The Observation Deck

A new owner has apparently purchased both the Scene and Free Times and will merge them under the "Scene" name.

This is very sad....the Free Times was much better, and we need all the media we can get.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008 ... _into.html

We do need all the media we can get.

It is a shame about the name.

The most important detail to note, though, is as the pee dee said: Free Times publisher Matt Fabyan will be the publisher of the new paper.

The company that owned scene since buying it in 1998 is leaving the market. That is the same chain that colluded with another alternative weekly newspaper chain to close the Free Times in 2002, and which subsequently merged with their competitor chain to form a very big alt-weekly chain with something like 16 papers across the country, most of which looked the same.

It's confusing to readers not to have the Free Times name. It's a loss to have one less paper in town, and certainly a loss to anyone who loses their job, but I am enthusiastic about the future of the paper.

michael gill wrote:We do need all the media we can get.

Michael


My offer still stands.

Or, let's start the TIMES are FREE

I think we can find the staff pretty quickly.


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What a shame....but I guess it demonstrates how the age-old accepted business model for a newspaper, even an alternative newspaper, just won't survive under today's conditions. Massive layoffs at the PD....making the sister Sunpapers a once weekly insert.....

It would be so cool if someone could develop a simple, user friendly software package...one that would allow even a single person to edit, layout and print...maybe even remotely, like from a blackberry! I'll bet you could put out a free, open source, community newspaper that would be a break even proposition....I'll bet that you could even do it on a "for profit" basis, and probably make a living. If you could link it with a community discussion board....maybe a merchant online shopping service?

I wonder where you could find something like that?

Jeff

It would be so cool if someone could develop a simple, user friendly software package...one that would allow even a single person--a high school graduate or whatever-- to to search laws, build cases, and go to trial . . . . maybe even remotely, like from a blackberry! I'll bet you could handle all your legal needs for free with this open source, community law program that would be a break even proposition....I'll bet that if you learned to use the software, you could even do it on a "for profit" basis, and probably make a living. If you could link it with a community discussion board....maybe a merchant online shopping service . . . maybe people could even argue cases and buy their own gavels and briefcases online.

I wonder where you could find something like that?

Michael

Lots of that stuff out there... forms, research, pretty much anything a do it yourselfer could want!
But, like a lot of specialized areas, medicine, plumbing, electrician...sometimes it's a whole lot cheaper to have it done right the first time. Like Lincoln said, " an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client", or the corollary, "a client who represents himself has a fool for an attorney". More expensive to fix the pipe once the basement is flooded.....more expensive to fix the estate plan once you've died.

But we stray from the discussion. I meant no disrespect to those trained journalists whose livlehood is on the line as standard business model papers find tough economic times. But, I do wonder if there is someone out there who will fill this obvious void with the loss of the Free Times. I think it could be done, and I think if someone thinks beyond the bounds of current newspapers, publishing models and thinking, it can be done successfully. There is certainly a vibrant market seeking information. How do we satisfy that market and can it be done in a manner that is economically feasible?

Jeff

michael gill wrote:I wonder where you could find something like that?

A.G.S. Software, where else?



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It's not straying from the discussion.

This is the point:

Lots of that stuff out there... forms, research, pretty much anything a do it yourselfer could want!
But, like a lot of specialized areas, medicine, plumbing, electrician...sometimes it's a whole lot cheaper to have it done right the first time. Like Lincoln said, " an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client", or the corollary, "a client who represents himself has a fool for an attorney". More expensive to fix the pipe once the basement is flooded.....more expensive to fix the estate plan once you've died.

yeah...
I see your point.

And of course, you are correct.

Jeff

Citizen journalism is a magnificent thing, of course, Jeff. But there is a big difference when you pay a room full of reporters full time. Reporters don't always live up to the promise, and neither do lawyers. But there's a big difference, and I know you and most of the people who read this board know that.

The jobs at risk isn't the issue, as much as that will matter to some individuals. The quality and quantity of information is the issue. I don't mean to be talking only about one weekly paper in Cleveland. As the number of professional reporters continues to decline, it will be the community and the democracy that are the biggest losers. Sofware can't fix that.

michael gill wrote:The jobs at risk isn't the issue, as much as that will matter to some individuals. The quality and quantity of information is the issue. I don't mean to be talking only about one weekly paper in Cleveland. As the number of professional reporters continues to decline, it will be the community and the democracy that are the biggest losers. Sofware can't fix that.

Michael


I was trying to be still.

You know, I respect you more than any other reporter in this town however that is simply no longer true.

This country is where it is at in part because of the compete failure of the media to report on Congress, The War, Economy, Education, and on and on and on. The "media" can longer even afford to give a bad review of a local sports team for fear of losing their passes and job. We confess or bias and prejudice, the pros try to hide it.

My friend you are one of the exceptions.

I would also like to remind you that the Observer staff, the Heights staff, Westlake have a very, very good core group/staff. Many are retired journalists, students of journalism, professors of journalism, lawyers, writers, etc.


FWIW


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the metal vending cabinets of Free Times are right next to the Scene Cabinets. That is a lot of scrap metal.

why stop at restarting something like an alternative weekly paper. why not do an entire magazine? Something like Reader's Digest, only with a more agnostic bent. It could have inspirational story headlines like, "I didn't ask God for anything, and I got it!"

Jim O'Bryan wrote: This country is where it is at in part because of the compete failure of the media to report on Congress, The War, Economy, Education, and on and on and on. The "media" can longer even afford to give a bad review of a local sports team for fear of losing their passes and job. We confess or bias and prejudice, the pros try to hide it.

Let's not pretend that this is the first time the media has failed the country, just because it happens to be occuring in our lifetimes. I think the professional media can recover, if real reporters are able to focus on analysis. Minute to minute news is lost to citizen "journalism," but real analysis is always sorely in need and few are doing properly anymore.

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Let's not pretend that this is the first time the media has failed the country, just because it happens to be occuring in our lifetimes. I think the professional media can recover, if real reporters are able to focus on analysis. Minute to minute news is lost to citizen "journalism," but real analysis is always sorely in need and few are doing properly anymore.

Paul

While I understand what you are saying, and agree to a certain point. I also find it mildly offensive to those that take part, including Michael Gill who has written for the LO.

Are journalists not citizens? Are they not a glut of unemployed and retired writers and journalists? Because they have retired are they less a journalist, writer, or?

Every big story, scoop and new worthy iteem has come to us from citizens. At the same time we have seen the "gate keepers" fail miserably at the gates. This year I have witnessed 3 BIG stories killed because they did not fit the needs of the media. At the same time I have seen them cause many of the problems we have. War, Crack, Meth, Guns, how to build bombs on the internet, are they warning us or promoting for future stories?

5 companies own a majority of media in one way or another.

The Fourth Estate has failed at the only thing they were supposed to do. Watch and report on the 1,2,3 estates. Now it is time for the Ninth Estate, as we all watch each other.

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Jim --

Sorry, did not mean to offend. I'll put it this way.. this board is a great way to find out that something happened, and, while topics sometimes circle the block a few times before the full truth comes out, it provides a good service for minute to minute/day to day happenings. Call it citizen journalism or whatever you like, it's working.

Very occasionally someone's view hits a nerve and I feel the need to challenge it, but for the most part I just want to know what happened/what's happening and when. That used to be the function of newspapers, but that's long gone.

I think the other thing that's true about the crappy coverage of events in recent years is that all this has happened even as the news media revolution has been occurring. It's not like the media outlets were flush, had it all figured out and were just looking for stories to cover. Thousands of reporters were/are being put out, ad revenues were/are plummeting ... it's not an excuse, but it was probably a factor.

I love LO. Rock on ....

Paul