Musings on my "hometown" newspaper

I don't know if everyone has these issues, but they sure piss me off. I live in a medium-sized city in the midwest (Ohio, near Cincinnati). My city is the county seat. Our local newspaper used to be just that - news about our city. I know that things change and in order to stay relelvant they had to start covering other cities & areas in our county. But they are now owned by a newspaper based in Dayton Ohio and have been for several years. There is nothing wrong with Dayton, but honestly, at least 60% of the ads my "hometown" paper features are for businesses in and around Dayton. Dayton isn't THAT far from my town, but if I need anything, be it a cell phone or furniture or pretty much anything else I am pretty sure it can be found a heck of a lot closer than Dayton.

And of course I know that a newspaper is a business and the goal of any business is to make money. But for the love of Pete, every time you turn around they are pushing some sort of special section ostensibly to "honor" or "recognize" some special group or another, such as "Baby's First Christmas", memorials at various holidays (Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc) in addition to the standard and time-honored HS senior baby/grad pics and Valentine's Day messages. And of course they aren't free. It has gotten to the point that it costs upwards of $20 for a 2" x 2" box so everyone will know you love your ferret or cheerleader or whatever.

Then there are the typos. Good Lord the typos! I guess they are in vogue now, what with several coming recently in the form of press releases from the White House ( http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/07/09/more-spelling-errors-plague-obama-releases/ ) I guess it's just expecting too much of people who write for a living to assure their work is error free BEFORE they post/print it. The editor addressed this a couple years ago basically blaming it on the "fast pace of the news industry today". So I'm wondering, how long does it take to press the "spell check" or "grammar check" button on one's computer? Answer - less than a second. So I have come to the conclusion that either A) They are incapable of performing this simple task to proof their work or B) they simply don't give a crap. I honestly don't know which answer is worse. And I'm talking about basic usage mistakes, such as "their" instead of "there", things most of us learned before 3rd grade.

I no longer take home delivery of this paper for these very reasons. The proverbial "straw thst broke the camel's back" came this morning when I checked out the paper's website (I figured spotting the typos is free on the 'net). They had a link to some photos from the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie. I clicked on it, thinking that since my daughter & a friend went to it I might see a picture of them. Instead, all of the photos were taken at a theater which is located in the "snooty" part of the county. You know, the one where our local Congressman resides (I won't tell you his name, but he is the one who is so tan he looks like he is covered in "rich Corinthian leather". I'm sure you'll figure it out). This area is the fastest growing in our county, mostly due to the fact that it is located adjacent to a major interstate highway, not due to being better in any other sense. But many of this area's residents seem to think they are better than others in our county. More proof of this comes in the form of the n ames of their school disctrict's 2 high schools - they are L_____ East & L_____ West, when in actuality they are geographically situated on a nearly perfect north/south axis. I was told by someone in the know that they rejected using North & South for the school names due to the "negative" connotation attached to them (ie the Civil War). Honestly I think the only minorites there are the housekeepers & gardeners for the McMansions, so why are they worried?

But I digress, the fact that they couldn't be bothered to go to more than one theater to take pictures just rubbed me the wrong way. So I took keyboard in hand and wrote a letter to the editor as well as to the photographer who took the pictures. Here, verbatim, is my letter. I have altered some of the names.


I just wanted to let you know that the R___ Theater in W___ C______ was not the only one with a midnight showing of the Harry Potter film. There was quite a large crowd at the K_____ theater on Main Street in H______ as well, with several people in character, so I was excited when I clicked on the link to the photos on your website this morning. I was hoping to maybe see a picture of my daughter & her friend. I guess it was silly of me to think that the "H______" Journal-News might actually cover something happening in H______. I know the fancy folks in W___ C_____ are better than us plain old "H_____ Hillbillies" (or at least they think they are). I guess you couldn't get a photographer to willingly venture into icky old H_____ after dark. Who knows what terrible fate would await them - an ugly hooker or some other unsavory character might approach them. But it would be nice if the paper would actually cover something of H_____ other than the negative stories. There is a lot more to H______ than pit bull attacks and prostitution stings. Of course that mostly happens on the East Side close to your offices so I guess it's easier to cover those stories. God forbid you cross the bridge.

I know I am not the only one who is frustrated by this. This is one of the reasons I no longer have a subscription. That and the apparent inability of many of your reporters to use simple, easily available tools like spell check and grammar check before they post/print their articles. Maybe it's good old fashioned laziness, or they think all H_____ians are a bunch of dumb hicks and we won't notice. Whatever the reason I think it is pretty pitiful that a newspaper puts out such a shoddy product and doesn't seem to care. Indeed, in the past it has been blamed on the "fast pace of the news industry today". Honestly, how long does it take to press the "spell check" or "grammar check" button on a computer? But I notice that when you win an award, which seems to happen about once a month or so, there is always a prominent self-congratulatory article (and those never seem to have typos). If they are given out that often how prestigious can they be? Maybe it's an offshoot of the "we don't keep score and everyone gets a trophy" mentality we have in society today. I hope you don't dislocate your shoulders patting yourselves on the back.

At any rate, I figured I can play "spot the typo" and marvel at how the reporter has no clue where anything in Hamilton actually is becuase they are based in Dayton for free on the internet. Also, I realize you are owned by the Dayton Daily News (and coincidentally the downhill turn in quality started about the time that happened) but I think I speak for many H______ians when I say that all the ads for Dayton businesses are pretty annoying. If I need a cell phone I am most assuredly NOT going to travel all the way to Dayton to buy one, or anything else for that matter.

I am just curious, but does J____ M_____ have compromising photos of someone important at the J-N offices? Why else would you feature him as a "guest columnist" so often? If you actually enjoy reading his liberal Democratic party talking point drivel you are most definitely in the minority. And if I wanted to read NYT columnists I would read those online as well, but honestly, my time would be better spent watching paint dry or grass grow. It's always amusing how people if this ilk are always nattering on and on about free speech, but at the first sign of a diessenting opinion they either shout them down or resort to elementary school playground level insults. It's wishful thinking at this point to expect that you would present an equal amount of voices on both sides of the political spectrum.

I'm sure this e-mail will go straight into the delete file (or is it the more eco-friendly "recycle bin"?) on your computer. I'd be surprised if you have actually read it this far before deleting it. I don't realistically expect a reply or to actually have it printed. I just wanted to express my opinion and my frustrations, which are shared by many. At least I can still do that. This week anyway.

So that is my letter. Not terribly eloquent, I know, but I was frustrated. I got a return e-mail from the photographer which simply said "Thanks for reading". Smart Ass. I don't expect to hear anything from the editor and I sure don't expect it to be printed, but at least I expressed an opinion.

You're probably thinking that if this is all I have to worry about I am in good shape, and you'd be right. This is exactly why I can spend time pissing & moaning about this stuff. Someone needs to. Or maybe I just like bitching abut stuff. You'd be right about that too. But again, someone needs to do it. I'm just saving you the trouble. You're welcome.