Rochester Writers

Amidst the motley crew of local auto lot spokespersons, only one can be king…and that one is a man I like to call Dick.

But neither is City News.  The difference is that the Insider knows it.  Like Hot Topic, City doesn't.

   You might as well start the clock on the demise of one or more zoned editions of the Messenger Post Newspapers now that they've started begging for money in a fashion that makes public television membership drives look dignified.

   I picked up my free copy -- yes, that would be problem number one -- of the Gates Chili Post this morning, and it contained a four-page insert, the front of which was an ad from MPN. The verbiage made it look like a request for suggestions on improving the chain of suburban Rochester weeklies, but it concluded with a solicitation for $5 donations to "further enhance the quality news and advertising product you've been accustomed to and make continual improvements . . . "

   Aside from the fact that the cost of the newsprint will undoubtedly be higher than the donations that the ad generates -- problem number two -- this was a horrible idea. Undignified and desperate, a plea in search of a plan.

   While some editions of the MPN remain solid, the Gates Chili Post has long been awful. Its coverage of Gates is sparse, letters to the editor dominated by a handful of community gadflys and its sports "news" just painful to read. If not for the weekly columns from the respective town supervisors to keep us abreast of the spectacular job they're doing, it would be a total loss.

   It's an edition that deserves to die and perhaps soon will. Going from a 75-cent newsstand price to free distribution wasn't so much a business strategy -- make up the circulation revenue loss by jacking up the advertising rate card on the premise that more people will pick up the paper -- as much as it was an admission that there was little that the reader would be willing to pay for.

    Put this dog out of its misery and sign me up for the local pennysaver instead.

I spellcheck my RocWiki posts in OpenOffice before posting them now. Today, OpenOffice kept trying to spell check 'intellegent' to 'telegenic' (instead of 'intelligent').  I tried it a few times, and I can't tell if it's some programmers joke, or if it really is the automated spell checker trying it's best. 

For some reason  which I can't readily  put into words, this resonates with some of my more pessimistic feelings about Rochester.

Though most of Rochester's talk radio time is occupied by nationally syndicated hosts, mid-day talk radio listeners  have two home-grown Bobs to choose from:  Smith and Lonsberry.  With such a variety of local talent, choosing the right Bob is tough.  Perhaps the following table will help you make this difficult decision:

You can read about him on the front page of today's New York Times .  Maybe you saw his appearance on CNN or his lengthy newsmaker interview on the News Hour yesterday.   He's Major General (Ret.) John Batiste,  former commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, and current president of Klein Steel Services.  He's a member of the group of retired generals calling for the ouster of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.  Whether you agree or disagree with his position, he's from Rochester and every major media outlet thinks he's news.

Except the D&C.  What's on their front page?  Yet another picture of J-Mac.

Strawberries and cream
Unwavering search for truth!
Dang... I miss your news!

Last week, the D&C declined to run a full-page ad criticizing Wegmans' egg farm, citing concern over the recent passing of Robert Wegman.  That's not surprising -- advertising isn't editorial, and I'm sure the D&C rejects ads all the time.  Nor is it shocking that we had to read about it in today's New York Times.  We can't expect the D&C to write a story every time they refuse to run an advertisement.

No, what's really chickenshit about this whole debacle is how the D&C's "news" division handled the underlying story, which is that a small-town jury let the lead activist off with a slap on the wrist.  The D&C ran a short "just the facts, ma'am" piece in Friday's section B.  That story was written by a wire service reporter and  neglects to interview either side or provide any other context for the reader.  The only way the D&C could have done less to cover the activist's trial would be to ignore it entirely.

In contrast, the Times' story is 1100 words longer, and it was written by one of their own reporters, who managed to interview the major figures involved in the case.  Not bad for a paper 300 miles from Rochester. 

Perhaps the D&C staff was tuckered out after long weeks of writing ever more orgiastic panegyrics to the memory of the Wegman  patriarch.   Whatever their excuse, this is the second time in a month that they've been scooped by the Times on a local story. 

If giving the maximum sentence to a first-time offender at the behest of a powerful corporation is judicial activism, I guess I'm against it. 

Also, it's interesting to compare that story to the D&C's seven little paragraphs buried deep in Section B.   Both the Finger Lake Times and the New York Times have out-reported them on this one.  Who's next -- The Penny Saver?

WBER just hit the 90's on their fundraiser.  They started playing music from '85 and are advancing one year per $1000 raised.   It's a creative approach for a good cause.  If you're interested, you can donate online.

For those of you who don't subscribe to the paper D&C, I wonder if you can pick which of the following pairings today's headline writer thought appropriate:

1. Senator Jim Alesi and Nelson Mandela
2. Teddy Geiger and Itzhak Perlman
3. J-Mac and Lance Armstrong

"Too big to be small, too small to be big." Those are the words of the owner of the Messenger Post Newspapers , who put those papers up for sale this week. The MPN publishes 10 suburban weekly papers and a daily in the Finger Lakes.

The MPN sale is one indicator change in the traditional media market. Yesterday's launch of Her Rochester, the new Gannett (owners of the D&C) free glossy magazine, is another. Her, and Gannett's other recent experiment, the Insider , represent a big investment in our local media market.

Both of these moves are attempts by large media companies to adjust to Internet-driven media market fragmentation in Rochester. The au courant explanation for this fragmentation is the Long Tail . Or, as the media outlets probably see it, the Rochester herd is no longer happy eating from the same trough.