the only voices out there are professional ones.

I had a post about MyFoxToldeo.com up a while back. Now Variety reports that Fox is planning on spreading that format to 160 markets. The local Fox TV affiliates will be handing over management of their local sites to Fox Interactive Media.

Steve Boriss of The Future of News writes:

Increasingly, it appears that [Rupert Murdoch] sees a day when all news outlets have converged onto the Internet, and we will all log onto www.MyFox[YourCityHere].com to receive ALL the general news we get today — national news, international news, financial news, metro area news, human interest stories, crime/sex/violence news, entertainment news, local sports, local weather — ALL of it. Replacing EVERYTHING — metro newspapers, national newspapers, TV networks, local broadcast TV, cable TV. One-stop shopping for all news except the emerging hyperlocal news and news of family and friends (whoops — scratch that — News Corp already owns MySpace).

As Variety notes however, Sinclair Broadcasting hasn’t signed on to the deal yet. Sinclair owns Columbus’s Fox affiliate (and the ABC affiliate too). But I note that myfoxcolumbus.com, myfoxcleveland.com, and myfoxcincinnati.com are all registered by the corporate web management company MarkMonitor.com.

Bill Sloat on newspaper websites:

Harvard University has studied news site traffic on the Web and the findings are grim for most of the nation’s big city newspapers, which appear to be attracting fewer visitors this year than last. They are losing audience share to blogs, aggregators, major national news sites such as the Wall Street Journal, Google and Yahoo. Local TV Websites also have rising trendlines. The report is by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. It is called Creative Destruction, and it is must read because it covers the entire spread of Web-based news sources.

Here’s that report.

I have no idea where the Dispatch might fit into this. As far as I can tell, they don’t publish their numbers. But I’d be surprised if they were any different from the national averages. Here’s more at Reflections of a Newsosaur:

“The overall traffic level…hides important differences within the newspaper sector,” says the study. While the leading newspapers have been gaining traffic, “the websites of most other newspapers — whether in large, medium-sized, or small cities —have lost audience and their sites on average have substantially fewer visitors now than a year ago.”

Traffic fell in most mid-size markets in the period from April, 2006, to April, 2007, according to the study. “The sites of small-city dailies also are not growing,” said Thomas E. Patterson, the author of the study. “Although two of the nine [small-city] sites we sampled had a traffic increase of 20% or more from the previous April, five sites suffered a decline, including one that lost 20% of its web audience.”

I’ve mentioned before how the Dispatch website is broken. I have the impression that the thing is held together by scotch tape- not even duct tape! They can’t even get their new podcast into a feed so people can subscribe with iTunes or some other aggregator.

This is not generic slam at the MSM. As I’ve also said before, no one else can do what the Dispatch does. But that site needs to be rethought from the ground up.

2010 Buckeye at Buckeye State Blog has responded to Patrick Poole’s “Anatomy of a cover-up on Abukar Arman”

I won’t bore you with all the “Big Details” and “Damning Charges” lobbed by these wingnuts. The short version – they claim a committee oversees homeland security funding in Franklin County, but it doesn’t. They say a guy on the committee is a terrorist sympathizer, but he isn’t. They variously claim the Mayor and any number of Democrats appointed said guy, but they didn’t.

Their coordinated hit piece on the Franklin County Commission and Mayor Mike Coleman’s staff was all about the non-cover-up of this non-issue.

Let’s go through this point by point:

I won’t bore you with all the “Big Details” and “Damning Charges” lobbed by these wingnuts.

The blind denial. Fine, don’t bore anyone. How about a link? Maybe having BSB readers see the post for themselves is too much of a risk.

The short version – they claim a committee oversees homeland security funding in Franklin County, but it doesn’t.

This is a piece of either misinformation or disinformation put out by Hanna Greer, the Public Information Director for Franklin County. From her email to WTVN’s Dirk Thompson:

The Criminal Justice Planning Board does not oversee homeland security for Franklin County. Those functions belong to police and fire, the Sheriff’s office and the FBI. Any information about homeland security presented to the Board is also available publicly.

Dirk Thompson and Patrick Poole have already debunked these claims. From the Board’s own document dated December 2006, and still available at the Franklin County website (pdf):

The Board is responsible for comprehensive countywide planning and directing the mission of the Office of Homeland Security & Justice Programs. The Franklin County Office of Homeland Security & Justice Programs performs the fiscal and programmatic administration of the county’s federal justice block grants and the Urban Area Security Initiative, provides training and technical assistance for the justice partners and first responders, and is responsible for the development and evaluation of projects and programs operating in accordance with the Franklin County Comprehensive Strategic Justice Plan and the Homeland Security Strategy….

The Homeland Security Strategy is a sensitive document protected under the Homeland Security Act and is referred to in general terms herein.

Was Greer lying or just wrong? I have no idea.

They say a guy on the committee is a terrorist sympathizer, but he isn’t.

That’s the question. Please read Arman’s blog post “HAMAS Victory is a Victory for Democracy and Peace!” It makes a good case. But the Dispatch and Franklin County refuse to acknowledge that such writing even exists. Poole has more examples here.

They variously claim the Mayor and any number of Democrats appointed said guy, but they didn’t.

From the county website:

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners have appointed Abukar Arman, of Hilliard, to serve as a community representative on the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board for a term ending in January 2006….

The Franklin County Justice Planning Board provides oversight for criminal and juvenile justice programs funded through Franklin County. Franklin County Commissioners Mary Jo Kilroy, Dewey Stokes and Paula Brooks appoint all of the board’s 23 members.

I’m not aware of anyone claiming that Mayor Coleman appointed him. He was appointed to the Board by the the Franklin County Commissioners. Kilroy and Brooks are Democrats, Stokes is a Republican. So it’s not “any number” of Democrats- it’s two, with one Republican.

(David Hickman claims that 2010 Buckeye works for Mary Jo Kilroy’s congressional campaign. I don’t know if that’s true. It would explain 2010’s post somewhat.)

Their coordinated hit piece on the Franklin County Commission and Mayor Mike Coleman’s staff was all about the non-cover-up of this non-issue.

Then why all the concern in the emails between Greer and Michael Coleman spokesman Michael S. Brown? Brown didn’t write, “So what’s the problem? Send them the information.” It was a coordinated campaign of bait and switch and stonewalling. The investigation Paula Brooks wanted never happened- the Dispatch was given a “short, clear statement… on status of individual,” without an investigation. And the County delayed their release of records to Poole and Thompson, favoring “Barb” at the Dispatch instead. Barbara Carmen did a he said she said piece and established nothing.

Also weighing in are BizzyBlog and NixGuy. BizzyBlog writes:

It looks like the Columbus Dispatch has been duped — and used — by Franklin County’s (mis)Information Director, who should be shown the door.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a blatant example of a government entity deliberately feeding information to an Old Media outlet for the express purpose of minimizing the impact of an impending New Media report…. and the Old Media outlet in question appears to have swallowed it whole.

For many in politics, that’s part of the MSM’s appeal, unfortunately. They’re much less likely to make waves than crazy, unhinged bloggers are- what with their agendas and all.

(Previous post: “A proactive media strategy of not responding”)

Islam vs. Islamists: Voices From the Muslim Center, the program PBS pulled because it was to conservative or offensive to Muslims or what have you will air on WOSU channel 34 on Monday, August 27 at 11pm. The network is still rejecting it, but several PBS stations including WOSU have picked it up individually.

Bad review from Jerid Kurtz on the Dispatch’s podcast, which I wrote about earlier.

I listened to it and it’s not nearly as bad as Jerid says. It could definitely stand some improvement: a little more animation from the talkers, and some opinion instead of “neutral” analysis. But hey, it’s their first outing and it’s a solid job. I’m sure they’ll tinker with it in the future.

The Dispatch should be encouraged to create and use new forms and to experiment, and so I am.

UPDATE: The second podcast is up, this time on David Brennan, PACs, and charter schools, which I wrote about here.

Alright Blake Lewis and Chris Richardson fans. Here is your moment. (Warning: ears may become damaged.)

Wow, those girls can squeal! And I need just one more “Oh my God!”

That was from the American Idol tour Columbus performance on Saturday at the Schott.

(OK, I’m an American Idol fan. I held out for 5 long years, then watched last season and was instantly hooked. I know this will get me de-linked at donewaiting.com.) Here’s the videographer’s post.

From the Dispatch:

Columbus police officers took sides last night with the man they’ve opposed most of this year, giving their union’s sought-after endorsement to Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

“We at the union have had our issues with the mayor,” Fraternal Order of Police President Jim Gilbert said of ongoing disputes over staffing and equipment. “We’re willing to extend our hand to work with him.”

Members simply decided that Coleman was the strongest candidate, he said. Coleman, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican lawyer William M. Todd.

Todd didn’t have a good chance with the FOP’s endorsement. He’s got less of a chance now. Though I wonder how much of an effect these things actually have.

This is via Blue Bexley, who also notes that the Dispatch has a new “podcast” sans “cast”- which I guess means that they just have a pod. That is to say, you can’t subscribe to it. The Dispatch has been having some difficulties with their feeds.

Anyway, it’s here.

Did Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp make up his Iraq stories for The New Republic or for The National Review? Stephen Glass worked for The National Review it seems:

To casual news consumers, the duel between two magazines may seem like much ado — or, perhaps, more of the same ol’ same ol’. Thanks to such people as The New York Times‘ Jayson Blair (forced to resign) and The National Review’s Stephen Glass (fired), fabrications are no longer considered unusual.

Thank the lord for editors.

The original story in the Orlando Sentinel referred to The New Republic as TNR through most of the story. I guess someone at the Dispatch got a tad confused with the search and replace.

By the way, I just caught Shattered Glass via Netflix. Definitely worth a rental. Anakin was very good in it.

There’s happiness over at the Ohio GOP blog over this Joe Hallet editiorial in the Dispatch:

But behaviorally, the new Democratic bums are beginning to look like the old Republican bums, who corrupted themselves right out of office. Driven by power and the devotion to keep it, Democrats appear to be open for business on Capitol Square….

As Democrats gain more power, it may be only a matter of time before they corrupt themselves out of office.

Also, there’s something in there about a balance of Dems and Reps producing good policy.

Bill Sloat on Chiquita’s payoffs to a terrorist group in Colombia and the failure of Ohio media to cover the Cincinnati-based company:

Ohio’s newspapers seem to have been stricken with sleeping sickness. Or maybe they have lost consciousness. Or maybe they just don’t give a damn. What else could explain how the Los Angeles Times dug up a story about a $4.5 billion Oho corporation that seems to have been treated leniently by the Bush Administration in a case involving pay-offs to terrorists.

Big Fruit of course has a long and sordid history in Latin America. The fickle nature of the Ohio news media in what they choose to cover and what they choose to ignore has come up before.