Our friend Chris Quinn over at cleveland.com thinks that they "had a pretty good year."
They did not.
Let's rebut, point-by-point:
-Our work on Issue 1 in August probably was the high point, but all of our Statehouse coverage was excellent:
Uh, no. Defeating Issue 1 in August was important, and then passing a different Issue 1 in November was equally important, but their coverage wasn't excellent. It was adequate. Even though cleveland.com was on the same page as Beacon of Speech on the two issues, I didn't rely on the website for my coverage, I basically followed local TV stations' websites.
-The second half of Cleveland’s Promise, in which we embedded two reporters in a Cleveland elementary school for two years, was an unprecedented look at education.
I didn't read ONE WORD of their series. Not because I hate kids, it's because I already work in a school system. I know what the problems are in the schools, but in this political climate, we are not able to fix them.
-Our Rethinking Childcare series built momentum for subsidizing it as we head into the new year.
I didn't read ONE WORD of their series, either. Just to antagonize Chris Quinn, here's a fun hashtag: #tradwife
-Our civil discourse work with Baldwin Wallace University and Braver Angels Ohio launched some healthy conversations.
Yawn. You know what the problem is with cleveland.com today? They think they're a Journalism Class at Cuyahoga Community College, not the heir to a 181 year journalistic tradition.
-We developed a foodie reporting team that is dynamite.
Sad. I am not arguing that they're not good, but just imagine Joseph Pulitzer listening to Chris Quinn drone on and on about their world class foodie reporting.
-Our sports coverage resonated with readers, with our Ohio State Buckeyes package rocketing in 2023.
Again, sad but true. If the Browns moved to a different city and the Buckeyes were a mediocre football team year in and year out, like Rutgers, cleveland.com would have shut their doors during the pandemic. Football literally keeps their doors open.
-And for the fourth year in a row, our company was profitable, meaning our journalism is sustainable.
And that's the money shot. Ignore every single other thing Quinn said up to that sentence. cleveland.com cut their coverage AND their staffing to the bone. Quinn brags about his 70 deep journalist team, the Washington Post screamed in horror when their Metro Staff was cut to just 70. The Washington Post lost $100 million last year ALONE.
The Daily Mail, IN GREAT BRITAIN, often out-hustles cleveland.com for controversial local stories and the two best YOUNG reporters in Cleveland now work for AXIOS.
Chris Quinn thinks he's doing a great job because his bosses are telling him he's doing a great job. Business 101 says, "make money" and in an industry where nearly every local paper is bleeding money, Quinn made money. Why did I repeat myself? Because he didn't up the quality of his product, he is probably one of the most successful Hatchet Men in all of Journalism. He got rid of almost everyone and kept the doors open.
If you think I'm jealous because they exist, and we really don't. Let's see if that's the case in 3 years.
My favorite article describing Chris Quinn in the last year?
That's the article where he's quoted defending censorship at Al-Jazeera.
Seriously.
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