Writing is not science… Most of us who write, simply wanted to see something interesting everyday and write a story about it… The trick is to inject enough of someone else’s world into the story, so the readers feel a part of that world. The Dispatch’s staff never learned that lesson…
A perfect example was today’s Dallas Lauderdale profile (sports page)… Evidently, Lauderdale’s mother has multiple sclerosis and Dallas had to sacrifice a lot while maturing… The concept looked as though a box of Kleenex would be required… The actual reading, required Red Bull to get me through it… The story was bland, laced with feeble quotes, and more about basketball than sacrifice… If this kid had it tough, make us believe he had it tough…
Equally frustrating was the story concerning Steve Mason’s All-Star snub, which was buried on page five and the story about city officials rescheduling or quickening activities on game days, which was buried on the metro’s page three… Mason’s story showcases why this is not and never will be good for professional sports… Here is one of the best young goalies in the league and his own paper doesn’t think he’s front page material, because they might have to bury a Buckeyes story… The story on city officials was well written and entertaining… Unfortunately, it was page one material and three days late… (They should have run it and not that cheesy, O-H-I-O story on Sunday)…
The weekender special section did have an excellent profile on OSU’s “Thurber Dogs” project… (It was charming) and the metro section’s story on Derrick Foster pleading guilty (metro front), gave me more information than any of the networks… but still, this was a day where the journalists forgot their job was journalism…
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
INVITE: Lush Events Presents the Back to School Bash
Special Announcement: Gossip Cbus is co-sponsoring this event. Our logo will be on all the inside television screens and we will twitter live from the party.Commencement: 10:00
Venue: Sugar Bar (525 Park Street)
Age Range: Male (21 and over); Female (19 and over)
Free Absinthe & Prizes
Complimentary well drinks 11 pm –Midnight
Drinks (Available All Night)
$2 Bombs
$1 Wells
Where The Money At?
Cops and firefights should receive overtime…but, dispatchers and sewer workers? When the next murder occurs, we should remember those cops who were cut because the city was broke…
10 TV: City workers were paid $28.4 million in overtime, up 8 percent from 2007 and more than 30 percent from three years earlier… Firefighters and police made much of the overtime, but hundreds of other city employees made more than $20,000 in overtime alone…
Among the big winners was a dispatcher who has a base salary of $49,000 who made $78,000 in overtime. A man who works at the sewage treatment plant saw his $49,000 salary reach triple digits, with an extra $90,000 in overtime.
A top city finance officer said that the city often has to pay the overtime because of personnel shortage or special circumstances. There was extra pay in 2008 because of the leap year and September's wind storm required overtime for the cleanup.
10 TV: City workers were paid $28.4 million in overtime, up 8 percent from 2007 and more than 30 percent from three years earlier… Firefighters and police made much of the overtime, but hundreds of other city employees made more than $20,000 in overtime alone…
Among the big winners was a dispatcher who has a base salary of $49,000 who made $78,000 in overtime. A man who works at the sewage treatment plant saw his $49,000 salary reach triple digits, with an extra $90,000 in overtime.
A top city finance officer said that the city often has to pay the overtime because of personnel shortage or special circumstances. There was extra pay in 2008 because of the leap year and September's wind storm required overtime for the cleanup.
Quick Read
Call Wednesday the “so what” edition of the Dispatch… The paper’s articles, none of which were memorable, only to served to restate the obvious, and by the end of every one, my question was the same… So what? (Pink would be proud of this edition)…
Elizabeth Miller’s “Signs of Bygone Times” was well written, but the story lacked the nostalgic warmth I would expect with that kind of retrospective… Sherri Williams’ “Another Sign of the Recession: Charities Feel the Pinch of Holidays” was dreadful and so what? That story has bone done by every cable news and local news outlet at least twice in the last month (Miller’s and Williams’ stories were both Metro front)…
Kevin Joy’s story on mass text messages (Life & Arts) was insipid… People send out mass messages via their electronic devices and they aren’t personalized… so what? This is 2009… Also, the Emma Watson spread on the front page of the section should have been buried inside (so what… she is older, actresses do age)…
Bob Hunter and Tim May logged lethargic columns for the third straight day… Hunter’s (sports front) eulogy for Todd Boeckman (so what, he’s an also ran quarterback) was laughable and May’s story on how Ohio State was burnt by the blitz made me scream so what… Why write it two days after the game?
The pathetic edition’s worst story was Ken Gordon’s “Terelle Pryor doesn’t believe in moral victories” effort… That premise lasted about four paragraphs until Gordon himself apparently realized the concept was bull and then the column debilitated into a string of mindless quotes and even more mindless half thoughts…
Elizabeth Miller’s “Signs of Bygone Times” was well written, but the story lacked the nostalgic warmth I would expect with that kind of retrospective… Sherri Williams’ “Another Sign of the Recession: Charities Feel the Pinch of Holidays” was dreadful and so what? That story has bone done by every cable news and local news outlet at least twice in the last month (Miller’s and Williams’ stories were both Metro front)…
Kevin Joy’s story on mass text messages (Life & Arts) was insipid… People send out mass messages via their electronic devices and they aren’t personalized… so what? This is 2009… Also, the Emma Watson spread on the front page of the section should have been buried inside (so what… she is older, actresses do age)…
Bob Hunter and Tim May logged lethargic columns for the third straight day… Hunter’s (sports front) eulogy for Todd Boeckman (so what, he’s an also ran quarterback) was laughable and May’s story on how Ohio State was burnt by the blitz made me scream so what… Why write it two days after the game?
The pathetic edition’s worst story was Ken Gordon’s “Terelle Pryor doesn’t believe in moral victories” effort… That premise lasted about four paragraphs until Gordon himself apparently realized the concept was bull and then the column debilitated into a string of mindless quotes and even more mindless half thoughts…
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Columbus Bar Jackets & Kourtney Kardashian
As promised, Frog Bear and Wild Boar and Lodge Bar major event announcements… (These will rerun twice, separately in the coming days… still, you may want to mark you calendar)…
Frog, Bear, & Wild Boar (January 14): Columbus Blue Jackets’ Jared Boll, Mike Commodore, and Mark Methot will guest bartend (7-8 p.m.). Budweiser Aluminum Bottle (16 ounce) specials…
Lodge Bar (January 24): Kourtney Kardashian appearance. $3 Soco & Lime shots.
Frog, Bear, & Wild Boar (January 14): Columbus Blue Jackets’ Jared Boll, Mike Commodore, and Mark Methot will guest bartend (7-8 p.m.). Budweiser Aluminum Bottle (16 ounce) specials…
Lodge Bar (January 24): Kourtney Kardashian appearance. $3 Soco & Lime shots.
Spartans Spank Buckeyes
My Saturday questions have been answered… We were obviously not as good as our start and we were overachieving (anyone dispute that with three losses in four games?)…
Michigan State made five 3-pointers in less than 3 minutes, making up for what was otherwise a lackluster performance. Kalin Lucas scored six of his 20 points on 3-pointers during the first-half barrage that gave the Spartans the lead for a good in a 67-58 win over Ohio State on Tuesday night.
Michigan State has won eight straight since being routed by North Carolina and 26 in a row at home, dating to a loss against Ohio State nearly two years ago… Ohio State's William Buford scored 17, B.J. Mullens had 16 points and Turner added 14. The Buckeyes (10-3, 1-2) have lost three of four after starting 9-0, hurting without their most experienced player, David Lighty, who is out with a broken foot.
Michigan State made five 3-pointers in less than 3 minutes, making up for what was otherwise a lackluster performance. Kalin Lucas scored six of his 20 points on 3-pointers during the first-half barrage that gave the Spartans the lead for a good in a 67-58 win over Ohio State on Tuesday night.
Michigan State has won eight straight since being routed by North Carolina and 26 in a row at home, dating to a loss against Ohio State nearly two years ago… Ohio State's William Buford scored 17, B.J. Mullens had 16 points and Turner added 14. The Buckeyes (10-3, 1-2) have lost three of four after starting 9-0, hurting without their most experienced player, David Lighty, who is out with a broken foot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
