On The Ball With The Latest News (Cleveland, Cincinnati: apartment, crime)

[CarpathianPeasant]

Now, don't misunderstand me here....

At approximately 4:15 p.m. today, while I was looking at something important like the latest online game offered having checked my "regular" sites, MSN News pitched out that little red bar that comes out in the upper right corner of the screen announcing "breaking news." There was a bomb threat at the Atlanta airport.

The reason I'm posting this is because thereafter I checked two local important television stations for which I keep a favorites bar link to get the local news. One is really important because if a certain place is closed due to something like a weather emergency that will affect my daily life and an announcement is supposed to be there. Neither station had a word posted about said event (that I saw and granted they are primarily doing local there). Meanwhile....

The first thing I looked at in this "session" at the computer (sometime before 4:15 p.m.) was none other than the Dayton Daily News and the first story was said bomb story. Apart from the fact that the headquarters for the DDN (and a couple of other things) happen to be in Atlanta, this is not a local angle story. It is also not the first time I found something there before seeing it in some place I should see it (and mostly likely first).

I am not here to "sell" the DDN. I can think of plenty to discredit it, but for some unexplained reason they do often post an important story before anything else I frequent. That includes the Associated Press main site, the world largest and most comprehensive news gathering organization (which had not posted said story as of 4:55 p.m. although the BBC had it time dated 16:47 ET with references to other sources about 15 minutes earlier, the earliest and closest to my after-the-fact 4:15 p.m. being USA Today).

I do not know where all or how the DDN gets it's information (sometimes possibly other Cox sources), but I do know it is often online with stuff before others. I thought I would mention this in case anyone is looking for an extra up to the minute news source. They somewhat cover parts of Greater Cincinnati.

Amen.

[SWOH]

That is a good point CP! I've noticed the same when researching business stories. Cox Media seems to be a well-run and well-organized group (knock on wood, let's hope it continues).

They have very good coverage of Butler/Warren counties too. But then again I don't normally read or check the Enquirer, etc. as a basis for comparison.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by SWOH

That is a good point CP! I've noticed the same when researching business stories. Cox Media seems to be a well-run and well-organized group (knock on wood, let's hope it continues).

They have very good coverage of Butler/Warren counties too. But then again I don't normally read or check the Enquirer, etc. as a basis for comparison.

I just have a couple of questions.

Since the DDL distribution has no economic reason to be involved in Cincinnati News, why should they? Or is there an economic reason? With Cincinnati being so much larger than Dayton, does Cox desire advertisers in Cincy?

Living in Mason, I gave up my Cincy Enquirer home delivery many years ago. Why maintain it if I don't read it?

Nest thing I gave up was my online subscription to Cincinnati Enquirer services. Again, why do I want it if is is not relative to where I live?

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Nest thing I gave up was my online subscription to Cincinnati Enquirer services. Again, why do I want it if is is not relative to where I live?

Tip: All you have to do to access the Enquirer online is to clear your browser history when you run out of free stories.

[h Steve]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

Tip: All you have to do to access the Enquirer online is to clear your browser history when you run out of free stories.

Good to know Wilson513, thanks. Now if I could just get my wife to give up her 'Sunday' Enquirer delivery..

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by h Steve

Good to know Wilson513, thanks. Now if I could just get my wife to give up her 'Sunday' Enquirer delivery..

The Sunday paper still serves as a valuable source of puppy litter training supplies and bird cage liners.

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I just have a couple of questions.

Since the DDL distribution has no economic reason to be involved in Cincinnati News, why should they? Or is there an economic reason? With Cincinnati being so much larger than Dayton, does Cox desire advertisers in Cincy?

Living in Mason, I gave up my Cincy Enquirer home delivery many years ago. Why maintain it if I don't read it?

Nest thing I gave up was my online subscription to Cincinnati Enquirer services. Again, why do I want it if is is not relative to where I live?

Mr. Brill,

I don't know for sure how to tell you this as you should be well aware of it, but the newspaper of the Butler County, Ohio, City of Hamilton (and Middletown), the Journal-News, is Cox Media. Cox covers Butler county no doubt with an eye to what is in Cincinnati. They not only publish stuff there in that Journal-News, they do it in the DDN as well.

Personally speaking, I have a couple of interests in Dayton so I look at the DDN online offerings, and I get particularly annoyed when I have to pick through (especially) crime news in some place like West Chester (not to mention much about Xenia and Springfield) to find what I want to know about in Dayton -- they frequently don't put the locations in the headlines. One has to fish through the story to find out where it/is was.

You are looking for an economic interest? They sell newspapers in Hamilton and nearby, i.e., Butler County. And, if any company in Cincinnati and especially the northern parts of Hamilton County, wants business from Butler County (and maybe even Dayton) common sense says to advertise with Cox, which in turn may even report about where they are.

　

Mr. Wilson,

I appreciate your loyalty to Cincinnati. That's not the point.


Mr. Steve,

I have an apartment in a 150+ unit old folks' home senior citizens retirement community near the riverbank in Northern Kentucky. Some of the people subscribe to the Kentucky Enquirer. Sometimes the carriers leave free extra copies around, so I do at times take a (rare) look at Enquirer stuff. It's not that bad. Apart from value as a "hard copy" of what's published useful for legal purposes, the magazine aspects and advertising can make a local newspaper worthwhile depending on the needs and interests of a family or individual.

PS: For those who don't know, Hamilton, Ohio, is the county seat for Butler County.

[kjbrill]

CarpathianPeasant

A few years ago I thoroughly enjoyed an online forum operated by the Cincinnati Enquirer. It operated similar to City-Data with sub-forums covering many of the outlying residential districts of Cincinnati. I was a very active member of the sub-forum covering southern Warren Co. and over into southeastern Butler Co.

It was full of a variety of interests for the residents living there including opinions on political elections and candidates, proposals for new subdivisions and construction, existing businesses or problems, etc. The majority of the participants were local residents commenting on local subjects. It contained the ability to create subject threads and post comments and responses. If some 4th winger chimed in the locals would politely say bug off you have little experience or knowledge to participate here, sort of self-policing. Each sub-forum had an Enquirer staffer charged with monitoring the content and removing out-of-bounds material. Due to my active participation I was invited to participate in breakfast discussions with the Enquirer staffer and others over the forum I participated in the most, the purpose of which was to identify ways to broaden the coverage.

Suddenly the Enquirer announced it was dropping support of all of these sub-forums, and wham-bang they were gone. I don't remember the specific circumstances, but do remember it was prior to the fee subscription service for their main online site. Money had to obviously be an issue.

I do put some time into reviewing the Pulse Journal online site specific to Mason. Actually it is multiple sites covering areas such as Mason, Liberty Twp, etc. you can switch between. I do find information specific to where I live there. What I find extremely weak is the lack of any bi-directional commentary or feedback from others.

If City-Data were to request a fee to participate in the current structure, I would consider it. The ability to participate in a bi-directional dialogue of subjects in my interest has a value to me.

Some of the large national news organizations support comments on their published material. But I find them virtually worthless. Two problems (1) the number of responses are rapidly overwhelming, and (2) there is no way to filter the responses to something you are interested in.

To me, if City-Data were to consider such an endeavor, it must include:
1) You sign up as a member in a given region, say Greater Cincinnati.
2) You are capable of viewing comments from any region, but only responding to ones for the region you are enrolled. A guest number of comments may be in order.
3) In the region you are enrolled, you can continue to comment on any subject as currently.

Hope City-Data can survive without a subscription fee, but can understand if not.

[Yac]

There are no plans to change our business model, no subscription fee will appear on c-d.
Yac.

[CarpathianPeasant]

I guess I can put a postscript on here....

Mr. Brill,

The Pulse-Journal (Today's Pulse) is likewise Cox Media (Copyright ©2009 Cox Ohio Publishing, Dayton, Ohio, USA. All rights reserved). It says so at the bottom of the page.

THEREFORE, what is true for Butler County is likewise true for Warren County at least to an extent, a principle difference being that only the dinky little corner of Warren County where Mason is abuts Hamilton County, while the length of the southern Butler County line abuts about 80% of the northern Hamilton County line.

Cox publishes stuff about Cincinnati's suburbs and even Cincinnati itself, IN Dayton. And, my reference was _not_ to immediacy with local news (although that's likely to be there, too) but national news.

FYI: The Cincinnati Enquirer was _once_ highly noted not because it is in Cincinnati but because it was employee owned. If you want to talk "big" Cincinnati media, try Scripps-Howard Welcome | The E.W. Scripps Company (and, thank Cleveland).

Now, I'm sorry the Enquirer isn't buying you breakfast any longer, but in case you don't know it, moderating a message board, especially one with a lot of random input, as near as I can tell, is more than a full-time job for a couple of people. While it's good to stay in contact with one's customers and potential customers, it's not surprising a local message board would be scrapped as anything but cost efficient and not because of any serious competition from either the likes of Cox or from a strictly local enterprise such as the River City News in Northern Kentucky (based in Covington).

All I said was Cox was first and if anyone is in a hurry, they might look there as well as where they usually look.

End of discussion as far as I am concerned.