Cincinnati Post Editor's Closing Memo: No Booze In The Newsroom, Take Up To Six Papers

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Cincinnati Post finishes its 126-year run forever on Dec. 31, when the afternoon daily publishes its final edition. Editor Mike Philipps sent the following memo to the E.W. Scripps Co. newspaper's staff outlining what happens during the hours of the concluding press run. When they leave, each staffer can take six free copies of the last Post -- at 50 cents each, it's a $3 going away present.

To: Colleagues
From: Mike
Subject: Last day

Here's what I know about how things are going to work on December 31, our last day:

• There will be a normal production schedule and normal deadlines for the Metro and Kentucky editions on December 31. Final button-push on Kentucky will be at 9:25 a.m.
• Since we will not publish a January 1 edition, there will be no night shift on December 31. Department heads will schedule night staffers for a dayside shift, allowing, of course, nine hours between shifts.
• The newsroom will be closed to all except current members of The Post staff until at least 9:30 a,m. on Monday December 31. We don't need a lot of tourists hanging around will we are trying to finish the last editions.
• I have declined all requests by other media for access to the newsroom in the days leading up to December 31. I have not decided whether we should permit media in the newsroom as we push the button on the last edition. I would welcome your thoughts on that.
• John Vissman will arrange for food, beverages and treats for all as we get the last editions out, clean out our desks and say good-bye. But . . . tempting as it may be . . . please do not bring any alcoholic beverages into the newsroom. Let's go out like the professionals we have been these last, difficult weeks.
• We have arranged for plenty of extra papers to be delivered to the newsroom that day. There should be enough for a total of six copies per person.
• Once we have closed the Kentucky edition, Dave Hites and John Vissman will begin processing your paperwork: We will collect keys and door cards. We will collect any company-owned equipment, cell phones, camera equipment, lap tops etc. and provide a receipt for the equipment. You will need to turn in your final expense reports. Those who still have credit cards will need to turn them in and reconcile the statements we will download for USBank. We will accept your signed separation agreements.
• There will be no access to the newsroom after December 31. You will need to take all personal effects with you when you leave on that day. Anything left after you leave will go into the dumpster on January 2.
• Your Post e-mail account will not be available after December 31.
• I am trying to arrange for you to have access to The Post story archive for at least six months in 2008 to help you prepare resumes and provide writing samples to potential employers. Please stay tuned for details on that.
• If you are not normally scheduled for work on Monday, December 31, or will not be in the newsroom for some other reason, please contact your department head about your keys, expense account, credit card, company property, etc.
• Dave Hites, Bob White and I will remain on the premises in January and will be available to answer questions or deal with problems at least through the end of the month. Use these numbers to contact us during normal working hours [Ed. Note: I deleted the phone numbers.]
• This final reminder. If you intend to sign your "Separation Agreement and General Release," do not sign it before December 31. If you are not normally scheduled to work on Monday, December 31, you may sign it on or after that date and send it or deliver it to Dave Hites. Please do that as soon as you can so we can make certain that your medical and other benefits are in order. Although we intend to be in this office every working day until at least January 11, if you can deliver it in person, please call Dave or me in advance to make certain we are here.

So that is the script for the day a newspaper dies. No booze. Turn in the cell phones. Your e-mail accounts at the office are turned off. And you can take six copies of the paper with you before the doors are locked forever.

Cincinnati Post On Its Deathbed: Still Kicking Enquirer's Keister

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Society of Professional Journalists chapter based in Cincinnati just held its annual awards banquet to celebrate outstanding work by reporters and editors over the past year. And the Cincinnati Post, an E.W. Scripps afternoon daily that is scheduled to close its doors forever in December, clobbered its crosstown morning rival. The Post won 52 awards, including 16 firsts. The epitaph can read: Kicked the Enquirer's ass till the day we died.

Gannett Co. Inc.'s Cincinnati Enquirer managed to win just 31 awards. In other words, the Post is flat on its back, barely with a pulse, poised for certain doom. Yet, its death rattle is still a voice judged superior to that of the Enquirer, a larger paper with a stodgy reputation. The Enquirer's product may not be the best in the marketplace. But it does own the better time slot with AM delivery, a huge advantage. Afternoon newspapers such as the Post are nearly extinct in North America.

Here is the Post's list of winners And here is the Enquirer's list of winners. True to their rivalry, neither newspaper saw fit to mention the other's prize-winning work.

One final note: Powel Crosley Jr. and his brother, Lewis, were inducted into the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame. The brothers started WLW-AM and largely invented broadcast journalism in 1922 when the station covered a fire on the Ohio riverfront and scooped the newspapers. That event instantly demonstrated both the potential and power of the new medium. The brothers were also pioneers in broadcasting baseball and did live play-by-play of the Reds. They gave the Voice of America its start during World War II.

The Crosley brothers are long gone from this world, but they might have noticed that the journalists who gathered in Cincinnati to hand out kudos paid no heed to the pioneering that is being done on the Internet via blogs, a form that is equally innovative and fresh as broadcasting in the 1920s. Rusty McClure, a descendant of the Crosley's who spoke at the banquet, said they "saw a change happening" and dived in as innovators.

"Radio journalism didn't exist back then. So they just made it up."

Few, if any, of the journalists in the room listening seem to have much interest in the new form. They don't appear willing to bring it to life, to attend and aid the birthing process, to just make it happen.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Clobbered Again, Playing Catch-Up On Another Scoop

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Both the Cincinnati Post and The Daily Bellwether reported Aug. 4 that the steamboat Delta Queen's parent company planned to end the sternwheeler's overnight cruises on the nation's inland waterways. Big news in an Ohio River town, especially since the Queen displays the word "Cincinnati" on its stern -- meaning the Queen City is considered the vessel's home port.

Now some two weeks after the news broke. the morning metro daily has noticed this story and put it on Page 1-A today. Again, the Cincinnati Enquirer was two weeks late in reporting the fate of the Delta Queen. Some would say that particular vessel personifies the Queen City's reputation as a river port and community. Some would say that particular newspaper personifies a sinking journalistic ship. Some would say that would be correct in both instances.

Ohio Newspapers: Another Is Born As The Cincy Post Prepares To Croak

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Defying conventional wisdom about the prospects of the publishing industry, a new newspaper has begun publishing in Ohio.

The Norwood Times started up less than a week after the Cincinnati Post's parent, media giant E.W. Scripps Co., said it would close the afternoon metro daily on Dec. 31. Scripps is headquartered in Cincinnati, where the $2.5 billion a year company started life as a 19th century entrepreneurial enterprise. But it has apparently lost the genes that gave it a flair for risk-taking and publishing. It says that it would be unwise to switch the Post from print entirely to the Internet, which would be a bold move, a digital age experiment that could completely unleash conventional journalism from its conventional way of doing business.

Citizens for a Better Norwood, which is based in the small Cincinnati suburb that is landlocked and surrounded by the Queen City, has gotten a copy of the new independent newspaper and reports:

"This is a 12-page publication full of ads, both large and small, placed by mostly local businesses. Many have discount coupons. Sadly, one ad announces the owners of Bogle Jewelers are retiring and selling all merchandise at 25% off. There are also interesting bios about several of the business owners. From the looks of it, Mr. Hooks' advertising sales have gotten off to an excellent start."

Cincy Mayor's Dad: I'll Be Peddling Newspapers On City Hall Steps

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Just ran into Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory's dad at a downtown event, and he told me he is so busted up over the coming demise of the Cincinnati Post PM newspaper that he plans to distribute them on City Hall's steps as a eulogy. William L. Mallory Sr., said he's going to buy a $15 bundle for the newspaper's last day on Dec. 31.

"When I was a boy I used to sell them there. They were 2 or 3 cents apiece back in the early 1940s," Mallory recalled. He said somebody tried to chase him off the steps, but the mayor at the time, James Garfield Stewart, intervened. He said Steward told him to stay on the steps for as long as he wanted. "I never forget what he said," Mallory said.

The mayor's father, now retired, was the Democratic Majority Leader of the Ohio House for years. In all, he served 28 years in the Ohio General Assembly before stepping down in 1994. He founded a downstate political dynasty that includes Mark as mayor, Bill Jr. as a Common Pleas Judge, Dale as a state representative in District 32, and Dwane, who is mulling a run for a seat on the Hamilton County Municipal Court.

Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley, who hosted fundraisers for President Bill Clinton at his home, recently co-sponsored a gathering that unoffficially launched Mayor Mallory's reelection bid. Gov. Ted Strickland was in attendance when Chesley said the Mallory clan had succeeded the Tafts as the city's preeminent political family.

Said Chesley: "I can remember when everybody wanted to be a Taft. Now nobody wants to be a Taft. They all want to be a Mallory."

The family patriarch said he loved the Post, which leaned Democratic on its editorial pages. He said he considered it a great journalistic enterprise, and added that he once considered becoming a journalist. Instead, Ohio politics beckoned.

Cincy's PM Newspaper: The Post Is Toast Dec. 31

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- E.W. Scripps Co. will shut down the Cincinnati Post on the last day of 2007, eliminating an editorial voice that has leaned Democratic in Southwest Ohio, the area of the state that has traditionally been dominated by Republican politics. The Post is an afternoon daily and has lost most of its readership over the past 30 years, and now is down to 28,549 weekday copies.

"Our time has come . . . and gone," wrote Editor Mike Phillips about death in the afternoon.

Scripps still has television stations in Ohio -- WEWS-TV, Channel 5 in Cleveland and WCPO-TV, Channel 9 in Cincinnati (the call letters are derived from Cincinnati Post). The soon to fold newspaper had a sister in Cleveland, the Press, that passed away in the 1980s, and another in Columbus, the Citizen-Journal, also deceased.

The newspaper has been in a joint operating agreement with Gannett Co. Inc., which publishes the morning Cincinnati Enquirer with approximately 200,000 papers sold Monday through Saturday. It has a reputation as a Republican newspaper.

This death in the afternoon cannot be reversed, said Rich Boehne, a former Post business writer who is now Scripp's chief operating officer. He said in a story published today that the cost of continuing a daily would be prohibitive without the joint operating agreement, which Gannett said it was cancelling. The Post was profitable and contributed about $15.4 million to its parent company's bottomline in 2005.

The Post campaigned against the regime of Boss Cox, a corrupt political organization controlled by the GOP that ran Cincinnati for years until the early 1920s. Within the past 15 years, it broke stories about corruption in the county auditor's office, which was controlled by the Republicans. Democrat Dusty Rhodes was elected as result of the scandal the Post exposed, and remains in office to this day. At the time of his election, Rhodes was the only Democrat holding countywide office other than a handful of judges.

Scripps said it would not continue the newspaper as an Internet entity.

How Democratic was the Post? In 2005, it endorsed Paul Hackett, the Iraq War veteran who called President George W. Bush an SOB. Hackett opposed Republican Jean Schmidt in the race of the OH-02 seat. Schmidt won, but the Enquirer supported her.

Soon there will be no opposition newspaper, no opinions other than the Enquirer's. There are 52 full-time newsroom employees losing jobs. They will receive severance payments. But after 126 years, there won't be a Post, the newspaper that media corporation Scripps published in the city where its headquarters in located.

Hot Off The Press: Will George Clooney Own Post-Scripps Cincinnati Post?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- People with stars in their eyes, Hollywood star George Clooney to be exact, are openly yearning he'll swoop into his hometown like an ER doc and staunch the bleeding at Ohio's last afternoon metropolitan daily newspaper, The Cincinnati Post. The rumor gained currency this week when the city's alt/weekly City Beat said it had heard Clooney might be angling for The Post in order to make his journalist father, Nick, the publisher.

City Beat called it "most intriguing" and unconfirmed and let it go in two sentences, but that was enough to start a quiet buzz.

George Clooney is progressive, loaded and has been around journalism all his life. His father was a TV anchorman and now writes a column for The Post, which is near the expiration of a 30-year joint operating agreement with The Cincinnati Enquirer, a morning daily that is the combo's economically stronger partner. The Enquirer leans Republican; the Post Democratic. Concern about its possible demise as an alternative voice is fueling some of the rumors/hopes that George Clooney is on stage left waiting to open his wallet. Nick's column regularly scores the GOP, specifically the Bush Administration, although he's not a firebrand. Nick dropped the column a few years back to run as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Northern Kentucky. He lost and rejoined the green eyeshade crowd.

George, of course, has this well-known thing about quality journalism. He had writer's credits on Good Night & Luck, picked up an Oscar for his on-screen portrayal of Edward R. Murrow' producer, and took j-school classes in college. On the Newshour a few year ago, he talked about growing up in the newsroom at Channel 12, WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, where his dad was becoming an on-air anchor desk legend. Another thing going for the rumor -- Hollywood mogul David Geffen wants to buy a big newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, which is supposed to signal that the rich and famous still see some value in the sheets that roll off America's printing presses.

So, can the Post be saved? I think George could do it.

If I was writing a memo, I'd say convert it to a tab to make it thicker and give it a sense of heft. Get Nick's column across the bottom of the front page, or tease it and promote the hell out of it. Load the inside with strong voices and opinions that say something, not mumble and mutter, hem and haw. And pick the progressive side to clearly distinguish The Post from the Enquirer.

Force the paper to develop a sense of place, and also some pizazz. Use pictures well, especially on the front page like a true tab. Pictures galore.

Scrap the hackneyed, standardized journalism and grab some new news. Check out the blogs every day and see what's bubbling -- they are often way ahead. Why not try out 'sphere stories like Ann Coulter and the Faggot incident? People would read for sure. Or Gore's big electric bill. Is that common in Ohio? What's the Duke Energy average? Or Mike Huckabee saying he's got a concealed carry permit -- a story about the pistol-packin' GOP presidential candidate would be a great read and headline.

And switch it to a morning newspaper with a strong Internet presence, so strong it reaches way beyond Cincinnati.

Would it work? Obviously the tired formulas newspapers are using today aren't.