LO Tabloid Mixing Facts With Opinions

[Gary Rice]

Personal to Ken:

Many doors in our neighborhoods, you say?

Too many durn doors!

Too many of 'em closed, too.

[Corey Rossen]

Say what you will about Jim, and I know you all will, but he and the Observer have done for the community is respectable.

He and the Observer helped my wife and I out a few years ago with the launching of our charity, Jordan's Family Foundation. The Observer published articles my wife has written and helped us with free add space announcing fundraising events. Our charity focusing on Congenital Heart Disease is off to a great start, with immense support from the community, due in part to the generousity and community atmosphere of the Observer.

Tabloid? Doubt it.
Community? Definately.

Corey

[Adam Jusko]

Many a time reading these boards I've thought that Jim O'Bryan comes across as a blowhard with an overinflated sense of self importance.

That said, I give him tremendous amounts of credit. His pride in the Observer is justified. It's a pretty cool paper to have around for a city of our size, even if it has its share of crackpot opinion pieces masquerading as journalism. (In fact, I think it would be a little worse without the crackpot pieces.) And with the amount of work it must take versus what I'm guessing is the return on investment---you have to love a city to work so hard on a project like this.

It often takes a big ego to make something big happen, and the Observer's a big thing. I don't think anyone could deny that they have a better sense of what's happening in this city due to the Observer, even if the paper sometimes leaves you rolling your eyes. (And, BTW, these crazy discussion boards are the best!) The Sun Post may be "real" journalism, but it's not good journalism, and it's incredibly boring.

I should add that I'm aware of many times in my life that I've come across as a blowhard with an overinflated sense of self importance. In fact, this post may be one of those times.

[Shannon Hoffman]

I am new to the LO, but cannot tell you enough how valuable I find the observation deck. I go to it first for Lakewood news time and time again.
However, I feel that it is important to to point out that anytime anything even mildly controversial gets discussed, it seems to end up being a battle between the same people over the same issues whether they are related to the original topic or not. I feel that issues can and should be discussed, but that it should be done in a way that doesn't involve constantly referring to the posters personally. This gets very old very quickly and certainly diminishes many of the positive aspects of the LO.
My husband is a cavs fan and felt like the local forums regarding the team never were able to truly discuss the sport because so many posters resorted to personal attacks rather than constructively discussing posts that were simply people expressing their opinions for the sheer pleasure of talking about something they enjoy. So, he started a forum called Sane Cav's talk, where personal attacks on other posters are prohibited.

I guess I am saying that I would love for some of the personal attacks to settle down, sort of a "sane Lakewood observer". I think everyone here has such wonderful insight to contribute, why resort to fighting for every one's honor instead of civilly discussing things.
I say this out of respect for the gift that this forum is to our city.

[Kenneth Warren]

Adam:

Splendid post!

You accurately capture the man and the measure, blowing hard in word and deed, not so much for the sake of objective facts or reporting the news but in pursuit his feeling for story-telling. His heroic efforts to blow hard bring to my mind that inflated old time epic sense of “Homophrosyne.â€Â￾

By blowing hard, he aims to bring the city together through “a thinking and knowledge that is shared between two or more people.â€Â￾

If to qualify Jim O’Bryan’s efforts each of us could blow half as hard with an ancient sense of "man and home and all the good of homophrosyne," as Homer suggests in the Odyssey, our pursuit of living together and sharing a common truth about the LO's heroic local effort in neighborhood story-telling and community poetics might feel better and evoke less resentment.

As a large personality, Jim O’Bryan’s can be vexing. He reminds me of that poet/newspaper man Walt Whitman, who wrote in Song of Myself: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.â€Â￾

He has invited us to set sail together on a stormy sea of love for our city.

Again Whitman, this time from “Passage to India:â€Â￾

Sail forthâ€â€￾steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

Thanks again Adam for catching the drift of a project that, for me at least, is more poetry than journalism.

Kenneth Warren

[chris richards]

[sharon kinsella]

Chris -

I think your criticism of Jim needs a rethink.


First, I have never seen or heard him say that he is a journalist. Jim is an organizer, events planner and a promotion expert. It does take a strong personality to do those things. Not many people have the self-confidence to do these tasks and do them well, which in my experience with him he does an excellent job.

His rendering of the story was to relate what the calls were saying that came directly to him. He also worked hard to try and get the facts. He never said "This is exactly what happened". Did you see that he got over 40 calls? Do you understand what it does to some of use when we see something bad happen in our town?

Yellow journalism in no way categorizes what Jim does. Many people take pot shots at him. When he ticks me off, I tell him. I don't accuse him of doing things on purpose to hurt me or this city.

Once again, I find myself defending Jim and honestly, I haven't known him very long. What I do know is what I see. I see a creative, outspoken and passionate man, trying to bring about a renaissance of our wonderful town that has all sorts of potential.

[Dee Martinez]

This issue has been raised before.
When the Observer wants to compare itself favorably to the Plain Dealer or Sun, to the community and especially advertisers, it calls itself "Lakewood's only NEWSPAPER"
When it is called upon to ACT like a newspaper, it shift gears, backs away, and says it is an "experiment," a "community project," or something along those lines.

At some point, the LO must decide what it wants to be when it grows up.
In the meantime, I might suggest the criticism of the LO might be less harsh if it held its own fire against other local voices.

[chris richards]

Chris -

I think your criticism of Jim needs a rethink.


First, I have never seen or heard him say that he is a journalist. Jim is an organizer, events planner and a promotion expert. It does take a strong personality to do those things. Not many people have the self-confidence to do these tasks and do them well, which in my experience with him he does an excellent job.

His rendering of the story was to relate what the calls were saying that came directly to him. He also worked hard to try and get the facts. He never said "This is exactly what happened". Did you see that he got over 40 calls? Do you understand what it does to some of use when we see something bad happen in our town?

Yellow journalism in no way categorizes what Jim does. Many people take pot shots at him. When he ticks me off, I tell him. I don't accuse him of doing things on purpose to hurt me or this city.

Once again, I find myself defending Jim and honestly, I haven't known him very long. What I do know is what I see. I see a creative, outspoken and passionate man, trying to bring about a renaissance of our wonderful town that has all sorts of potential.

Just by publishing a newspaper, and news stories, it puts him in the position of a journalist, whether he calls himself one or not. It is not just this story that my critizism was directed, but the paper as a whole as Ken Warren stated he feels is more poetry than journalism.

I understand that people work hard on it, and I am glad that it is there for people to contribute to and read, I am just concerned that it can easily be used for purposes other than good intentions. When emphaisis is on the way the story is told, and not the facts, it turns into something that is not a news story. I would just like to see a bit more of objective reporting, and a little less obvious personality from a source that calls itself "Lakewood's only newspaper."

[David Lay]

I understand that people work hard on it, and I am glad that it is there for people to contribute to and read, I am just concerned that it can easily be used for purposes other than good intentions.

That's why there are 2 editors, and an advisory board.

[chris richards]

That's why there are 2 editors, and an advisory board.

While that may be, it does not stop the publication of stories that "build the Lakewood brand." A newspaper that has a goal of building a brand for a city is yellow journalism. It lets stories slanted for that purpose be published and is no longer a credible source of news, but rather marketing materials and propaganda.

I am still waiting for my earlier questions about the "Lakewood Brand" to be answered.

[Stephen Eisel]

Jim is a passionate pioneer. This experiment called The LO is working out quite well for the citizens of Lakewood as well as for the city of Lakewood. The open forum at the LO creates a great check and balance system for all of Lakewood including the politicians, citizens, students, cat dogs and etc. Jim is allowed to have his opinions and agendas. He is not an evil person. I rarely agree with Jim but view him as a man of great character. The LO is a cutting edge experiment that should be copied nation wide.

[Gary Rice]

For those of us involved in one way or another with the Observer Project, a sublime difficulty is that we wear multiple hats. We may have favorite candidates, political viewpoints, religious thoughts, or whatever.

That should be an understood OK.

I won't try to speak for Jim, but I believe that as a private citizen, he feels that he has as much right to contribute his opinions to the 'Deck as does anyone else. What he might forget at times, is that his leadership position can be perceived as being very powerful indeed, and I think that's why some may go after his opinions, more so, than those of others.

That's why, when I was a public school teacher, I tried to stay neutral in public elections, because I knew that I had more influence than others. In private life, on the other hand, I expressed my views, but it was all a question of balance, I suppose.

I think Jim might be hurt from time to time, because he just wants to opine like everyone else, and he does not realize how powerfully taken his utterances are.

For that matter, to his credit, I have not seen Jim's choice of candidates explicitly revealed on the 'Deck.

All of us figuratively wear multiple hats and have more or less "power", (whatever THAT means)

So let's hear it for the free expression of opinion, no matter by whom.

Now where were we?

Kumbayah.

[chris richards]

Jim is a passionate pioneer. This experiment called The LO is working out quite well for the citizens of Lakewood as well as for the city of Lakewood. The open forum at the LO creates a great check and balance system for all of Lakewood including the politicians, citizens, students, cat dogs and etc. Jim is allowed to have his opinions and agendas. He is not an evil person. I rarely agree with Jim but view him as a man of great character. The LO is a cutting edge experiment that should be copied nation wide.

Ok, so this is an experiment, not a newspaper? So then it should cease to be called a newspaper...

I never said that Jim was evil, and I never said that he is not allowed his opinions and agendas. I am saying that his or anyone's agendas and opinions should not be presented in "news stories" published in something that is called a "newspaper." Now, if they presented them as op/ed pieces, that is different.

[David Lay]

The LO is a cutting edge experiment that should be copied nation wide.

It is. Many major news outlets (CNN, Reuters, etc) are running citizen journalism projects. CNN's iReport is a good example.

Personally, I would trust the LO to report Lakewood news better than the Sun Post, a paper that doesn't have a presence in the city.

Which would you rather trust for Lakewood news: a paper run and written by Lakewood residents, or an outside paper run and written by people from North Olmsted and Maple Heights?

As for the 'yellow journalism' remark: many news outlets turned to the LO for their information in the Philip Distasio case. Same goes for the Fry, Coutant and Granger standoffs.

Yellow Journalism? Hardly.