Silly me. And I thought community journalism was dead.

Bob Stover, Executive Editor, FLORIDA TODAY (June 10, 2012):

(...)

Each week, FLORIDA TODAY publishes about two dozen informative and entertaining columns produced by Brevard County residents who are not employees of the newspaper.

These writers have a passion for and expertise in a specific subject and also possess the ability to communicate that passion and expertise through writing.

In some cases the writers are professionals writing about their fields of expertise.

We have expanded the use of these locally produced, nonstaff columns in recent years because we recognize it would be impossible for us to replicate the depth of knowledge these contributors have.

FLORIDA TODAY summarily dismissed a number of nonstaff community bloggers and columnists January 2012. The daily launched under a new business model that reportedly did not permit the inclusion of nonpaid contributors, leading me to believe that the new community columnists are compensated.

To think otherwise is to believe FLORIDA TODAY was less than truthful to all previous community contributors regarding the real reasons behind the here-one-day-gone-tomorrow slam, bam, thank you m'am (and sir), taking me back to where I came in.

Such a thought is plain silly.

Labels: community columnists, Florida Today, Matt Reed

5 Comments:

At 6/12/12, 5:23 AM , Grumpy said...: Sheree;

You and Gabe did more than your share for Florida Today. The paper is dying.. Their overhead has to be a killer.. You could run an online paper with less revenue than FT needs to pay their property taxes and electric bill.

You and Gabe provided a feature for the paper that attracted readers and cost them next to nothing.. IMO cutting you guys out was a foolish move...

Gabe once asked me if I was going to take his place when they dumped him-- I asked Gabe if he was nuts

You two worked way to hard to work for free and put up with Florida Today's BS
At 6/12/12, 8:43 AM , Sheree said...: Thanks, Grumpy. :)

It's the principle that bothers me, but then, that's just me.

I still run into people that ask when my next column will run. When I mention the new direction the paper has taken, they indicate contacting the paper to cancel their subscription. The community columnists, the Sunday Debates were quite popular among the print crowd.

What I find "funny" (not so) is the labeling of the new columnists as experts. All persons selected to contribute by FT previously were credentialed individuals, but wrote as voices of the community rather than in their chosen field.

My guess? The community writers helped FT and papers nationwide remain solvent while all figured out how to survive. The "new paid business model" came about, the perfect reason to "lose" community input from writers and also, from the countless persons who commented 24/7 by choosing Facebook as a filter.

Readership numbers must not be meeting the anticipated projections, for the paper to return back to selected community members, shine up the column idea as "experts in the field" instead of opinion columnists, toss out and see if it floats.

We will see.

I can't help but love that Mrs. (Dr) Haridopolos is one of those columnists. Now that the "incoming" is gone, ole Mike is snuggling right back up at FT, but this time, behind his wife.

Maybe he is prepping her to run for office on her domestic abuse platform?

P.S. I think Gabe was quite an expert that was never utilized to his potential, specifically in the area of veteran affairs.

Oh well. I'm trying my hand at news satire these days. It is so easy.

:)
At 6/12/12, 8:46 AM , Sheree said...: FYI.

The The Gannett Bog is priceless.

Covers all the scorched earth.

:)
At 6/12/12, 2:12 PM , Grumpy said...: Thanks Sheree-- I stumbled across the site a couple years ago when I was trying to figure out WTF FT was up to.. I haven't been there in a long time, looks like he's kept it alive and growing. Gannett's got problems- it's losing readers and what's left of the employees don't seem happy..

There are times I wish I'd bypassed blogger & gone ahead and opened a self hosted site the size of the one I have now and kept it local.. I can comfortably display 30 fresh items a day on the home page. That's working by myself with a few contributors..

Can you imagine the screaming on Rt1 if they had to contend with a conservative local news and opinion site?

Speaking of those 30 items- I need to get another 15 or so up- drop by
At 6/13/12, 12:21 AM , Sheree said...: Your site looks really professional. Good job! :)