Disorder in the court

The Enquirer noticed that an important legal case is being argued in federal district court in Cincinnati, but its story was flat and colorless. Stories in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times are better, and the Times even had an op-ed article on Wednesday morning. The Enquirer lacks the kind of pride that insists its articles about local events be better than those by out-of-town media. Any intern could have written what the Enquirer published.

Also:

• The Dean of Cincinnati has a nice bit about the Enquirer's lack of concern for journalism ethics. The paper earned national notoriety last year when its "Grandma in Iraq" blog turned out to be written an Army PR employee. The Dean came up with documents that the Enquirer knew all along the woman's occupation. The Enquirer never contended it was unaware of her job, or that it tried to conceal her job. It's just that the editors were too dense to understand that it mattered. The Dean's documents show just how deeply the Enquirer disregarded any kind of ethical standard in this endeavor.
  
  
• The Enquirer editorial board keeps finding new ways not to say anything. Tuesday's editorial offered no concrete suggestion on helping the city's freezing homeless, and today's editorial repeats that sin. It hard to argue with a plea to help these people, but please, just take a god-damn stand and tell the city what you want done. Is the Enquirer letting the homeless take shelter in its lobby? I don't think so.