Plain Dealer's Online Editor Jean Dubail Jumping To AOL's Patch: New News Site Competes With Papers

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- For nearly four years now, Jean Dubail has been responsible for moving newspaper content from The Plain Dealer to its digital companion, Cleveland.com. Today, the newsroom learned the veteran editor -- he's been a fixture at Ohio's largest daily for going on two decades -- is leaving newsprint behind. He's resigned to enlist with Patch.com, an AOL venture that is moving to publish digital news in communities like inner city neighborhoods and suburbs. Patch is hiring 500 journalists and expanding into 500 communities in 20 states by the end of this year. Ohio looks to be on the radar, and the Cincinnati Enquirer, along with the state's other newspapers, could find itself facing a challenger. Dubail is supposed to be a regional editor, although that might not be the exact title. Patch is aiming to become a direct competitor of the dinosaur media's efforts to grab online customers as print fades from its 20th Century heyday. With people like Dubail aboard the fade may come much quicker. AOL has been touting Patch and a recent press release about its entry into 100 communities is available here. Patch has been actively recruiting veteran reporters and editors; newspapers, TV stations, wire services and traditional media outlets have been downsizing.

Dubail, a St. Louis native, was the The Plain Dealer's top local news editor between 1999 and 2006. On the metro desk, he supervised nearly 90 journalists and was sharp, extremely competent and a popular figure in the newsroom. He was also able to see ahead into the digital era, an insight and ability that other newspaper execs lacked. Dubail advocated for The Plain Dealer to enter the cyber era, and was the founding father of OPEN, the paper's Ohio political blog. He also was an editorial writer and local news reporter. As for Patch, I found this on the website:

"The Patch.org Foundation was formed in March, 2010 to improve the quality of life in underserved communities across the globe through access to trusted local news and information.
"What we do
The Patch.org Foundation plans to partner with community foundations and other organizations to fund the operation of Patch news and information sites in communities that need them most: inner-city neighborhoods and underserved towns around the world.
"What we look for
We will look for communities of 15-100k population that are drastically underserved by media and would benefit by having access to local news and information about government, schools and business. These could be inner-city neighborhoods or distinct towns. For more information email foundation@patch.com."

Stop The Presses: Before Leaving, Ohio AG Dann Preserved Print Media Advertising Monopoly

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Two weeks before scandal drove Marc Dann from office on May 14, Ohio's former attorney general issued a formal legal opinion that drew a distinct boundary between digital and print media. He said the state's growing crop of online publications are not eligible for some forms of official legal advertising. The seven-page decision preserved a financial plum for Old Media print newspapers and closed off a potential revenue source for New Media. Print continues to have a monopoly on legal ads after Dann's declaration that, "An online version of a newspaper . . . is not a 'newspaper of general circulation' for the purpose of notice by publication . . ." The complete text of the seven-page opinion is available here.

Dann's April 30 ruling was in response to a question by Betsy Houchen, executive director of the Ohio Board of Nursing, which regulates the nursing profession. Houchen's inquiry sought to learn if state law would allow the nursing board to notify license holders of disciplinary hearings through means other than service by mail or legal ads in print publications. Dann said no, and found the Internet was different than print, though he noted that newspapers have online versions.

"Newspapers vary in their online offerings. Some sites are free for all users to view, while others may require payment of an online subscription fee or maintenance of an existing subscription to the print edition of the newspaper. Newspapers often reformat print editions for their web sites. Online newspapers typically present a series of links to various news stories or links to pages of general news topics that then provide links to various news articles.

"In addition to the typical series of links most newspapers use on their websites, there are still other ways newspapers make content available to their readers. For instances, some of Ohio's newspapers offer what they call an 'electronic edition' or 'digital edition,' which has an appearance and format very similar to the hard copy, printed edition, but is viewed and read electronically rather than in hard copy, and is accessed in a number of ways depending upon the newspaper. With the wide range of possibilities for offering newspapers online, the only trait common to all online newspaper editions is their accessibility through the Internet."

In Ohio, the legal ads must appear in publications with at least 50% of the readership as paying customers. They also have to have second class mailing privileges via the U.S. Postal Service. Dann said the Internet creates free distribution and online publications don't transmit content using snail mail. He said, "An online version of a newspaper at a minimum fails to meet these two requirements."

Bottomline: Old technology reaps the money from legal ads.