University of Cincinnati Hires Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan: Newspaper Boss To Become Journalism Prof By Winter Qtr.




Enquirer's Editor Headed To Academia

 

[UPDATED: Gannett Blog founder Jim Hopkins names three candidates who are possibly in line for the top editor job at the Enquirer.  None are based in Cincinnati. The University posts Callinan's bio and title and tells prospective students, "Since 2002, Callinan was Editor of (sic) Vice President/Content of Enquirer Media . . . ]

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- There hasn't yet been an official announcement or a press release.  Wags say that's why there's been nothing in the newspaper Tom Callinan edits -- without handouts the Enquirer is lost.  But University of Cincinnati insiders tell The Daily Bellwether that Tom Callinan has already accepted a job in the school's Journalism Department and will start teaching winter quarter.  Callinan will have the title McMicken professor of journalism.  The insiders said Callinan will give up the editorship to become a full-time academic.  According to a senior U.C. official:  "He starts winter quarter.  There's going to be an announcement.  It's a done deal.  He's going to have one class at the start, and we'll see what kind of teacher he is.  The feeling here is that somebody who has been the editor of a major newspaper is qualified to teach one class."

It is not quite clear how wide a search process U.C. conducted it for the new professorship.  There are sure to be public records requests filed seeking access to resumes, applications and whatever other hiring material went into the selection process.  Were their other candidates considered and rejected?  Apparently, the university believes that it has landed a big name because Callinan ran the newsroom for SW Ohio's largest daily newspaper and its companion dot.com web portal.  The University of Cincinnati has been trying to build a journalism program, and awarded its first bachelor's degrees in journalism in 2005 from the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.  The program has been headed by Jon Hughes, who has been a booster for upgrading the program and getting the journalism BA established.  There could be some push-back against Callinan who is jumping from a slumping newspaper to academia at age 62.  The Enquirer does not have a good reputation in newspaper industry circles -- it is considered staid, stolid, understaffed and uninspiring.  One U.C. faculty member said one of Callinan's selling points is that he served on the panel that awards Pulitzer Prizes.  However, others have pointed out that the Enquirer's only Pulitzer in recent memory involved editorial cartooning by Jim Borgman.  And Borgman left the Cincinnati Enquirer under the Callinan regime.  The newspaper no longer publishes locally drawn editorial cartoons.

Said one faculty member:  "U.C. has an editor who will teach journalism.  Mostly this editor has cut and cut.  Maybe he wants to inspire people.  Here's the chance.   I don't know what to think about this, especially since the guy (Callinan) tried to get hired by Miami University a few years ago.  I read that he didn't get the Miami job at the time."

The Enquirer's publisher, Margaret Buchanan, serves on the University of Cincinnati's board of trustees.  She was appointed by former GOP Gov. Bob Taft.  Buchanan listed her political affiliation as Republican.  College officials said that Buchanan played no role in Callinan's hiring by the university.

[UPDATE: 12:48 pm -- Jim said...
The Daily Bellwether story does not say anything about who would succeed Callinan.
Speculation on this blog has focused on three people: Palm Springs Executive Editor Rick Green; Reno Gazette-Journal EE Beryl Love, and Des Moines Register EE Carolyn Washburn.]

[UPDATE 2: 1:24 pm -- Callinan e-mails The Bellwether with some details about the UC post.  It doesn't look full-time.  Bill: Your post seems to infer that my UC class is a full-time position.  It's just a 3-credit adjunct job one night a week. Thanks.]

[UPDATE 3: 2:52 pm -- The Bellwether sent Tom Callinan an e-mail in response to the above message that included an inquiry about the title McMicken professor of journalism.  The Bellwether wondered what a public records request at UC would turn up.  Here's Tom Callinan's reply:

"I don't know what you would find in a public records request but I can tell you what I know.  I have had a very good relationship with the UC Journalism program.  I have been a big supporter as it has grown from 0-200+ in a few years.  They are good kids and I have helped many with internships, etc.


"Jon and Elissa have asked me to teach a class on and off over the years...but I have been too busy.  Infer what you want from that but I expect to have time after the first of the year.  That's all I can say today.  Not trying to be evasive just honest and respectful my employer and staff.


"As we talked, Jon told me he wanted to try for a 'title and affiliation' that would give me supposed status.  The Dean approved it.  (Buchanan had no hand in it...in fact learned of it from me). I plan to remain active in journalism and industry organizations.  Perhaps that title works to heighten UC J's exposure. I'm a bit humbled.


"While I concur my years at The Enquirer have had ups and downs in these changing times...the title recognizes my work over 35 years as an editor and previous teaching experience at the University of South Dakota, Arizona State and Michigan State. I also have a M.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology. That would be on a resume on file with UC. All the best Bill ... It would be an honor to have you to speak to a class down the line."]

[UPDATE 4: 4:12 pm -- Here's what's up on the UC website:  

Tom Callinan
McMicken Professor of Journalism
English - Adjunct Faculty
22 McMicken Hall
513-556-5924
thomas.callinan@uc.edu

Professional Summary

Tom Callinan joins the University of Cincinnati in the Winter Quarter 2011 as McMicken Professor of Journalism.

Since 2002, Callinan was Editor of Vice President/Content of Enquirer Media, which includes the daily Enquirer, 27 community weeklies and Cincinnati.com and its more than 230 web sites and social media initiatives.

A Minnesota native, Callinan worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Michigan, Florida, New York, and USA Today in Washington, D.C. Before coming to Cincinnati he was Editor of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where he worked with partner Gannett TV station KPNX-12 on one of the nation's first and largest convergence initiatives with Azcentral.com. His journalism awards include two Willam Allen White awards for editorial writing and a Society of News Design medal. He has twice been a Pulitzer prize judge at Columbia University.
Callinan holds an M.S. degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where his master's thesis focused on management and new media.

His previous teaching experience has been as an adjunct instructor at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism, Michigan State University, the University of South Dakota and the University of California at Berkeley's Summer Program for Minority Journalists.

Hamilton County Judge Nadine Allen Victim of Cincinnati Newspaper Smear: Enquirer Info About Bail Bond Ruling In Dispute

 Newspaper Blames Dem For GOP Scandal

 [UPDATE: Full text of Jugde Nadine Allen's letter to Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan that demands a retraction.  See below.]
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A Cincinnati Enquirer story Nov. 15 about the unfolding bail bond scandal in the Hamilton County Clerk of Court's Office tries to shift blame for the $2.1 million mess from GOP officials to a Democratic Common Pleas Court judge.  But the newspaper's reporting doesn't appear to stand up when measured against public records easily available in online court filings.  In other words, the Enquirer swallowed hook, line and sinker a Republican contrived effort to discredit Judge Nadine Allen.  The GOP spin looks to have made the Gannet Co. Inc. newspaper so dizzy it fell down on the job.  Judge Nadine Allen intends to hold a press conference today -- which is an unusual move for a judge -- to point out gaping holes in the Cincinnati Enquirer's story.   Here's what The Daily Bellwether has gleaned so far:

The Sunday story by Reporter Kimball Perry said $2.1 million in forfeited bail bonds has been uncollected by the clerk's office.  It said Hamilton County is going to have to refund $105,000 to a bailbonding company because Judge Nadine Allen set aside a forfeiture last month.  The story said the county doesn't have money available to pay back the bonding company.  The story -- and this is really the guts of the slam against Nadine Allen -- reported the $105,000 forfeiture had been distributed to police and prosecutors.  Truth is, that never happened.  Court records show the county had a lien against the bonding firm and the criminal defendant who jumped bail.  The lien represented an unpaid debt that had been on the books for three years.  If the county had distributed the money, there would not be a lien because legal procedure requires the lien to be cancelled when a debt is paid off.  It would be massive incompetence for the clerk's office to maintain liens against people who had cleared their debts.

Here's the Enquirer version with the disputed statements in bold face:

"In 2006, Ismial Salaam was arrested and jailed on drug charges.  A judge set bond at $105,0000.  A bond agent posted that bond.  Salaam was released and told to show up in court.  Instead, he ran.  A judge ordered the $105,000 forfeited on June 12, 2007.  That money was given to the prosecutors and the police department that arrested Salaam.

"Salaam then was arrested in June 2009.  When he was brought to court, his bond agent asked for the return of the $105,000 bond.  Common Pleas Court Judge Nadine Allen agreed on Oct. 6 and ordered the money returned to the bond agent.  'The money's spent,' [Assistant Prosecutor Mike] Florez said.  'I don't know how you're going to get it back.'"

Lien For Bail Bond

However, there is nothing to show the money has been spent.  In fact, the records indicate it was never collected.   You can look at the lien that was pending for three years.  Additionally, The Daily Bellwether has a Nov. 19, 2009 computer printout prepared by the Clerk of Court's office that lists uncollected bail bond liens.  The $105,000 is shown as an open debt.  That means the money wasn't given to the police and prosectuors as the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.  And it means that the Cincinnati Enquirer --  for some reason -- wrongly tried to make Judge Nadine Allen a player in the scandal.

[UPDATE: 2:43 pm -- Judge Nadine Allen has just finished her press conference.  She is demanding a retraction and public apology from the Cincinnati Enquirer.  The lawyer for the bail bonding company, Bradley Hoyt, was present and said that no money had been distributed to the police or prosecutors.  Hoyt said no money had been collected from the bonding company by the clerk of court's office on the forfeited bond, therefore nothing was available to distribute.  Hoyt said he had not been contacted by anyone from the newspaper prior to the story's publication.  He said the portion of the story that referred to Judge Nadine Allen contained inaccurate information.  The judge was drafting a written demand for the retraction.  Her letter was addressed to the Cincinnati Enquirer's editor, Tom Callinan.  In the letter, she says that the newspaper had damaged her reputation as a judge and published information with a "reckless disregard for the truth."   She did not say she was considering legal action, but the wording was stern and could open the doors to a possible defamation claim.]

[UPDATE: 11/16/10, 9:49 AM --  Here's the letter Judge Nadine Allen has sent to Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan that demands a retraction:   

"Tom Callinan

Editor & V.P./Content & Audience Development 

The Enquirer/Cincinnati.Com

312 Elm Street

Cincinnati, OH 45202

"Dear Mr. Callinan,

"I write to you in response to your November 13, 2010 article, “Bond agents owe $2.1M,” reported by Kimball Perry.  I request a public apology and retraction of the clearly false and misleading statements.  The statements have caused damage to my reputation as a Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge. The article contained reckless statements that were made without regard for the truth.

"The article states that, 'A judge ordered the $105,000 bond forfeited on June 12, 2007.'  It goes on to falsely claim, 'That money was given to the prosecutors and the police department that arrested Salaam.'  This claim is false.  No money was ever collected and no money was ever dispersed to the Prosecutor or the police department.

"The article singles me out, stating that, 'Common Pleas Court Judge Nadine Allen [...] ordered the money returned to the bond agent.'   Again, this statement is false.  No money was ever collected and no money was ordered to be returned to the bond agent.

"A simple review of the court records would have revealed that:

·        No cash was deposited with the Clerk of Court by the bond agent, the bond agent’s insurance company, or the defendant;

·        No cash or funds were disbursed to the Prosecutor’s office or the police;

·        Dale Bernhard of the Hamilton County Prosecutors office stated, on the record before Judge Allen, that none of the forfeited bonds had been collected or disbursed.

"The Enquirer’s decision to single out me while not mentioning the other judges that have relieved a bond looks like an effort to smear my good reputation.  Additional research would show that since 2009 at least three other Hamilton County Common Please Judges have relieved this same bond agent and insurance company of bond forfeiture judgments.  I am willing to provide you the name of the other Judges, if you're interested.

"I eagerly await the retraction and a public apology.

"Judge Nadine Allen

"Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas"

So far, there does not appear to be any word from the newspaper about what action, if any, it will take.  I have asked the judge to keep me posted.  Stay tuned.]

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.]

Cincinnati Is The Birthplace Of America's Wine Industry: Yet We Couldn't Spot Fake French Pinot Noir

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Eighteen million bottles, and nobody noticed, not even in the city where it is claimed the U.S. wine industry was born. Well, whine me, dhine me. The first person elected into the wine hall of fame was Nicholas Longworth, a Cincinnatian known as the father of American winemaking. Ohio still has a thriving wine industry that is growing. Four of the state's vineyard tour trails start in Cincinnati (map above). In the BBC's news story about the Red Bicyclette scandal, a French lawyer argued nobody was guilty because nobody complained:

"A lawyer for Sieur d'Arques, Jean-Marie Bourland, told Agence France-Presse: 'There is no prejudice. Not a single American consumer complained.' A lawyer for three other defendants argued his clients had delivered a wine that had Pinot Noir characteristics. E and J Gallo said it was no longer selling any of the wine to its customers."

Gawker said Americans were too tasteless to know any better. That views seems to be a bit at odds with Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan's opinion piece this morning that declared "Cincinnati is on a high and in the national spotlight for its rich cultural assets." Still, we can't spot a fake Pinot Noir. That's a fact despite all the culinary wonders Callinan and others have been pointing out recently. If someone here had popped a cork -- and caught on to the scandal -- then Cincinnati would really look refined to the rest of the world. Instead, we're wine rubes like everyone else.

So how was this scam exposed? French Customs inspectors caught on, not gourmands. They noticed that more Pinot Noir was being exported to America than the region of France where it originates had historically been able to produce.

Cincinnati Enquirer's Apology: Wishy, Washy And Squishy

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Faced with a firestorm of protest over his newspaper's bad-smelling coverage of a Clermont County murder case, Cincinnati Enquirer editor Tom Callinan has apologized for, in part, promoting a journalistic freak show. He said the publication, which is also online at Cincinnati.com, screwed up by publishing the jury's identities. He apologized and called it a "late-night, deadline decision that was wrong."

Somehow, that appears to lack the ring of complete truth.

The newspaper's employees no doubt retrieved the jurors' personal data in the fact-gathering process, then tried to figure out what to do with the information. Reporters probably were looking for the jurors and seeking out interviews. Callinan implies that there was a list that suddenly materialized and presto! it got published at the very last minute. He blamed the incident on rushing and over-aggressiveness. He admits voices were raised against publishing the juror's names, but adds those voices were ignored.

However, his apology came without a detailed explanation of the entire episode. It's a trust-us-
we-really-know-what-we're-doing apology, a pronouncement that seems issued from on high to the peons who buy the newspaper or click to its online content. It is an apology that smacks of a hierarchical era, when editors presided over the sacred rites of journalism and the hicks had to believe them.

"So how did the decision to publish the list of jurors' names happen? All I can say is that we lost our perspective. In being aggressive on a big story we rushed to a very bad decision." Callinan wrote, offering nothing else except to say that the murder of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel was a big story.

Inquiring minds want to know: Why the rush? Aggressive on a big story? It was a trial, for heaven sake.

The Enquirer did not solve the murder, arrest the suspect, present the evidence, or even locate the victim's corpse, which is still missing. Outside of overblown headlines, prose and page display that went far beyond Yellow Journalism to the portion of the spectrum that causes skin to blister, the Cincinnati daily played no important role in determining guilt or innocence. The Enquirer was a leech at worst, a pest at best.

Callinan says it is important for the public to know about the people who serve on juries. But, again, he stumbles. There has hardly been a big push in that direction by Callinan prior to this mess on his watch.

There are jury trials every day in SW Ohio -- civil and criminal -- and about zero is ever written about the empaneled fact-finders who decide guilty or not, or what the preponderance of evidence shows. Some might even see in Callinan's apology an element of fraud when he declares. "It is interesting and not irrelevant that a power company lineman, restaurant server and psychiatric nurse are among those entrusted such an important and awesome responsibility. Certainly jurors bring those life experiences to the process. But it's not necessary to publish their names."

Every Ohio jury is comprised of everyday citizens. That might be news to the Enquirer's editor, but it has been a basic precept of the legal system since the days of the Northwest Territory and Cincinnati was settled in 1788.

As the leading newsroom executive, Callinan needs to be far more transparent and:

1) Disclose how long the newspaper had the names.

2) Disclose how the decision to publish the names was made.

3) Disclose what the arguments were against publishing.

4) Disclose where he stood at the time -- for or against.

The Enquirer's editor has not been forthcoming. He concedes the publication of juror names damaged the public's trust in his newspaper, but he won't elaborate.

Sorry, Mr. Editor. It is time for transparency. I call BS.

The full-text of the apology is HERE.