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Monday, April 10, 2006
Tom Callinan, Enquirer Editor, Starts Blog After Called To Task by “Editor & Publisher”
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Enquirer editor Tom Callinan entered the Cincinnati Blogosphere this weekend, after a week of bad publicity surrounding a propagandistic pro-war blog hosted on the Cincinnati.com servers. Callinan has been called to task from sources as far ranging as The Cincinnati Beacon to Editor and Publisher, the Wall Street Journal of the newspaper industry.
The first two posts on Callinan’s blog deal exhaustively with the Grandma pro-war blog scandals: “Blogging and citizen journalism,” and this untitled post about the end of Grandma’s blog.
Meanwhile, as the pro-war blog controversy has spread, Callinan has tried to re-direct accountability. In the E&P article, he is quoted:
“Should we have addressed the disclaimer issue from the start? Obviously, although she has not hidden her role,” Callinan said. “We’ve done that.”
Callinan stressed, however, that the blog is a separate entity from the Enquirer. He pointed out that, while both are on Cincinnati.com, the blog and the Enquirer’s Web site, are separate. “There are a lot of things on the Cincinnati.com portal that our newsroom is not generating,” he added. “This one was just one more voice.”
I’m troubled by Callinan’s desire to separate The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com as distinct and separate entities. In his scramble to cover himself for this Grandma blog blunder, it seems Callinan makes more mistakes.
For example, in the first line above, Callinan uses the inclusive pronoun “we” before attempting to separate Cincinnati.com from The Enquirer. But that potentially minor point aside, how separate can these organizations really be?
Scroll to the bottom of the Cincinnati.com index page. You will find this:
Copyright 1995-2006. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.
Use of this site signifies agreement to terms of service updated 12/19/2002.
So The Enquirer maintains copyright over Cincinnati.com.
In this link, you can see Cincinnati.com’s address listed as 312 Elm Street. That’s the Enquirer Building.
Finally, both enquirer.com and cincinnati.com have the same registrant information listed through WhoIs (which I access via Go Daddy). The registration for both includes this address:
Cincinnati.Com/The Cincinnati Enquirer
2055 Reading Road
Suite 500
Cincinnati OH 45202 US
In any event, a minor point, perhaps—but I think it disingenuous of Callinan to keep pointing at some kind of organizational chasm between The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. After all, it was nothing for him to get one of these blogs as Enquirer editor. It may prove interesting to see what he has to say.
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10 Apr 2006 at 10:20 am | #
Troubling… to say the least. And to contemplate the matter more, it is us, the people of Cincinnati/Hamilton County that gets forced feed their half truths and non-disclaimers. This isn’t information to make an educated opinion. It’s propaganda to sway our thinking. And people wonder what is wrong with our community… a big part of the answer can be found at 312 Elm Street.
10 Apr 2006 at 01:01 pm | #
I think you should publish Mr. Callinan’s home phone number so people could call him at home to discuss this at their leisure.
10 Apr 2006 at 04:41 pm | #
To his credit, Mr. Callinan has extended this invitation to bloggers:
If Grandma in Iraq (who is a civilian public affairs officer with the military) can stand up and be heard, so can those who protest the war by posting comments. Or, how about a counter-balancing blog? Any volunteers?
It could be exceedingly worthwhile for thoughtful bloggers to respond to Mr. Callinan’s offer and to start a new blog on the Enquirer’s real estate. When it comes to free speech, the more the better.
Here’s the Enquirer’s contact page. I say, quit bitching and start pitching!
10 Apr 2006 at 04:56 pm | #
I’d blog the Iraq war with them if they set me up in Iraq. I couldn’t do it for free though, as I am not receiving a pay check from the U.S. Army.
10 Apr 2006 at 07:20 pm | #
Here you go Andrew…best of luck and keep your head down.
http://iraq.jobs.monster.com/
ha ha
10 Apr 2006 at 09:43 pm | #
The Beacon just got big props for helping to bust “Grandma in Iraq” from Talking Points Muckraker, Josh Marshall’s companion blog to to Talking Points Memo. Way to go, Dean!
12 Apr 2006 at 01:31 am | #
I think you should launch the boycott soon. I know you have your grand strategery, but the sooner you hit them below the belt, the sooner we can launch OPERATION OINK!