More awards the Enquirer didn't win
The American Society of Newspaper Editors awards for distinguished writing and photography.
posted by Newsache at 8:52 PM
NewsAche is the feeling you get
when you read the Cincinnati Enquirer,
the worst newspaper in the United States.
21 Comments:
2/27/07
Finalists announced in 2006 APSO newspaper contest.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Finalists were announced Monday in the Associated Press Society of Ohio’s 2006 newspaper competition.
The awards in actual order of finish – first, second and third places and honorable mentions – will be announced at the annual APSO annual convention April 22 in Columbus. The General Excellence, First Amendment and Special Recognition winners also will be announced at the meeting.
Seventy-two daily newspapers submitted 3,238 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics and photos from 2006.
Entries were judged by editors from The Denver Post, Division V; The Olympian, Olympia, Wash., Division IV; The Telegraph, Alton, Ill., and the Jacksonville (Ill.) Journal-Courier, Division III; the Potomac News, Woodbridge, Va., Division II; and The Daily Record, Dunn, N.C., Division I.
Finalists in the 2006 APSO newspaper contest: DIVISION V, Newspapers with a daily circulation of more than 75,000!
Best Web Site: The Columbus Dispatch; Akron Beacon Journal; Dayton Daily News; The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Best Breaking News: The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Marcus Fiesel”; The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “Rain and Fury”; The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Rapper T.I. Caught in Gunfight”; The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “A Fallen Hero.”
Best Investigative Reporting: The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Special Report: Eminent Domain”; John Higgins, Akron Beacon Journal, “Degrees of Justice”; Mike Wagner and Russell Carollo, Dayton Daily News, “Lethal Protection”; Sandra Livingston and Christopher Evans, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “Millions for Land; No New Jobs for City.”
Best Business Writer: Alexander Coolidge, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Geoff Dutton, The Columbus Dispatch; Paul Wilson, The Columbus Dispatch; Peter Krouse, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.
Best Editorial Cartoonist: Jeff Darcy, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer; Jim Borgman, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Kirk Walters, The (Toledo) Blade; Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News.
Best Editorial Writer: Byron McCauley, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Mary Mogan Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch; Rick Woodruff, The Columbus Dispatch; Tom Walton and Dave Shutt, The (Toledo) Blade.
Best Sports Writer: Doug Lesmerises, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer; Dustin Dow, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Jodie Valade, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer; Mike Wagner, The Columbus Dispatch.
Best Photographer: Fred Squillante, The Columbus Dispatch; Glenn Hartong, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Joshua Gunter, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.
Best News Writer: Christopher Evans, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer; Eileen Kelley, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Holly R. Zachariah, The Columbus Dispatch; Robin Erb, The (Toledo) Blade.
Best Game Story: Bill Koch, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Wild Ending Sours Bearcats’ Jubilation”; Dave Hackenberg, The (Toledo) Blade, “Tiger Has No Peer – His Age”; Matt Markey, The (Toledo) Blade, “Backyard to Brickyard.”
Best Special Sports Section: The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “2006 High School and College Preview”; The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Baseball by the Book”; The Columbus Dispatch, “Ohio State-Michigan Preview”; The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “The Game.”
Best Daily Sports Section: The Cincinnati Enquirer; The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer; The Columbus Dispatch.
Best Spot News Photo: Glenn Hartong, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Eight Lives Left”; Jeff Hinckley, The Columbus Dispatch, “Cable Car”; Leigh Taylor, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “A Caring Kiss”; Phil Masturzo, Akron Beacon Journal, “Fatal Fire.”
Best General News Photo: Craig Ruttle, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Cleanup”; Eric Albrecht, The Columbus Dispatch, “Veterans Return on Veterans Day”; Glenn Hartong, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Lead’s Toll.”
Best Feature Photo: Craig Ruttle, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “An Evening Paddle”; Ed Suba Jr., Akron Beacon Journal, “Chess”; Joshua Gunter, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, “Save the Last Dance for Me.”
Best Sports Photo: Andy Morrison, The (Toledo) Blade, “Victorious Wrestler”; Fred Squillante, The Columbus Dispatch, “Eye on the Ball”; Jeff Swinger, The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Dustin’s Determination.”
And finally:
Best whiner who stands by and belly aches while other journalists work their butts off for their craft, regardless of their corprate ownership or current conditions of their industry”: Cincy Newsache!
State awards are cheap. Come back when you can go head to head with the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and win something national.
Uh, take your head out of your righteous, miserable, angry ars, pal. You don't live in those great cities with those great baseball teams and/or newspapers. Apples to apples. You started this blog with intelligent, fair criticism. You are making an ars out of yourself lately. Go to sleep. Or better yet, go to work.
Did someone at the Enquirer have a SERIES of bad days?
And Anonymous... you are completely correct: We don't love in a city with a great newspaper!
I've said it before but it bears repeating: I marvel at how the Enquirer employees always come on here and get snippy at News Ache's author. Perhaps if you all showed the same disdain and backbone to your editors instead of being content to be lazy and overpaid, your paper would be good on a consistent basis.
There is a reason that while most Gannett properties have reader penetration levels between 60 percent and 80 percent, the Enquirer's is about 20 percent.
It is a sub-standard product.
What you were not told in prior post about Enquirer showing in AP contest:
Number of finalists per paper:
Columbus Dispatch: 29
Plain Dealer: 28
Cincinnati Enquirer: 19
Dayton Daily News: 12
Akron Beacon Journal: 10
Toledo Blade: 8
And given the category - newspapers with a daily circulation of more than 75,000 - these are the only six papers that would even qualify for these awards.
So the Enquirer has a 2/3 chance to garner at least an honorable mention win in any of their 15 nominated categories.
You can count on the accolades being prominently featured in their April 23 edition.
The anonymous person who referred to Enquirer reporters as lazy and overpaid is out of line. They're doing work that's increasingly irrelevant in a workplace that's increasingly demoralized. The vast majority of them give their best in spite of that.
I just recently learned of this blog, and after reading quite a few of the posts, as well as the comments, I'm struck by how fun it must be to take no-holds-barred shots at the bosses without having to take responsibility.
Congratulations -- you have successfully used technology to turn journalistic angst into a spectator sport. I wonder what it accomplishes, though. Do you think the honchos in Northern Virginia are going to wake up one day, read your words of wisdom and triple the Enquirer's staff?
When you get tired of beating this dead horse, maybe you could try something more productive, like giving us the thoughtful news coverage that the Enquirer lacks, or finding a job that doesn't make you miserable.
But I'm probably missing the point of a blog ...
Cindi,
This blog can accomplish several points:
1. Encourage the many good people the Enquirer, including those from departments other that News, to step up and be heard. Though, I am sure that many fear reprisals and weigh standing up with not being able to support their families.
2. Expose upper management, including those at the top and in departments other than news, for shoddy practices. If the real purpose of the Enquirer was to provide news and information, every department should be in support of that effort and in doing so, ad sales would be supported naturally. Obviously, that isn't the case. Years of poor reproduction, circulation tactics and sales techniques among other things all contribute to an increasingly poor product. The news folks are the public "face" to the organization so they are the most likely to take the biggest hits.
3. Inform and allow use to those in the public who care to take advantage of the forum. Allow them to speak reasonably uncensored. It shows that the communities in and around Cincinnati would LIKE a good newspaper and related website, if only we had them.
Although at times NewsAche and those that comment appear to be beating the Enquirer down, the opposite is in reality the truth. The problems aren't with the majority of Enquirees, it is with the direction that they are being forced to comply with. Best example that glared at the public: Forcing the publishing of the juror listings despite attempts to prevent it. Surely though, there are those in all the departments that have dealt with heavy-handedly and a crappy product is what we have for it.
This comment area should be retitled:
"Shhhhh. We do not talk about things like this in Cincinnati."
Good points Cindi. We at the Enquirer loved Newsache when it started. It was wonderfully written, thoughtful criticism. Now it's sunk to the Beacon and Whistleblower depths...tossing hand grenades...and allowing personal attacks on individuals who have the guts to use their real names, as indicated above. At least Haap and Schifrin, two, while they have adopted personas, don't hide their identities. Come out of hiding, clean it or get back to what you do (did) best. Judge the journalism. Do we really care what editors from the Alton Telegraph and Dunn Daily Record think of Ohio newspapers?
Anyone notice that "we at the Enquirer" in the comment above is anonymous? Criticize Newsache all you want for "hiding" when that is exactly what was done by the person posting the same criticism. Hmmmmm.
And, anonymous "we at the enquirer", is it is the comments that you find bothersome? NewsAche doesn't appear to be the author of those. Which is it that bothers you so?
Hey anonymous "we at the Enquirer", hasn't allowing personal attacks on those that choose to use their real names become an Enquirer practice? See publishing jury listings or the Enquirer "comments" with each story.
Newsache has written nothing here that he/she hasn't written about in the past--awards that the Enquirer didn't win. Why now do you find fault with it?
Since YOU haven't used your name, is your call to the carpet credible?
Why not make the Enquirer better by spending less time and energy on NewsAche's blog and using your time for more productive things like improving your newspaper?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I deleted one comment because it was a personal comment left anonymously, against someone who had the courage to use her name. That won't be allowed here.
If the Enquirer wants to increase circulation, why do they have just one local columnist, the ultra-right wing Peter Bronson? In a major metro area with a city that is something like 43% African American, the only local commentary comes from Bronson. His bizarre take on the Cincinnati riots would be enough to alienate most readers. I cannot fathom how having such a polarizing figure as the sole columnist will help to build up readership. When you read Bronson, it's like reading old editorials from Alabama during Jim Crow. I have lived in many other areas of the country and never seen anything like this. But no one seems to make noise about this state of affairs, either. Is the entire city that passive?
Why doesn't the paper attempt to provide even a semblance of balance and alternate him with someone from the reality based community? I just ask this because I don't understand the business decision behind this.
Cinci Andrews's comments have the familiar ring of many media professionals who don't like blogs.
The problem for them is that what was once a one-way mirror, in which the professionals had complete control over the message has now changed. Impudent outsiders who previously only had a voice on the letters page now can talk back to professionals like Andrews and in full view of everyone.
Her gripes about anonymity are also familiar - and tired. The beauty of blogging is that it's a more level playing field of ideas. "Anonymous" or "Joe Blow" or "Cindi Andrews" are only as good as their ideas.
Does Ms. Andrews really "(miss) the point of a blog"? Or does she just not like the facts that we rabble now have a chance to tell her and other media professionals what we think?
Is there lots of garbage posted on blogs? Obviously. Like democracy, the blogosphere is often messy. But
the opportunities they present for dramatic, positive change to corrupt systems (the Bush administration, the Enquirer) far outweigh any inherent drawbacks.
In my experience, those who resent or "miss the point" of the blogosphere simply do not welcome this new untidy, unbridled, spectacular flow of opinion and information - a/k/a free speech.
Viva free speech! Viva the blogs! And down with low expectations for Cincinnati media which Ms. Andrews appears to have internalzed.
I've deleted a second comment, at the request of the commenter.
Thank you for upholding dignity by deleting the two comments. The first was a underhanded personal attack on another simply for posting a comment here. The second was a defense that unfortunately reiterated part of the attack.
There was only one place that the first one could have come from. That is, from someone aware of those details and that person would have to have some interest in reading this blog. That combination had to have come from the inside of the Enquirer. It was mean spirited and the sort of attack that will keep others anonymous.
Thanks also for the deleting the reply at the request of the poster. That was kind as well as the right thing to do.
Not only do you write interesting, well-thought out stories backed with facts, you also set an example of trustworthiness. Many of us look forward to the next one, and there is plenty of subject matter with the worst newspaper in the United States.
Joe Wessels, is that you?
Dear anonymous Enquiree who asked who posted the last message, someone already asked this:
"Why not make the Enquirer better by spending less time and energy on NewsAche's blog and using your time for more productive things like improving your newspaper?"
Could it be that this blog holds more truth than anything you have to read?
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