The editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer concludes his foray into the blogosphere in defeat - and misses a unique opportunity to create dialogue between old and new media.

So after only two weeks, Tom Callinan, the Editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer has decided to give up blogging.  He reasons that the effort takes away from his “day job” running the newspaper, and furthermore, instead of helping to build an online community he is mostly just giving a forum for impolite, often anonymous people who attack him over the paper’s editorial policy.

Certainly Callinan’s “Letter to the Editor” blog served as a lighting-rod during its brief period of activity.  Many commenters used the opportunity to take the newspaper to task for deciding not to cover certain candidates or pet issues.  Others questioned the paper’s lack of journalistic “digging” when it comes to passing along the press releases or PR efforts of others.

My first inclination was to have sympathy with Callinan on the topic of anonymous commenters.  They, like some of the “named” commenters, felt entitled to use his blog to force discussion about sidebar topics.  I don’t have much respect for this tactic, since it amounts to hijacking Callinan’s audience by waving their arms in his front lawn, so to speak, instead of setting up shop down the street with their own blog.  (It’s much harder task to earn 25 regular blog readers than the anonymous complainers and sycophants who reload through-out the day to spar back and forth, as I’ve learned with my own blog, Spacetropic.)

But Callinan’s handling of this issue was inept.  He first vowed not to take on the off-topic or abusive commenters, then broke that rule immediately, and then announced he would moderate comments – before finally giving up entirely.  This hesitant inconsistency calls into question his judgment, which would seem to be the most important quality for an editor.  Blogs, like any other form of media, benefit from some kind of steady, constitutional purpose which guides the content.  If you’re going to run a forum for vox populi, do it wholeheartedly.  If you’re going to offer take-it-or-leave-it posts, go with that instead.  If you’re going to blog about your cat, your corporation, or Constitutional law - pursue these topics avidly.

Callinan missed a chance to create a medium by which editorial decisions could be thoughtfully explained and put in context - where some of the insider aspects of the newsroom could be articulated.  For a man who proudly took credit for a late-career degree in new media convergence he sure couldn’t see the possibilities.  And the absence of candid communication from legacy media powers like newspapers gives much more credibility for those who claim that their policies for disseminating information are strictly agenda-driven.  And in a city like Cincinnati this agenda, in contrast with a Left-leaning national media, amounts to “keep your head down and shut up” conservatism - the worst kind of conservatism in my book – a stagnant, unthinking complacency with the status quo.

Instead of throwing open the doors to critique and participating in the dialogue, Callinan skulked away.  Instead of picking a few key battles and sticking up for his decisions he chose to be intimidated by his antagonists.  Instead of circulating among the army of Davids he retreated behind the temple walls - where the seismic shift in the information economy towards speed and transparency can be only temporarily ignored.

Note that Callinan’s blog, linked above, has been removed entirely from the Gannett site and returns a “page not found” error.  But thanks to Google cache the exercise in indignity has been preserved. 

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1. says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  01:18 pm | #

   If he was worth a damn he wouldn’t be working at The Enquirer!

2. Blue Genius says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  03:49 pm | #

   "And in a city like Cincinnati this agenda, in contrast with a Left-leaning national media, amounts to “keep your head down and shut up” conservatism”

   Could you please provide some evidence for this so-called left-leaning national media. Do you mean Judith Miller at the NY Times, or GE’s NBC and MSNBC, or WCPO with the fake/corporate propaganda???

   Callinan only wanted to distract sheople from their blantant wrong-wing Grandma in Iraq propaganda blog scandal.

   We could’ve stayed on his BS topics, but that would be pointless. We have real questions about their biased coverage and want them to change or go away.

3. Bloink says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  05:02 pm | #

   They took down his blog already? Good thing I saved all his posts this morning, including the comments!

4. says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  06:52 pm | #

   "This hesitant inconsistency calls into question his judgment, which would seem to be the most important quality for an editor.”

   Good job Brendan for expressing something that has happened in Sinincincinnati that was significant even though it was under the radar of 99.44 percent of Sinincincinnatians.

   How the hell can an EDITOR be swamped by UNEDITED comments?

   Inconsistency thy name is Callinan.

5. I.F. Stoned says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  07:26 pm | #

   The editor of a major city daily gets publicly challenged by intelligent readers who happen to use silly pseudonymns. He avoids all substantive questions and mocks people for their usernames or because they prefer to remain anonymous. When these people refuse to be shamed into silence by his dull wisecracks, he flees in terror then pulls up the ladder behind him by deleting all the archived posts. What a wuss. 

   One can only imagine how Callinan manages the paper and treats his employees when he’s not being observed. Anyone this thin-skinned is unlikely to brook criticism from his staff. It stands to reason that Callinan surrounds himself with “yes” men and women. That may explain why the Enquirer is in such a sorry state. 

   In one of his (now deleted) posts, Callinan claimed to respect “intellectual honesty.” Brendan, if Callinan had the capacity, he might learn something about that subject by reading your post.

6. says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  08:44 pm | #

   Brendan wrote:

   And in a city like Cincinnati this agenda, in contrast with a Left-leaning national media…

   Now, what I’m about to say may also qualify as a “sidebar topic,” but what’s with this myth about the “Left leaning national media”?

   Check out this resource:

   http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/2002/Media_Bias.html

7. says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  08:46 pm | #

   Note:  In some browsers, the link above has a big break in the middle.  If, after a few abstracts to studies, you see blank space, just scroll down to find the rest.

8. Dave says:
   20 Apr 2006  at  09:51 pm | #

   Intellectual honesty is to Callinan what character is to Heimlich. A thin veneer over an empty shell.

9. Winston Smith says:
   21 Apr 2006  at  10:52 am | #

   Now Enquirer public affairs editor Carl Weiser is providing cover for Callinan’s blogging fiasco over at the Enquirer blog. Nothing to see here, folks, keep moving....

   Apparently Carl and Tom don’t like the fact that readers are not buying this nonsense. They miss the good old days when media was a one-way conversation.

   As for Carl Weiser, readers of the Enquirer’s politics blog may be familiar with his posts, most memorably his breathless minute-by-minute dispatches of Bush’s recent fundraising visit to Cincinnati. He sounds like an ecstatic ten year old girl at a Britney Spears concert. When it comes to George W, Carl clearly doesn’t have his feet on the floor.

   Now it appears Carl’s been assigned to clean up after Callinan’s mess. Could it be that Carl was the conduit who brought the “Grandma in Iraq” blog to the Enquirer?

10. The Dean's a poo poker says:
    26 Apr 2006  at  02:43 pm | #

    Yeah, the media ain’t liberal! And the Dean ain’t a sausage smuggler.

11. says:
    07 Jun 2006  at  05:29 am | #

    The editor of a major city daily gets publicly challenged by intelligent readers who happen to use silly pseudonymns. He avoids all substantive questions and mocks people for their usernames or because they prefer to remain anonymous. When these people refuse to be shamed into silence by his dull wisecracks, he flees in terror then pulls up the ladder behind him by deleting all the archived posts. What a wuss.

    One can only imagine how Callinan manages the paper and treats his employees when he’s not being observed. Anyone this thin-skinned is unlikely to brook online criticism from his staff. It stands to reason that Callinan surrounds himself with “yes” men and women. That may explain why the Enquirer is in such a sorry state.

    In one of his (now deleted) posts, Callinan claimed to respect “intellectual honesty.” Brendan, if Callinan had the capacity, he might learn something about that subject by reading your post.

12. Andre says:
    04 Aug 2006  at  12:42 pm | #

    "This hesitant inconsistency calls into question his judgment, which would seem to be the most important quality for an Twinks.”

    Good job Brendan for expressing something that has happened in Sinincincinnati that was significant even though it was under the radar of 99.44 percent of Sinincincinnatians.

    How the hell can an EDITOR be swamped by UNEDITED comments?

    Inconsistency thy name is Callinan.