Link is to Dispatch online edition. Letter appeared at top of page 2 of sports pages in Sunday's print edition. Includes photo of Tim Albin. Enjoy.


https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2021/09/05/letters-... /

Tilting at windmills. They don't give a crap about quality. It's all about clicks. A friend of mine was a higher-up at the Cleveland PD. They convinced the paper's owners to invest in 4-5 new editorial positions. Editors identified several really strong candidates - investigative journalists, consumer affairs reporters, etc. The publisher of the paper rejected them all and - true story - challenged them to find young talent who understand how to create viral content. His leading example was a young woman studying communications in Athens who produced a YouTube video on how to fold women's panties. 1 million views in 1 week. The PD hired her.

"I'm forming a plan."

At least he didn't say "we'll have it ready in two weeks."

Some things never change in Cowtown. This same letter could have been written in 1940, 1950 or virtually any year since O$U added the "The" in circa 1914. I said "virtually" because there have been some rare exceptions, often but not always involving some negative story about Ohio's First and Finest. What is new is that the editor actually responded in public and indicated a desire to change. However, citing Bishop Sycamore as an excuse kind of tells you more than you want to know about the state of sports journalism these days.

Not sure I agree, OCF. When I was in school the Dispatch would send a young Tim May down to Athens several times a year to cover Bobcat football/basketball games. I remember having a discussion with him as a journalism student in Tony's after a game on more than one occasion. More recently, Mark Znidar provided a lot of Ohio Bobcat coverage. Unfortunately, both have retired and haven't been replaced in a depleted sports department.