I have largely abandoned cleveland.com as a news source. My current news rotation starts at CNN, Drudge Report, and the Daily Mail UK. Depending on my allotted time for news consumption, I rotate in secondary sources from across the political spectrum.
When it comes to local options, cleveland.com has fallen to beneath both Fox 8 and 92.3 The Fan--- What are we doing here then?
Yesterday morning I went to the Daily Mail and this was their lead story:
That's surely something that would be addressed at cleveland.com, right?
Nope.
Cleveland.com is all over the Deshaun Watson Saga, they have a sports story covered from every single angle. I went over to Facebook to see the first story they shared in the morning and it was a picture of the sunrise. Now don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful picture, but it ain't news.
So channeling my inner smart ass, I dropped the Daily Mail Story in the comments section of the sunrise photo. I expected some online hate but received none. Hmmm......
Returning to Facebook, hours later, they filtered out my story about Dangerous Cleveland. You at home, go ahead and go to that post and try to find my link. But let's not get sidetracked, that's not the point of the story. The point is cleveland.com's philosophy is evolving from the news of Cleveland to marketing Cleveland. Pretty pictures and upbeat visions of a multicultural future.
I feel like cleveland.com is trying to trick people from both the suburbs, and the nation, into going there by using their rose-colored glasses. Now listen, I'm not my Grandfather in Detroit that used to channel his inner Eminem and warn me not to travel south of 8 Mile, years before it became canon. As a Cleveland State Alumni, there is beauty in Cleveland, but if you turn the camera lens 180 degrees, you usually see rot and decay.
Listen, my sister is a nature photographer, she does a fantastic job of finding great nature shots.
But for every great shot, she may have to step over a rotting animal carcass or wade through stagnant or brackish water. She is searching for that specific magical shot.
That's not what a local news is supposed to be about. You may argue that I'm the one with the problem, I have a negative attitude. You do know that Cleveland has been one of the most dangerous cities in America for about 50 years now, including this year? I point that out and I'm the jerk. Residents flee Cleveland and cleveland.com touts Cleveland's lowest traffic congestion rates in the world.
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