LO Tabloid Mixing Facts With Opinions

[Steve Hoffert]

Fact:

the Lakewood Observer is a citizen based tabloid that allows the use of unvetted sources to create news where there is none.

... .

Oops, that fact was an OPINION.

Your comment diminishes and insults the hard work of many of the most involved people in this community. Though there are varied opinions, this should be a place where one can voice them without being told that there opinion doesn't matter. I don't agree with everyone but I like the civil discourse that the LO provides.

The LO is by far the best source collaborative community based news and opinion for the City of Lakewood.

Thanks to all those who research, write, submit articles and photos and work behind the scenes for this paper. Your work is appreciated.

[dl meckes]

Suzanne's articles have also been appreciated and printed.

[Richard Cole]

Thanks to all those who research, write, submit articles and photos and work behind the scenes for this paper. Your work is appreciated.

Totally agree - I don't agree with everything that gets printed/posted, but the work and effort of everyone involved in the LO is greatly appreciated.

[Suzanne Metelko]

Fact:

the Lakewood Observer is a citizen based tabloid that allows the use of unvetted sources to create news where there is none.

... .

Oops, that fact was an OPINION.

Your comment diminishes and insults the hard work of many of the most involved people in this community. Though there are varied opinions, this should be a place where one can voice them without being told that there opinion doesn't matter. I don't agree with everyone but I like the civil discourse that the LO provides.

The LO is by far the best source collaborative community based news and opinion for the City of Lakewood.

Thanks to all those who research, write, submit articles and photos and work behind the scenes for this paper. Your work is appreciated.

Steve, that's an interesting observation (no pun intended). Exactly what was opinion? DL is right. I've written for the LO. No one has ever fact checked for me. Jim has "warned" me that I can't write something he doesn't consider "building the brand" but I don't know of any legitimate editorial board or policy associated with the items printed by the LO.

So, what was opinion?

By acknowledging the truth, I don't believe that it dimishes the product - now THAT's my opinion. I think the LO does a big diservice to it's readers by not disclosing that the items printed are opinion pieces and have not had any journalistic vetting. And THAT'S my opinion too. But the FACT remains:

"the Lakewood Observer is a citizen based tabloid that allows the use of unvetted sources to create news where there is none"

Suzanne

[Jim O'Bryan]

Suzanne

The fact is and it has never been hidden.

It that the Lakewood Observer is a community based volunteer effort that is always looking for volunteers to help make the paper better.

But I really have to point out that you have never been to a meeting so to say that nothing is vetted is just opinion that is WRONG.

We practice the same principles and even better than Wikipedia, any Yahoo or Google group and other sources in Lakewood and Cleveland. This is one reason the Lakewood Observer is considered the gold standard of civic journalism. A phrase we coined and now used worldwide.

While you complain that I report crime and then don't report crime, I will put my crime post next to anyone. Ask Jeff, we have a running story on how wrong the TV Stations, and print media are, compared to facts.

The Observer is constantly highlight on the radio, for having better facts than other media sources, and breaking stories hours and days before other media sources.

Are their problems, sure, but you have been invited more than once to help cure them. And you have, your recent call to The Gay People's chronicle on our behalf to get papers delivered for the primaries was much appreciated, after all that is what the paper is about. Residents working together to report, vet and understand Lakewood and it's news.

But my God girl, you are all over the place on this one. You complain about not reporting then reporting. My sources for the original post are about as good as you can get on this topic. Everything reported by me, was 100% true and factual. At the same time I have sat through so many meeting shearing about the "cool system" the schools have to inform parents, but in 16 hours was never used. Again this seemed a little more serious than snow days. Parents were NEVER given an option of taking kids in or dropping them off. Not until they were there, and parents called back. some of the reports and calls I got were parents leaving work to go get their kids.

Justine Cooper was not the only one that heard rumors, I just checked and got 47 calls about this from parents and teachers. But I was wrong reporting this.

Now to the "opinion" aspect. Since day one we knew we could not get everything, but by using real names had legal binding laws for slander, libel, etc. We also have the latest technology used by Google and Wikipedia, "Self Centering Posts." when someone sees something wrong we publish their comments and allow them online. Even when it is a baseless attack like yours.

As always look forward to the next positive thing we can work on together, until then let's rock.

peace

[Steve Hoffert]

Steve, that's an interesting observation (no pun intended). Exactly what was opinion? DL is right. I've written for the LO. No one has ever fact checked for me. Jim has "warned" me that I can't write something he doesn't consider "building the brand" but I don't know of any legitimate editorial board or policy associated with the items printed by the LO.

So, what was opinion?

By acknowledging the truth, I don't believe that it dimishes the product - now THAT's my opinion. I think the LO does a big diservice to it's readers by not disclosing that the items printed are opinion pieces and have not had any journalistic vetting. And THAT'S my opinion too. But the FACT remains:

"the Lakewood Observer is a citizen based tabloid that allows the use of unvetted sources to create news where there is none"

Suzanne

If your definition of tabloid is a smaller sized paper than your statement could be considered fact. I suggest that you use the word tabloid in the derogatory sense thus making your statement opinion.

As far as what O'Bryan has said to you or you to him it's hearsay and none of my concern.

The line between fact and opinion has been muddied by the way talking heads actually think they know the difference between reporting the news and analyzing it. All newspapers are spin. Facts are mixed with opinion in almost everything and it's the readers responsibility to recognize this.

Particularly troubling to me is who's truth are you recognizing? Your own? Let's face it, there is no truth, not here, not in government or religion not anywhere. It's all opinion twisted by each of our own experiences and regurgitated in a form that suits us best.

The best we can hope for is civil discourse with the knowledge that we each spin "the truth" to suit our own nefarious plans.

If one can't see this in themselves than how can they recognize this in others?

[J Hrlec]

Fact:

...that allows the use of unvetted sources to create news where there is none.

... .

Which media source does not? Does anyone actually believe there is a source with 100% integrity... the LO like anything else in this world is news and a place to bring discussion to the forefront. I for one think what they do is commendable.

[Corey Rossen]

Elvis just e-mailed me that he and Bigfoot plan to become members at the new Gold's Gym. This should be interesting now that Elvis in a new father to Britney Spear's three-headed, alien baby. The topic will definately pale in comparison during the "locker room" talk between Darth Vadar and newly appointed Ambassador of Funk, Pee Wee Herman, because I'm sure they have a lot to talk about. Hopefully they won't run into Jerry Garcia during the Friday evening jam sessions--that would just be weird.

But you already know all of this if you read the Observer?

Corey

[chris richards]

Jim has "warned" me that I can't write something he doesn't consider "building the brand" but I don't know of any legitimate editorial board or policy associated with the items printed by the LO.

This is something that I've been trying to figure out...

What is the Lakewood Brand?

Who developed the concept of the Lakewood Brand?

And to comment on the above quote, a newspaper that is "building the brand" of a city is most certainly a biased publication. You can pull the "citizen journalism" line all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that spinning news creates op ed pieces that can emphasize speculation and thus neglect facts.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Which media source does not? Does anyone actually believe there is a source with 100% integrity... the LO like anything else in this world is news and a place to bring discussion to the forefront. I for one think what they do is commendable.

JH

One big difference is we have never claimed that we are above the rest. However with the latest crimes, some local info, and items from the past we have come to enjoy how much our network has done to break news, share news, and vet the stories, quickly.

To what affect? Sun Papers have been polling people asking why they like the Observer, and why do they like our website? One reason might be,WE LIVE HERE. and WE GIVE IT ALL BACK TO THE CITY.

Which is one of the reasons, nearly every city in the county and beyond have come to us to help them. Recently some people came in from Phoenix, we found out they have been reading the Observer online for two years, and now we are looking in that market.

What I am always amused at, is that the Sun attacks us, then tries so hard to copy us. Instead of thinking there might be room for both, they try to kill Lakewood's Community owned paper! WE really have not gone after the classified market as we see that as Sun's strong point, but they repeatedly come after us and our advertisers.

On the flip side we have a great working relationship with CoolCleveland, The FreeTimes, The Scene, and many of the TV and Radio Stations that turn to us to check their stories.

In the end we do the best we can, and we hope that is enough.

If it is not, than let us know or help us do better.

JH - Thanks again.

.

[Lynn Farris]

I have written a few articles that have gone through fairly intensive reviews.

I remember having legal reviews and being visited by various editors from the Observer checking and double checking my sources. This was after I was following up on a parking problem in Lakewood. This story wasn't pretty - but it was true.

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/news/c ... y-lawsuits

I followed it up with some ways to protect yourself with auto repair companies.

[Jim O'Bryan]

No one has ever fact checked for me.

LIE

Jim has "warned" me that I can't write something he doesn't consider "building the brand"

LIE

but I don't know of any legitimate editorial board or policy associated with the items printed by the LO.

LIE, and how would you know, you have NEVER been to ANY meeting. Even the one where we handed out our 10 page guide to content dos and don'ts. Dealing with politics, and businesses, and little else. It was put together by Bill Davis 6 months before the first paper. Did not see you at any of those meetings either.


.

[sharon kinsella]

The LIE thing - doesn't there seem to be a whole lot of that going around this election season?

Guess it crosses the party lines (except I honestly think there are some who are not who they say they are - as in republicans who say they are dems).

Susan and Ryan are also very good at stomping their feet and venting - hmm - another thing that once again crosses party lines.

JOB - we all know what is behind what metelko says, we all know what's behind what ryan says and a lot of us know what's behind what fitzgerald (call me fitz just like a kennedy - not) says.

They can give it up - no one cares what they say.

JOB don't even listen to it. I get pm'd with so much bull the cows come runnning!

[Kenneth Warren]

Love him or hate him, Jim O’Bryan proved to be the only person in Lakewood crazy enough, hard working enough and with heart enough to assume financial and legal responsibility for a distinctive, flawed and mysterious hyper-local peer publishing experiment in community organization.

From my perspective on community organization, I have never believed it possible for LO to function as “realâ€Â￾ newspaper. Because I have posted many times over the years my take on the project, I hesitate to rehash the material here.

But as the swordplay continues to demonstrate against the mission (The mission of the Lakewood Observer is to attract, articulate, and amplify civic intelligence and community good will in the city of Lakewood and beyond), the LO is a cutting edge experiment that may fail its transformational intent.

Rather than journalistic certainty the LO yields mystery. Rather than professional objectivity the LO cultivates grassroots subjectivity, inviting every Lakewood neighbor to self-organize narratives and contents not yet known in order to help the city know itself better than any other and thereby enter into the Guinness World Book of Records.

What does anyone know from the collaboration, contest and confusion generated thus far?

To chafe at O’Bryan’s clues and cues rather than construct the news with whatever measure of journalistic accuracy you and your peer group can self-organize and contribute to the project thereby diminishing the mystery of the unknown is to miss the point of your own responsibility to act on what you believe to be of service to community organization.

Out of the community quilt of cues and clues comes a psychological sense of the city’s soulful news.

The LO is a platform of real name peer participation that allows us to assess civic personalities for agendas, claims, interests, initiatives, opinions, priorities and visions and from there to authenticate a range of community perceptions as valid or not.

Back in April 2005, Stephen Calhoun made the following assessment of the LO’s organizational challenge with respect to the city:

â€Â￾Organizations are webs of self-interest; effective organizations manage self-interests to common ends. Organizational charts show how the bucks travel back and forth through the group; be those bucks money or commands and feedback.

Otherwise, the point of organizing intentionally is to realize a system for the mediation of self-interest for the purpose of collective action and mutually beneficial ends.

At the functional level, the result is persons' agreement to perform a function that contributes to this common end. Optimally, persons contribute what they are best at doing, and, in doing so, they understand how their function fits into the picture. They have to get something worthwhile in return.

There is a shadow, underside, to all this. People are self-aware to some lesser or greater extent. Their awareness constitutes a form of self-interest too. In a crucial sense, any organizational ecology, regardless of explicit structure, will also implement (often unintentionally,) a vast hidden structure to protect individual (or, in orgs of a certain scale,) 'departmental' interests, identities, territories, etc.

This lands organizations these days into the muck of psychology and behavior. The difference is that expert organizers understand that the buck stops at psychology. This makes organizing more complicated and it makes it much more human; more soulful.â€Â￾

I think Dr. Calhoun’s assessment remains quite relevant to the challenges and issues raised here.

Kenneth Warren

[Jim O'Bryan]

Susan and Ryan are also very good at stomping their feet and venting - hmm - another thing that once again crosses party lines.

JOB don't even listen to it...

Sharon


Not to go bi-polar on you, but...

Suzanne has done some amazing things for this city, as have her brother and father. The Shaw/Metelko family is one of the great names in Lakewood. While I do not always agree with her, I do admire the the fact that she brings it. Her father among other things found Ken Warren. Imagine this city without Ken! Dave is working wonders with LCPI. It was my pleasure to stand with them when attacked on personal levels.

What pains me about this is Suzanne was one of the first people to sign on. The Observer, was formed in the aftermath of the Civil War before this political civil war. One reason was, that we needed to heal the city. If you look at the first members page, these are the power figures from both sides. The reasoning I used and still believe, "If we put 100 issues on the table, most of us will agree about 70 of them. Let's work on those 70 then we can argue the rest." All agreed.

As of a couple weeks ago Suzanne was working to get the paper to every home. I have no idea why or what has tripped this switch. No matter, Suzanne and I have done this dance many times before, and will again.

People that know me understand, call or attack me, I could care less, but do not attack the volunteers, writers, editors, advisory board, members or anyone. I cannot sit still for that. I knew what I was getting into. Why attack a member of the city that is volunteering in an effort to make the city better? That is what I find upsetting. And I do listen to every complaint, problem, difficulty, whatever. Kudos are passed along to the troops.

Ryan, heck I am an old hippie, I can find good in all. Ryan has done some nice things for this town. His work on the skatepark, the parks, and of course the Special Resolution to all members of the Lakewood Observer for the good service, making the city safer, and providing needed information to Lakewood.

But as the swordplay continues to demonstrate against the mission (The mission of the Lakewood Observer is to attract, articulate, and amplify civic intelligence and community good will in the city of Lakewood and beyond), the LO is a cutting edge experiment that may fail its transformational intent.

Ken

Thanks for the reminder, I needed to read this.

Puck, is missed.


Gary Rice

Fade in Kumbayah. We will wonder and wait to see if it is a solo? a duet? a round? or a chorus.

peace