Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Declares War On Content Parasites: 'We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Of course, he seems to have swiped the line from a movie script. The editor of Ohio's third largest newspaper said in a Sunday column that the Gannett Co. Inc. property is using technology "that scours the media landscape for illegal use of our content." Cease and desist commmunications reportedly have been sent to blogs, radio stations and Websites. Yet none were identified -- which means the Enquirer is sitting on a huge story framed against the Internet, the free flow of information and intellectual property rights. Editor Tom Callinan also borrowed -- without crediting the source -- the "mad as hell" line from the 1976 film Network, a movie that won an Oscar for Peter Finch. In Callinan's appropriation of the line, he altered it only slightly by adding "we" in place of the screenplay's "I'm." Perhaps a studio in Hollywood is scouring, too. Meanwhile, there is little known about the Gannett-owned newspaper's threatened legal actions against the unnamed pirates alleged to have taken its content without permission:

"We're no longer willing to idly watch our good efforts stolen . . . In recent weeks, we have sent warnings to several blogs, Web sites and radio stations. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

But what of others who may have had their material recycled in the Enquirer? For example, the Sunday sports section -- the same edition of the paper in which Callinan's declaration of war appears -- contains a quote from Cleveland Browns President Mike Holmgren. The quote dates back to late February when it originally appeared in other newspapers and Websites. Holmgren's remark is about Tim Tebow, the University of Florida star who is hoping to become a high draft pick in the NFL's quarterback selection process. Holmgren wondered about Tebow's delivery, his throwing style. Here's the Cleveland Browns president's quote from the March 7 Enquirer sports section: "It's always been my opinion that that's the most difficult thing to change in any quarterback. I've read he's got a number of guys coaching him up on that and he's trying to change it, but it's really hard to do, I think. Particularly in pressure situations."

But that quote didn't originate in the March 7, 2010 Enquirer. It is all over the Internet. The Akron Beacon Journal's Maria Ridenour used a truncated version of Holmgren's remark on Feb. 27, which is 10 days before it showed up in the Enquirer. The quote was on the Feb. 26 version of the Seattle Seahawks team Website. Actually, there are some 836 references to the quote that turn up in a Google search. None of this is to suggest that the Enquirer stole the quote. It is meant to suggest that Holmgren's remark was widely circulated, and even appeared under copyright as content in several news and Web sites before finding its way into the Sunday Cincinnati Enquirer. It was neither fresh nor new in the universe of sporting news. The Houston Chronicle -- which claims a February 26 copyright on the Holmgren comment -- would look silly sending a cease and desist letter to Cincinnati.

[UPDATE: 6:16 pm: Tom Callinan and I have now exchanged e-mails. I won't publish the verbatim version of his reply. My e-mail can be seen below. But it appears he is informing me that he does not consider the content parasites to be a significant problem for the newspaper after all. His private communication seems to run totally counter to what his column said today. He noted that radio stations aren't really problematical. He would not name any violators. The radio stations don't have much of a news staff in this economic climate. He said he would not out any of the blogs or people that the Enquirer has a problem with because the problem often goes away without much head butting. He said the Enquirer uses a program called Attributor to track down possible offenders. Here is what I wrote to the Enquirer's editor: "I found your column quite interesting and have posted about it on The Daily Bellwether. I wonder if you would be willing to identify those who have gotten warnings for stealing content. That is huge news. You have covered similar disputes in the paper between record companies and downloaders. There does not seem to be any reason why this issue should not be aired in the Enquirer's pages, or online. I would be willing to publish the letters if you would give them to the Daily Bellwether. That would be strange, obviously, because the Enquirer is in the middle of the story. You have publicly said thievery is taking place, but you haven't said who the thieves are. You have tarred a lot of competing media -- blogs, radio stations, Websites. Anyhow, thanks for your time. I think you have raised an important issue. I think you should disclose more and be more transparent." ]

[UPDATE 2 - 3/8/2010 9:44 am: The Cincinnati Beacon reacts to Callinan's column. It notes that there is plenty of derivative work floating around the journalistic sphere in Cincinnati, and that the Enquirer might be doing some poaching of its own from blogs and other outlets. From the Beacon: "So, Mr. Callinan, let’s tone down the rhetoric a bit. People shouldn’t steal your stuff, but before you talk about parasites and your hard work, let’s take a bit of a reality check, okay?"]

[UPDATE 3 - 3/9/2010 5:52 pm: Larry Gross weighs in today and points out Gannett's local version of Metromix tried a pickpocket job on Cincinnati's alt/weekly CityBeat earlier this year. Talk about content parasites. It was a raid of the corporate kind; something that could have been dreamed up by Wall Street banksters. CityBeat has been running an annual Best of Cincinnati contest for years. Metromix tried to horn with its own best of. CityBeat raised cane and got the best of Metromix, which slunk away from its copycatting.]

[UPDATE 4 - 3/10/2010 9:52 am: CityBeat's Kevin Osborne shows that the Enquirer is selling ads and making a profit from an advertiser accused of wrongfully appropriating material from the PBS series called Antiques Roadshow. The Enquirer's conduct, the Cincinnati CityBeat writer contends, puts Editor Tom Callinan's claim of victimization from "content parasites" on thin ground. In other words, the Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper is raking in money from someone that WGBH in Boston is suing in federal court for alleged trademark violations.]

Ohio's Biggest Newspapers To Start Sharing Content: Toledo Blade Stories Coming To Cincinnati Enquirer?

AKRON (TDB) -- Editors at the state's seven largest newspapers have been pushing The Associated Press for speedier and more comprehensive statewide coverage. The editors also pressed the wire service for a rate schedule that doesn't sock them with excessive fees. And they've been perplexed -- Why is it that AP distributes Ohio news (often culled from an Ohio newspaper) to Google or Yahoo quicker than we can get it to our readers? The editors have seen how blogs grab their news from Google and Yahoo, redistributing it for free. Now, the state's seven biggest papers have agreed to create their own content-sharing program, which is scheduled for launch on Monday. Stories from Cleveland's Plain Dealer and Toledo's Blade should soon turn up in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Editor & Publisher, a journalism trade publication and Web site, broke the news about the content-sharing arrangement.

My own supposition is that this is more about the Web and getting news material online rather than in print. Newsholes are shrunken -- with fewer pages and smaller page sizes -- and space for large numbers of stories is not available in the ad-thin print newspapers of today. Meanwhile, staffs are smaller because of downsizing, buyouts and hiring freezes. So there are fewer reporters around Ohio producing news stories. The editors are trying to adjust by picking up content from other newsroom staffs to cover what they cannot get to. The editors also want readers to recognize that the work was produced by a journalist on the payroll of a newspaper. This is a sea change, because it signals an effort, at the highest levels, to downplay and partially bury journalism-rooted jealousies and rivalries in existence for generations, the ethos of the scoop. The Plain Dealer staff has always taken great joy in kicking the ass of the Columbus Dispatch on a big story, and vice versa. But soon Dispatch news will be appearing under The Plain Dealer nameplate. Unthinkable just a few years ago.

Akron Beacon Journal editor Bruce Winges noted in an internal staff memo that Cleveland and Canton content initially will not show up in Akron. The three newspapers are competitors in the NEO market. But stories from other corners of the state will be fully credited "with byline and dateline. The other papers will do the same with our content."

Said Winges:

"I am sure there will be bumps along the way as we get this exchange going. We will get through them. This idea of content sharing is not about cutting back what we do. It is about sharing our content with the other large Ohio newspapers and getting their content in return. The goal is to have stories that benefit the readers of all of our newspapers. A secondary benefit is that readers will know how much is produced by our newsrooms."

Akron Beacon Journal's Blog Experiment: Who Says It Is Dead?

Updated 6:56 PM
AKRON (TDB) -- Top newsroom execs at the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com are huddling this afternoon about the status of The Point, a political blog the newspaper started Wednesday. The Point was put on hiatus Thursday after Summit County Republican Chair Alex Arshinkoff raised an issue of bias. There has been much speculation and commentary in the Ohiosphere today saying that The Point is likely blunted and may not come back.

[UPDATE: The Point will return Monday, the newspaper now confirms on its Web site. It explains there were legal concerns about corporate funds, political campaigns, and election laws that prohibit corporations from contributing to campaigns. The Beacon said that means limits on its two bloggers: "Their mission is to comment on politics important to Ohioans -- from their distinct partisan positions. However, if they are playing an active role in a campaign -- such as working for a candidate or running for office -- they cannot use our resources in an attempt to persuade voters, and they cannot be paid. Pay and commentary may resume once that active role in the campaign ceases."]

But Doug Oplinger, the ABJ's managing editor, told The Daily Bellwether that no decision has been made to kill off the new blog. The newspaper, instead, has paused while it tries to figure out how to meld blogging by political activists Kyle Kutchief and Ben Keeler with the traditional standards of a mainstream media outlet. Oplinger said the internal meeting would start around 3 p.m. He emphasized that anybody who contends the newspaper has abandoned or backed off its blogging project would be wrong.

"They are saying something that we're not saying. We have certain standards, and we're trying to figure out how to be comfortable."

Oplinger said he had to break off the telephone conversation to go to the meeting. But he stressed that The Point wasn't dead, and seemed a bit perplexed that anyone would think it was gone.

Why Are Newspapers Dying? Few Listened When The Warning Sounded

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A cautionary tale appears on the Beacon Journal retirees blogspot that helps explain how the print media failed adapt to new technology. Seems like the news industry wasn't deeply interested in the news that would affect its future.

What's Tops On Ohio.com? Sports Rules Newspaper Website

AKRON (TDB) -- It turns out that traditional news readers aren't the dominant crowd coming to the Akron Beacon Journals's newspaper website Ohio.com. For the past week, the top 10 stories have all been sports reports. It all the kind of stuff -- baseball, football, who might be traded etc -- that is standard sports section fare.

In fact, not a single news story ranks shows up in the 24 items that the newspaper website listed as its 24 "most viewed" articles. Just two of 24 were not sports-related -- the real estate transfers, and comics & games. Suddenly, the stats are proving that the lights have dimmed on what editors and many journalists thought was the heart and soul of their business -- routine government reporting. Sportswriting had passion. City room reporters were supposed to deliver bland presentations without really any heart, or soul. Every newsroom (according to a newspaper biz inside joke) had a "dull-a-tron," a mythical device that all stories were run through to remove anything hinting at passion, heart or soul.

Ohio.com is a valuable Internet nameplate, a piece of cyber real estate that goes far beyond the Akron Beacon Journal's reach as a print publication circulated in and around that Northeast Ohio city. Ohio.com creates a sense of the entire state, a market with more than 11 million people. Still, it's biggest hits come from sports -- Browns, Indians, LeBron, et al. The folks who run Ohio.com are honest and open enough to let their visitors know what is popular. Newspaper sources tell me that what is openly disclosed on Ohio.com is pretty much what is happening on the websites of the dailies in Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo -- most everywhere. Their top draws are sports stories, not news stories.

What does this foretell for the future of newspapers? The old business model is seriously out of whack. There may not be a mass market any longer for what has passed as local news, which is reporting based on geography. The idea that there are large groups of people who live in one city -- say Akron -- who want to read about some routine event in another -- say Cleveland -- certainly appears to be dead, or dying. At least, it looks that way on the 'net. We saw it this week on Ohio.com -- the 24 most viewed items on a newspaper website, and not one involved news.

Looks Like MSM Rips Off Ohio Blog's Title: Did Sticky Fingers Appear In Akron?

AKRON (TDB) -- Perhaps the Beacon Journal is controlled by thieves in the Knight these days. And all the good citizens of Akron should watch out. They could be getting news, information and opinion online from brain dead, corrupt, dishonest and vile people who think nothing of filching the ideas of others.

Once upon a time, wasn't even a whiff of plagiarism unacceptable? Now it looks like copying or imitating the language, ideas, and thoughts of another, and passing off the same as one's original work, is just fine and dandy. At least, in Akron.

What has happened is that Ohio.com (Ohionotcom) has started a new political blog, the Blog of Mass Destruction. It leans left. Of course, Ohio already has a blog called Weapons of Mass Discussion by Matt Hurley, who is from Southwest Ohio and happens to lean right. The mirror-effect is absolutely amazing -- so amazing that it looks like the MSM has created a counterfeit blog.

News of this possible scam came from Pho's Norka Pages, who first noticed that the formerly respectable MSM outlet in Akron had tiptoed uncomfortably close to Hurley's blog title. Pho had this to say about the apparent crime in the Ohiosphere:

"As of now each blog reads like a caricature of a blog. The lefty is all anger and out there: the righty brims with smug condescension. On the left we have blog of Mass Destruction (If I were Matt Hurley I'd sue the bastard) written by The Reverend. On the Right is the Political Guru by a blogger going by the same nom de blog."

My plan: I won't read, mention again, or support in any way what looks like a blog-o-crime -- the MSM's mass desmucktion. I am going to click Matt's site at least 10 times a day. I would hope every blogger in Ohio rallies to Matt's side, whether right, left or down the middle. I would hope every blogger in the world rallies to Matt's side. As for The Reverend -- he's a . . . Well, there's an epithet that can be prefixed, and it is not characterized by deep respect or reverence.

Again, here is the link to Matt's site and please visit it often. Another point: If the MSM is resorting to filching blog titles to stay alive, then it is indeed a dying and hopeless industry without a smidgen of creativity or talent, and utterly not deserving of further respect. Outside critics have suspected this for years.