CityBeat News Editor Kevin Osborne No Longer Working for Alt Weekly

Based on this week's masthead and his Facebook Page, Kevin Osborne is no longer working for CityBeat. A request for comment on the reasons for Kevin leaving the paper from CityBeat has yet to be answered.

The long running Porkopolis news/political column, authored by Osborne, was missing from this week's edition of the newspaper. In its place is apparently "The Alternative" written by TT Stern-Enzi. The article implies that this is a reborn column or project for Stern-Enzi and I can only surmise that this is the replacement for Porkopolis.

CityBeat was sold back in March to SouthComm of Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier this year significant staffing changes where made at the paper, including a new Managing editor.

I will update this story if new information arises.

Where's the News?

Sorry of the lack of blogging over the last week.  I've not been inspired to write much.  Is it the lack of news happening or my lack of finding anything interesting to say about the news that is going on?  I am approaching my 10 year blogging anniversary.  Yes, 10 years.  The fire has been burning low.  My taste for politics has not been what it once was.  I can throw a rhetorical bomb, but it doesn't have the same meaning or value it once had.

I was thinking of ways to celebrate my 10 years of blogging about Cincinnati.  I wanted to go through the past and find the posts I am most proud of or brought me the most infamy. Some of it is so long ago and the meanings are so far in the past that except for the few long time readers, it would not make much sense.

This is a big election year and I should normally be gearing up to write about it, but it is a national election.  The local races, with few exceptions, are not competitive.  The county races will be interesting, but so much of what happens in November will depend on the Presidential race.  This will, in my opinion, be a coat-tail election year.  That makes it a little difficult to write about.

I will try.  The frequency of posts may not change much, but I hope to make up for it in quality.  I also hope to make sure people know about more things going on around town.  Any attention I can give to events and groups, the better.

Delusions of Grandeur Continue to Flow From Smitherman Like a River

Today's article from the Enquirer's Jane Prendergast on Cincinnati Council Member Chris Smitherman was an interest read. I say that because my blog (and myself) were quoted and I represented the face of Criticism of Smitherman. I take that as a compliment. I try to give voice to issues and topics that don't get lots of press. Criticism of Chris Smitherman does not get much media attention. I am glad it got some today.

The other more entertaining portion of the article comes from a direct quote from Smitherman himself:

“I will become the mayor one day,” he says, though he won’t run in 2013 when Mallory leaves.

I don't know what planet Smitherman is living on, but it appears to be akin more of an alternative-reality than anything resembling the actual Earth, where the rest of us reside. Smitherman at best has a niche voter base that he segments more each time he opens his mouth in public. Unless he plans a cultural revolution to drive out everyone in the City who disagrees with him, then I don't see him winning an election for Mayor against nearly any other remotely credible candidate.

Those of us in the political opinion world would love to see him run someday, just to watch him lose in the primary. How a man who wants nothing more than the destruction of the urban core could think he could be mayor is beyond my comprehension. I guess that's why I can't see it as anything other than a delusion of grandeur. One thing I don't doubt about Smitherman: he has a high opinion of himself. That doesn't translate to anything unless you can make stuff happen. The only stuff he can make happen is gettting in the newspaper by making outlandish comments. Negative press attention in the end might earn you a day old bag of doughnuts, but little else.

Wendell Young Sums Up Smitherman's 'Meeting'

Cincinnati City Council Member Wendell Young summed up the problem with fellow Council Member Chris Smitherman's special council meeting held last night. From the Enquirer Article:

“It is wonderful that we care,” he said, but it’s wrong to imply that this is the first time council and others have been interested in this topic.

Additionally in the Enquirer Blog post about the meeting, Young's comments were described as this:

People were deluded, he said, into thinking they would hear something new tonight.

This meeting was nothing but a show. It was a stunt to gain attention and make people believe that Smitherman and Winburn are doing something for black people. It was also a political tactic. The most brilliant aspect was to use the "black on black crime" terminology in the media. This gives Winburn something to appeal to the conservative, mostly White voters, that Republicans rely on for votes. Both Winburn and Smitherman have built narrowly defined voting blocks. Winburn's has more of a Coalition than Smitherman, so he needs to appeal to multiple angles of this issue.

No matter what, they got their media attention (yes including me). That gives them a slight boost to their reelection efforts. Each have to continue to walk the tight-rope of appealing to both Republicans and the Black Community.  Neither one will ever be able to totally rely on Republican votes alone, so they must play this game and it is sickening.

Quimbob over at Blogging Isn't Cool has more on the 'Meeting.'

Bunbury Music Festival Announces Set Times and Stages

The Bunbury Music Festival has announced the set times and stages for the three day event in July.

The five stages to cover the Sawyer Point & Yeatman's cove area are listed as:
Yeatman's Lawn
Serpentine Wall
L&N Bridge
Sawyer Lawn
Acoustic
Amphitheater

2012 Second Sunday Schedule Announced

The Second Sundays on Main Street Festival returns this year and the dates and themes have been announced:

June 10th: Main St. Menagerie
July 8th: Music on Main
August 12th: Growth & Wellness
September 9th: Dance on Main
October 14th: Harvest Fest

For a detailed events schedule, check back here in the coming couple of months..

WLWT Has a Slide Show of People Arrested and Not Yet Convicted

WLWT has a slideshow on its website which is titled See Who Got Arrested - Photos: This consists of a slideshow, like you might see on the Enquirer's Metromix, with a caption listing the crime for which they were arrested. They've only been arrested, not convicted, and they have their pictures up. Most of the crimes are more serious crimes (murder, rape, assault) and a large number I've seen covered previously in the Enquirer with the same arrest photo.

I don't like this photo montage. I don't like it because it's tone is tabloid. It is like a raw dump of crime thrown on the floor for a rabid pack of viewers to consume. There's nothing unethical or knowingly false about what they reported, just how they are reporting it. If the television station wants to write a story about each person's alleged crime, many of which they have, then fine. Just throwing up a photo and adding a sentence below is not journalism and does a dis-service to the public.

What also is very disappointing is that this slideshow made editorial choices not based on a reasonable requirements of content, structure or relevance, but instead on marketing. This a group of people who got arrestest and that WLWT wanted to show in hopes of gaining a wider set of viewers looking for pictures to look at, not because they want to consume news. It is not even a full list of everyone arrested. The only definition listed of the group is this:

"WLWT.com posts some notable mugshots from across the Tri-State. An arrest does not mean anyone has been convicted of a crime."

Notable in this instance I believe means tawdry or what ever will get more eyeballs. Yes, I'm helping get more eyeballs, however I will suggest to WLWT that if they are going to do a police blotter style story, do it right or just don't do it. We don't need the pictures. Yes, pictures get you more web hits, but it is not journalism, it is exploitation.