Considering the quality of the current product they're lucky it's that high. And l'm STILL one of those subscribers. 

 

Habit l guess.

I canceled my subscription to the Sunday PD several years ago.  The volume had been significantly reduced, the quality of journaliism had declined and the content seemed to be more opinion than news.  Newspapers will likely be obsolete in another 10 years or so.

 

Edited January 16, 20232 yr by LibertyBlvd

On 1/16/2023 at 11:20 AM, LibertyBlvd said:

I canceled my subscription to the Sunday PD several years ago.  The volume had been significantly reduced, the quality of journaliism had declined and the content seemed to be more opinion than news.  Newspapers will likely be obsolete in another 10 years or so.

 

 

They spend a ton of money on paper, ink, printing, and transportation to be hours behind the news curve, so that's been inevitable for some time.

Edited January 18, 20232 yr by E Rocc

On 1/16/2023 at 4:05 PM, E Rocc said:

 

They spend a ton of money on paper, ink, printing, and transportation to be hours behind the news curve, so that's been inevitable for some time.

Maybe they could extend their life a bit longer by cutting back on actual news and feature more community news or focus on the businesses and personalities within the city and continue to use ads to offset the cost. But as you said, the switch to online alternatives, like all change, is inevitable

Oh wow, @KJP’s only real competition on the real estate reporting beat is leaving Crain’s. Michelle Jarboe @mjarboe posted: “Some personal news: Today was my last day at @CrainsCleveland. It was a privilege to be part of this newsroom for the last 3.5 years, but it’s time for new adventures. I’m staying here in Cleveland - and looking forward to sharing details soon about the next chapter!”

 

Hopefully she will still be a reporter - she’s one of the best locals!

 

https://x.com/mjarboe/status/1735795496579395826?s=61&t=8m6OVkUD6kdclFnJD1n_Lg

 

 

I heard someone was leaving. I figured Stan Bullard was retiring. Sorry to hear it's @mjarboe. In competition, the customer usually wins.

^ Maybe you two should team up and start a real estate blog 🤔 

Bummed.  She is the best.  Hopefully she lands another reporting gig.

18 minutes ago, cadmen said:

^ Maybe you two should team up and start a real estate blog 🤔 

The Regis and Kelly of Cleveland news!

16 minutes ago, Htsguy said:

Bummed.  She is the best.  Hopefully she lands another reporting gig.

Whatever it is, it’s already done. She said she’ll share details about it soon.

I've decided to take a positive approach to my dissatisfaction with Cleveland's financial reporting. I've been sending politely phrased "tips" to cleveland.com and crain's cleveland. Sometimes they respond; mostly they don't.  Latest example: a week ago I sent them the presser on Embraer investing in a new facility at Hopkins along with my suspicion that the deal involved Kenn Ricci's companies.  To me, the largest non-US aerospace company in the Western hemisphere coming to town is NEWS. No visible result to date.

 

Should I give up? Am I doing it wrong? Or is it unreasonable to expect any action during Christmas week?

I'm proud of how far we've come over the last decade and especially the last five years! Feedspot is a well-known news aggregator in the media and blogging world.

 

 

Among Ohio real estate blogs, NEOtrans in top 10
By Ken Prendergast / December 29, 2023

 

Feedspot, an international news aggregator, ranked NEOtrans in the top 10 of Ohio real estate news blogs. Feedspot compiles news feeds from online sources so users from all over the world can customize and share them with other social network users.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2023/12/29/among-ohio-real-estate-blogs-neotrans-in-top-10/

Congratulations, KJP!

Are sub-editors even a thing anymore? This game was in LA.  
 

Journalism has really gone down the toilet.  Which is why I canceled my subscription to the PD several years ago.  

34 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:

Journalism has really gone down the toilet.  Which is why I canceled my subscription to the PD several years ago.  

 

Timing is everything.   Print journalism requires spending lots of money on paper, ink, printing, and distribution in order to be well behind the news cycle.  Electronic media competes to be first, and speed can take precedence over accuracy.   It's very easy to edit things on the run, after all.

 

Sites known to be credible like Ken's, or the NE Ohio Scanner X account that openly says their reports are sometimes overtaken by facts, have the advantage.

On 12/15/2023 at 10:59 PM, Boomerang_Brian said:

Oh wow, @KJP’s only real competition on the real estate reporting beat is leaving Crain’s. Michelle Jarboe @mjarboe posted: “Some personal news: Today was my last day at @CrainsCleveland. It was a privilege to be part of this newsroom for the last 3.5 years, but it’s time for new adventures. I’m staying here in Cleveland - and looking forward to sharing details soon about the next chapter!”

 

Hopefully she will still be a reporter - she’s one of the best locals!

 

https://x.com/mjarboe/status/1735795496579395826?s=61&t=8m6OVkUD6kdclFnJD1n_Lg

 

 

The update is great news! Congrats @mjarboe

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/reporter-michelle-jarboe-makes-jump-from-print-to-news-5
 

Michelle Jarboe, an award-winning business journalist who has written extensively about real estate and economic development in Cleveland, is joining News 5 through the Journalism Journey Initiative.

 

The program, launched last year by News 5’s parent company Scripps, which Google has made a multiyear financial commitment to underwrite, places veteran print journalists in TV newsrooms.

On 1/3/2024 at 8:47 AM, roman totale XVII said:

Are sub-editors even a thing anymore? This game was in LA.  
 

 

Now, now - let’s not get too critical 😉

 

12 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

The update is great news! Congrats @mjarboe

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/reporter-michelle-jarboe-makes-jump-from-print-to-news-5
 

Michelle Jarboe, an award-winning business journalist who has written extensively about real estate and economic development in Cleveland, is joining News 5 through the Journalism Journey Initiative.

 

The program, launched last year by News 5’s parent company Scripps, which Google has made a multiyear financial commitment to underwrite, places veteran print journalists in TV newsrooms.

 

Glad they found a spot for her, but going from print to broadcast TV seems like jumping from a sinking ship to one that is foundering.

2 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

Glad they found a spot for her, but going from print to broadcast TV seems like jumping from a sinking ship to one that is foundering.

Wow. Just WOW. “Found a spot for her” - yes, how charitable of them as she clearly hasn’t been one of the best around and perfecting her career and craft 🙄  Also, saying Crain’s is just a print company is right up there with saying Sherwin-Williams only sells house paint. 

10 minutes ago, MayDay said:

Wow. Just WOW. “Found a spot for her” - yes, how charitable of them as she clearly hasn’t been one of the best around and perfecting her career and craft 🙄  Also, saying Crain’s is just a print company is right up there with saying Sherwin-Williams only sells house paint. 

 

The news release says the program is designed for print journalists.

Cleveland Magazine owner buys Cleveland Scene

SCOTT SUTTELL 

January 05, 2024

 

Quote

Great Lakes Publishing - the company that owns Cleveland Magazine, Lake Erie Living and other publications - on Friday, Jan. 5, announced it has acquired alternative publication Cleveland Scene. Terms of the deal, which is effective immediately, weren't disclosed.

 

...

 

Great Lakes Publishing said in a news release that Scene, under the leadership of editor-in-chief Vince Grzegorek, "has built a substantial print and digital audience that when combined with the Cleveland Magazine audience will reach well over one million readers and online users per month."

 

...

 

In August 2023, Euclid Media Group, then publisher of Scene and several other alternative weekly newspapers, broke up and sold off its media properties to Andrew Zelman, former owner and CEO of Euclid Media. Since then, Zelman led Scene as president and publisher under its new owner, Chava Communications.

 

https://www.crainscleveland.com/media/great-lakes-publishing-buys-cleveland-scene

I saw it. When technology, innovation and ability combine to cause a business model to fade in relevance, the defenders of that model often don't adjust well or at all.

 

I'm sure Advance Publications doesn't like getting scooped by the increasing numbers of small businesses like mine. But the independent newsblog is the future and the big, old, lumbering newspaper is a dinosaur. If I was Advance's advertisers, readers and journalists, I'd be upset too that they've clung to an information resource that isn't being resourceful about providing information anymore.

The Dubious KJP lol... I mean it worked for the Notorious BIG  ;)

 

Edited February 10, 20241 yr by buckeye1

PD stinks. signal, neotrans - and others - now have better reporting and more insightful analysis. scene isn't very good either, tbh.

4 hours ago, KJP said:

I saw it. When technology, innovation and ability combine to cause a business model to fade in relevance, the defenders of that model often don't adjust well or at all.

 

I see it in industry and call it Ludd's Law.   When technology makes a given skill less relevant, those with that skill will disparage the technology.   

The thing that really gets me is the condescension to the reader. It’s not like this was some salacious rumor about a public official that risked defamation. The team and city both put our statements and at that point it is surely fair game. If you think the reporting is dubious, go out and tell us the truth. Or at least do your own reporting and tell us what you find. 
 

This reaction to me basically said to readers that the PD isn’t very good at its job. Which is too bad because it has such a storied history. 

I'm dying hahaha. Good to see lots of support for KJP.  

 

The PD missed the story because they were "too busy listing the top 75 brands of supermarket ketchup."

 

 

It's sad, I'm not sure when Quinn became the editor, but Advance cannibalized itself by making cleveland.com a separate (importantly non-union) news room and mostly free. It was seemingly a short-sighted play to cut the experienced, union staff at the PD and now they're left with mad-lib writers regurgitating the same police blotter and yelp ranking stories. 

 

End of rant, apologies. I never don't get upset when I'm reminded about the demise of the Plain Dealer. I know all local papers are struggling and there are structural issues with the industry, but seems like obviously poor management accelerated the decline. 

Edited February 11, 20241 yr by Luke_S

1 hour ago, Luke_S said:

It's sad, I'm not sure when Quinn became the editor, but Advance cannibalized itself by making cleveland.com a separate (importantly non-union) news room and mostly free. It was seemingly a short-sighted play to cut the experienced, union staff at the PD and now they're left with mad-lib writers regurgitating the same police blotter and yelp ranking stories. 

Since 2011 as the "Assistant Managing Editor/News", according to his Linked In bio. 

@KJPI think it just comes across as an #okboomer, tacky, spiteful unnecessary swipe, but wish I could say I'm surprised. There have been some wonderfully talented people there (Michelle Jarboe immediately comes to mind) who made an effort to be - if not more engaged with their readers, at least approachable to people like us who are passionate about all the things we enjoy on this forum.

 

Imagine if those in the other camp actually made an effort to connect with their readership or at the very least, not have an arrogant/beyond reproach vibe when "outsiders" like us make an attempt to connect. Who knows, maybe collaboration with someone outside their bubble could result in a net positive? 

 

There are a lot of things I love about this city/region but the big fish/small pond silo mentality that certain people in certain industries continue to perpetuate is beyond tiresome.

Everyone on this site knows the value and integrity of @KJP's work, so I'm preaching to the choir here, but I think the most pathetic part of Chris Quinn's piece was this: "We have a lot of facts that fly in the face of this story...We know that Jimmy Haslam himself said less than a year ago: 'Having the stadium down there seems to be in everybody’s best interest.'"

 

Oh, Jimmy Haslam himself said that?  Then it must be true.  Powerful people never say one thing and do another.  Is this what PD journalists are supposed to do, unquestionably accept public statements?  The whole piece was whiny but this particular line was the most sycophantic. 

The overall message I got from the editorial was that the PD as an entity typically waits for the power brokers to tell them what to print. 

 

This time they were all caught off guard by an actual reporter reporting on this newsworthy event and so we are witnessing them all looking even dumber than normal. 

4 hours ago, surfohio said:

The overall message I got from the editorial was that the PD as an entity typically waits for the power brokers to tell them what to print. 

 

This time they were all caught off guard by an actual reporter reporting on this newsworthy event and so we are witnessing them all looking even dumber than normal. 

 

There's parallels to Matt Drudge's 1998 scoop, which pretty much changed everything.

5 hours ago, surfohio said:

The overall message I got from the editorial was that the PD as an entity typically waits for the power brokers to tell them what to print. 

 

 

Which is what the likes of the Haslams, Sherwin-Williams, Cavaliers, Cleveland-Cliffs, etc. want. They and others have urged me not to write what I was going to write based on my reliable sources and even public records, and instead gave me BS (sometimes including outright lies) to share instead. The Browns and especially Sherwin-Williams were very angry with me for not sharing what they wanted me to share. For the most part, they've cut off all communication with me. But it's not much of a loss considering what they were sharing before. My new partnership with Cleveland Magazine has been interesting. I wrote scoops that affected some of their advertisers who then tried to put pressure on the editorial staff. I was able to share public records with the editors to show the advertisers that they were in fact pursuing a development project. Their advertisers backed off. I don't have that problem with my advertisers because I don't know who my advertisers are until their ads show up on my site. All of it is aggregated through a advertising platform I use -- called Mediavine. Advertisers do choose which sites to put content on, but it's based mostly on a site's analytics. There is a way to specifically place an my site by name. But if they don't like what I'm writing, they can go put it on someone else's site.

3 hours ago, KJP said:

 

Which is what the likes of the Haslams, Sherwin-Williams, Cavaliers, Cleveland-Cliffs, etc. want. They and others have urged me not to write what I was going to write based on my reliable sources and even public records, and instead gave me BS (sometimes including outright lies) to share instead. The Browns and especially Sherwin-Williams were very angry with me for not sharing what they wanted me to share. For the most part, they've cut off all communication with me. But it's not much of a loss considering what they were sharing before. My new partnership with Cleveland Magazine has been interesting. I wrote scoops that affected some of their advertisers who then tried to put pressure on the editorial staff. I was able to share public records with the editors to show the advertisers that they were in fact pursuing a development project. Their advertisers backed off. I don't have that problem with my advertisers because I don't know who my advertisers are until their ads show up on my site. All of it is aggregated through a advertising platform I use -- called Mediavine. Advertisers do choose which sites to put content on, but it's based mostly on a site's analytics. There is a way to specifically place an my site by name. But if they don't like what I'm writing, they can go put it on someone else's site.

 

The thing is, that’s the way it’s always been.   The mainstream media always reported the news from a specific perspective, and while there were some differences between approved narratives, for the most part that’s what got out there.   What I call “infrastructure collectivization”, the limitation of choices by the cost of widespread dissemination of information, made it feasible for powerful entities to control The Narrative.

 

That became tougher to do as internet usage among the public increased, and by the mid 1990s it was becoming very difficult.    Two events (as alluded to above) were symbolic of the breaking of that logjam:

 

1998:   The media always covered for Presidential peccadillos, JFK and LBJ being classic examples.   The containment of “bimbo eruptions” and such was an important part of certain candidates’ teams, and a big part of their job was media influence.   Clinton’s team was good at it, and the fact that the media in general liked him made their job easier.    However, they missed the increasing influence of blogs and their synergy with public fora.  An independent blogger named Matt Drudge found out about a situation the mainstream media didn’t want to touch, wrote it up, and it spread through places like AOL message boards and Free Republic.  The rest is the kind of history that was never meant to be.

 

2004:  The fora that were already useful as a way to spread what the powers that be call “malinformation” (i.e. true things that aren’t supposed to be known) came into their own as methods for debunking mainstream institutions.    CBS News put out a story that, if confirmed, could have been damaging to the Bush campaign.   Its evidence, which they called confirmed as genuine, was called into question in real time during the show and confirmed as clear forgeries later.    While the mainstream outlets were pretty much on the same team, they did jockey for position so of course the others piled on.

 

Today, there are many sources and while it makes it possible to live in an echo chamber, the smart observer trusts nothing (especially what they want to believe) and follows a wide variety of sources.

 

That’s far superior to the limited sources some bemoan the decline of.   Except of course for those seeking to concentrate power.

Edited February 12, 20241 yr by E Rocc

^ yes and as you are well aware unvetted ‘news’ from unknowable sources is a feeding freezy for conspiracy minded folks. 😂

 

that said, as a whole we’re better off having far, far more sources today thx to the interwebs, its just much more up to the individual reader to cast far and wide for news of the day and not become silo’d.

We're weaker as a society with such degraded local media. Below are few examples of coverage over the years that has been nominated for Pulitzers. Strong newspapers in the olden days had the resources to investigate these stories and withstand pressure from outside to stop them. I support independent media and am grateful for it, but it's not fair to expect a handful of reporters to have the same ability to investigate and report as hundreds. It was a different time, and it surely wasnt' without flaws, but I don't think we're better off without these strong local news sources.

 

 

Alison Grant of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

For articles uncovering corrupt dealings between contractors and city officials in the suburb of Beachwood that resulted in indictments and significant reforms.

 

Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

For their series of stories exposing abuses by Ohio doctors and hospitals, which resulted in significant reforms in the state's regulatory system.

 

Dave Davis and Ted Wendling of The Cleveland Plain Dealer

For their series about victims of botched radiation therapy and lax regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies.

58 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

^ yes and as you are well aware unvetted ‘news’ from unknowable sources is a feeding freezy for conspiracy minded folks. 😂

 

that said, as a whole we’re better off having far, far more sources today thx to the interwebs, its just much more up to the individual reader to cast far and wide for news of the day and not become silo’d.

 

Once it becomes clear that the mainstream media is covering up things, that's when the "conspiracy theories" start.   When too damned many of the latter turn out to be closer to the truth than The Narrative, that's what drives them.

 

The Wuhan lab leak is the classic example.   That theory, for unknown reasons, was suppressed not only by the MSM but by major social media.   Until it turned out to be not only plausible but likely.

 

The difference between now and the past is now the challenges to the official versions of events are more likely to gain traction.

Edited February 12, 20241 yr by E Rocc

18 minutes ago, coneflower said:

We're weaker as a society with such degraded local media. Below are few examples of coverage over the years that has been nominated for Pulitzers. Strong newspapers in the olden days had the resources to investigate these stories and withstand pressure from outside to stop them. I support independent media and am grateful for it, but it's not fair to expect a handful of reporters to have the same ability to investigate and report as hundreds. It was a different time, and it surely wasnt' without flaws, but I don't think we're better off without these strong local news sources.

 

 

Alison Grant of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

For articles uncovering corrupt dealings between contractors and city officials in the suburb of Beachwood that resulted in indictments and significant reforms.

 

Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

For their series of stories exposing abuses by Ohio doctors and hospitals, which resulted in significant reforms in the state's regulatory system.

 

Dave Davis and Ted Wendling of The Cleveland Plain Dealer

For their series about victims of botched radiation therapy and lax regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies.

 

What we are not better off with is the "main" source of news going ad hominem with words like "dubious" when they got scooped at best, or caught suppressing stories at worst.

Yes but maybe @conefloweris talking about the time when newspapers had legions of reporters which allowed for them to do real reporting and editors who demanded truthful articles. That's not the case today and so what we get is limited reporting and examples like the "dubious" comment. The only dubious reporting here is the weak PD.

6 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

Once it becomes clear that the mainstream media is covering up things, that's when the "conspiracy theories" start.   When too damned many of the latter turn out to be closer to the truth than The Narrative, that's what drives them.

 

The Wuhan lab leak is the classic example.   That theory, for unknown reasons, was suppressed not only by the MSM but by major social media.   Until it turned out to be not only plausible but likely.

 

The difference between now and the past is now the challenges to the official versions of events are more likely to gain traction.

 

well of course, when you solely focus on cherry picking the handful of twittery wins for your examples there, vs your completely ignoring the vast majority of the landslide ocean of your right winger conspiracy losses, from the seditious and phoney sore loser nonsense about election malfeasance, to birther bs, to your qanon and on and on. not to mention, much of it promoted from outside the usa mind you.

 

also, its not that main stream media of the past withheld kennedy flings, its that they had actual editorial oversight, fact checking, a chain of command news dept and a point of view. in other words, that they got it exactly right almost all the time. all of that kind of oversight is out the window today.

Jim Donovan to retire from WKYC,

 

https://www.wkyc.com/article/entertainment/television/jim-donovan-retirement-wkyc-cleveland-channel-3-news-sports-anchor/95-7eb461dc-b705-44cc-852c-735792d496e7

^ good for him. here’s hoping he’s got more quality time because I get the idea those network jobs are pretty demanding 

Today, I just learned about Roldo Bartimole and his "Point of View." Forgive my ignorance, but I blame it on his relevance predating my birth.

 

What's the consensus on this guy?

 

Based on some brief digging, I don't really have a nice way to say my opinion. To put it bluntly, he seems miserable, self-righteous and like he thinks he's the smartest guy in every room. As someone who prides themself on being optimistic, especially about Cleveland, he's the antithesis of everything I believe in. Also, a personal endorsement by Ralph Nader did not really helping my opinion of him. This excerpt from Sam Allard's 2018 article on Roldo (now with Axios Cleveland) sums up everything I read:

 

Roldo's unrelenting criticism led leaders to wave him off: He was regarded by many as a contrarian blinkered by his world view, and who therefore only saw the negative.

 

As if to prove a point, in 1968, a City Club member asked whether or not Roldo could name anything that the media or the government was doing that met his approval. Roldo denied that he should have to.

 

"You can always find something going on that's good," he said. "And I don't think we ought to spend our time saying what's good when there's so much that's wrong. I don't care whether the media does something nice ... I don't think there's any meaning in pointing out what's good about the media because if they're doing their job, they're supposed to do it."

Sam has written a few things about Roldo, and he seems to really admire him. As subscriber to the Axios Cleveland Daily Newsletter, this explains the beef I have with Sam's writing. While I generally think he's a good journalist and certainly a big proponent of Cleveland, his coverage and opinion pieces have a lot of populist, anti-establishment sympathies that I find pretty lazy and pessimistic. I can see where Roldo's influence has rubbed off on Sam with his coverage of the Mayor/City Council. Everything is framed as deep rooted corruption. While there's plenty of things to critique about our local government's integrity, lets not pretend like we are living in the Cleveland of the 70's and 80's, or hell, The Jackson andministration. At least Roldo was reporting when we were a mob-run town. Don't get me started on his writing on housing policy.

 

With that rant out of my system, what's the forum's opinion on Roldo?

 

*Accidentally posted twice*

Edited June 13, 20241 yr by Zagapi
Accidentally posted twice

On 6/13/2024 at 11:54 AM, Zagapi said:

Today, I just learned about Roldo Bartimole and his "Point of View." Forgive my ignorance, but I blame it on his relevance predating my birth.

 

What's the consensus on this guy?

 

Based on some brief digging, I don't really have a nice way to say my opinion. To put it bluntly, he seems miserable, self-righteous and like he thinks he's the smartest guy in every room. As someone who prides themself on being optimistic, especially about Cleveland, he's the antithesis of everything I believe in. Also, a personal endorsement by Ralph Nader did not really helping my opinion of him. This excerpt from Sam Allard's 2018 article on Roldo (now with Axios Cleveland) sums up everything I read:

 

Roldo's unrelenting criticism led leaders to wave him off: He was regarded by many as a contrarian blinkered by his world view, and who therefore only saw the negative.

 

As if to prove a point, in 1968, a City Club member asked whether or not Roldo could name anything that the media or the government was doing that met his approval. Roldo denied that he should have to.

 

"You can always find something going on that's good," he said. "And I don't think we ought to spend our time saying what's good when there's so much that's wrong. I don't care whether the media does something nice ... I don't think there's any meaning in pointing out what's good about the media because if they're doing their job, they're supposed to do it."

Sam has written a few things about Roldo, and he seems to really admire him. As subscriber to the Axios Cleveland Daily Newsletter, this explains the beef I have with Sam's writing. While I generally think he's a good journalist and certainly a big proponent of Cleveland, his coverage and opinion pieces have a lot of populist, anti-establishment sympathies that I find pretty lazy and pessimistic. I can see where Roldo's influence has rubbed off on Sam with his coverage of the Mayor/City Council. Everything is framed as deep rooted corruption. While there's plenty of things to critique about our local government's integrity, lets not pretend like we are living in the Cleveland of the 70's and 80's, or hell, The Jackson andministration. At least Roldo was reporting when we were a mob-run town. Don't get me started on his writing on housing policy.

 

With that rant out of my system, what's the forum's opinion on Roldo?

 

I agree with everything you wrote. While I acknowledge the need for critical media reporting and commentary, if a person never has anything good to say it is easy for me to disregard their opinions. 

Roldo is a pretty old man at this point. He is old school and his point of view, I imagine, is that it’s not his job to make anyone feel good. His job is to tell the people the truth as he sees it. It’s honestly pretty incredible that he’s been annoying civic leaders as far back as 1968.
 

I don’t have any problem with him and think voices like his are important. Always being negative worked against him, but then again the dude is pretty old and seen some BS. There were others like him that are no longer with us. Today’s media landscape is much different and I think sadly so. 
 

 

On 6/13/2024 at 11:54 AM, Zagapi said:

Today, I just learned about Roldo Bartimole and his "Point of View." Forgive my ignorance, but I blame it on his relevance predating my birth.

 

What's the consensus on this guy?

 

Based on some brief digging, I don't really have a nice way to say my opinion. To put it bluntly, he seems miserable, self-righteous and like he thinks he's the smartest guy in every room. As someone who prides themself on being optimistic, especially about Cleveland, he's the antithesis of everything I believe in. Also, a personal endorsement by Ralph Nader did not really helping my opinion of him. This excerpt from Sam Allard's 2018 article on Roldo (now with Axios Cleveland) sums up everything I read:

 

Roldo's unrelenting criticism led leaders to wave him off: He was regarded by many as a contrarian blinkered by his world view, and who therefore only saw the negative.

 

As if to prove a point, in 1968, a City Club member asked whether or not Roldo could name anything that the media or the government was doing that met his approval. Roldo denied that he should have to.

 

"You can always find something going on that's good," he said. "And I don't think we ought to spend our time saying what's good when there's so much that's wrong. I don't care whether the media does something nice ... I don't think there's any meaning in pointing out what's good about the media because if they're doing their job, they're supposed to do it."

Sam has written a few things about Roldo, and he seems to really admire him. As subscriber to the Axios Cleveland Daily Newsletter, this explains the beef I have with Sam's writing. While I generally think he's a good journalist and certainly a big proponent of Cleveland, his coverage and opinion pieces have a lot of populist, anti-establishment sympathies that I find pretty lazy and pessimistic. I can see where Roldo's influence has rubbed off on Sam with his coverage of the Mayor/City Council. Everything is framed as deep rooted corruption. While there's plenty of things to critique about our local government's integrity, lets not pretend like we are living in the Cleveland of the 70's and 80's, or hell, The Jackson andministration. At least Roldo was reporting when we were a mob-run town. Don't get me started on his writing on housing policy.

 

With that rant out of my system, what's the forum's opinion on Roldo?

 

 

I should hate everything the guy stood for, and I pretty much never agreed with him back in the day.  He was indeed self righteous, negative, and highly impressed with himself.  He crossed the line to “Get off my lawn!” long before he became largely irrelevant.   

 

That said, he was said to be a good guy personally, able to get along well with the people he loudly disagreed with in print.   That’s an art that’s largely lost these days.   There’s no question he was a really hard worker, stubborn, and determined.   The kind of guy you love when he’s on your side.  He built himself up from not much, and kept at it.

 

I used to compare Angie Schmitt of Streetsblog to him, though I’ve gained some respect for her in recent years.    Another comparison could be Mike Trivvisonno, though both of them would likely have taken offense.   They certainly came from different directions.   Roldo was known to insist that corporate headquarters should always be downtown, as if it were a Commandment in no need of justification.   Triv pretty much single handedly kept the most powerful AM station in the region in the suburbs until technology reached the point where he could broadcast from home.   Roldo had his print media and had to be a pest, and was good at it.  Triv had a 50,000 watt blowtorch during peak radio time, and people came to him.  Otherwise, similar approaches.

 

One good thing about Angie and Triv was they both could and would change their views and approach due to facts and experience.   I’m not sure Roldo has ever managed that.

Edited July 16, 2024Jul 16 by E Rocc