This is the fourth in a series of essays from readers/supporters asking you to contribute to the Scene Press Club.
Cleveland Scene is an important source of local journalism and we must support it.
We live in a time when local journalism is slowly, perniciously under attack . Newspaper ownership across America is getting rid of the very people who know their communities best, resulting in lost coverage of issues that acutely affect our day-to-day lives. Like so many other cities, Cleveland suffers from this disturbing trend. Recently we’ve seen the final, wholesale gutting of The Plain Dealer’s unionized journalists. The firing and forced layoffs of seasoned professionals who have added tremendous value and depth to our common understanding of issues in Northeast Ohio. All in the name of corporate profit.
The attack on journalism, however, is not limited to day-trading ownership groups. It is aided and abetted by a high-pressure assault on the free press from the Generous Orange Monarch, the press secretaries who lie on his behalf, his talk radio sycophants, and all the swamp creatures imitating him in Congress and statehouses across the country. They try to distract the public with ad hominem attacks on journalists and claims of “fake news.” They know that good journalism exposes them for the frauds and snake oil salesmen they are. So they want to break the public’s trust in journalism. Their efforts threaten freedom and democracy, leading to the concentration of more power for the very people orchestrating the attacks.
These attacks will not go away. It is our responsibility to defend against them.
Cleveland Scene is digging into local topics that others won’t. It’s highlighting voices and perspectives that don’t make the cut in “major” news groups. And it’s providing a critical perspective our city needs. This does not mean that I agree with every story or perspective from Scene. (Few would.) Everyone should have a critical eye. That’s healthy. And you know what else is healthy? Strong, local journalism
So it’s time to do our part. Sure, tweet your feelings into the void. When you’re done, put your money and values into action. We can’t compromise on this fact: local journalism must exist for the health and wellbeing of our democracy, from Lakeside Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Whether you read Scene, The Plain Press, Crain’s, or another local news source, support them in any way you can. If you can afford it, subscribe or make a donation. Our great city will be better for it.
Otherwise, who else is going to report that “Genital Street Signs Are Overtaking Tremont”?
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2020.
Hey Kerry,
A couple days ago, the scene ran an article describing what entities and objects should be attacked during the next riot.
So let me get this straight, You want me to give money to a terrorist organization?
LOL at protesters. Nothing more than facebook, instagram, tik tok material fill…..80% walking around with their cell phone in the air. They need material to post on their social media accounts. They got nothing else to do…..
Kerry, you are a nitwit.
Donate??? Unfortunately cannot do that given the outrageous amount of property taxes I have to shell out every six months in this dump of a city and county thanks to our local corrupt and utterly incompetent leaders such as Taxin Jackson and thief Budish!!!
no wonder it’s this guy that represents the riot zone area that was destroyed with impunity by scene staffers, antifa, and blm youth.
Generous Orange Monarch? Kelly McCormack destroyed his own credibility by resorting to using an ad hominem, which is a logical fallacy, in his unpersuasive rhetoric.
The Press should be viewed with doubt and skepticism considering that some from the press freely admit that they consider themselves “thought leaders”, and newspaper editors admit that they have agendas that they are pursuing.
The current public outrage about police brutality against blacks was the product of several highly publicized police brutality incidents by the Media, like the black jogger being chased down by an ex-cop and his son and killed, and the girlfriend killed by police during a drug bust of her boyfriend’s apartment.
However, those incidents didn’t outrage the public, like the George Floyd incident did.
The Press cherry picks what it wants to report about, what it emphasize, and how it reports it.
I remember when two black police officers used excessive force on a white State of Ohio corrections officer, while he was in uniform and guarding a hole in a prison fence.
No public protests occurred nationwide, state-wide, or even locally, because the Press wasn’t on it, like it was on police brutality against African-Americans, like Tamir Rice, Timothy Russell, and Malissa Williams
The Press doesn’t seem to care about police brutality against whites.
Just blacks– and I think it is because police brutality against whites doesn’t fit its agenda..
I believe that the Press is controlled by the would-be “Power Elite”, who is trying to shape public opinion..
This is from someone who is not black or white.
Way to go, Sam and Vince. By turning this site into a soapbox from which you spewed your personal rants and grievances, and defending the rioters, looters and thugs who hijacked a peaceful event, you’ve also made yourselves targets and hereby turned your comment boards into platfroms for every hater, racist, fascist, white supremacist, and Republican wingnut in town. And they are having a ball as they chew you up nad spit you out. Congratulations, you clowns. You just ruined the last newspaper in Cleveland. Did you blow it? Damn betcha you did.
And now I’m supposed to donate to something you’ve just helped to destroy? Fuck that noise. My moolah has gone, and is still going, to far more worthy liberal and progressive causes. You’ve helped bring about your own demise. Not only is your print version never coming back, but this site will soon follow it into history.
Instead of keeping your wits about you and merely putting out bait for all the vermin, as you’ve been doing for years, you just threw them a picnic that will last long after the riots…probably for months to come.
You jamokes put the pistol to your own heads, and I’ll be goddamned if I’ll help you buy the ammo.
Heads-up: Shikaka Seven is a former Ohio prison guard.
Kerry, I know my semen is my property, but does another man’s semen become your property when it’s deposited inside your body?
Look at it this way Kerry, maybe you’ll get some buzz with mention in Scene’s multitude of upcoming lawsuits stemming from the article posted on Tuesday laying out what places to destroy and loot accompanied with the justification neccessary to convince anyone in need of convincing.
Don’t worry, we’ll get the issue to reduce Council pay and size back on a ballot as well. Enjoy what’s left of your short lived time on the Government Dole.
“No News is Bad News”
But inaccurate, be it unintentional or purposeful like the Town Hall story is much worse.
I can see the strategy session at the Scene:
Sam: “How can we make this Town Hall thing as inflammatory as possible?”
–
Vince: “Got it! – Say the comments by the manager were in relation to the wrongful firing of a black woman”
–
Sam: “Brilliant – hey just a thought, but should we say she gay as well to rile up a few more people, We can always pull the mea culpa later?”
–
Vince: “We’re going to do the mea culpa anyways but lets just stick with black woman for now”
–
Sam:”Do we know who the managers post was really about?
–
Sam: “No – does it matter?”
Couple this with the “Here’s a list of stuff we should destroy during the next riot” article, you two jackholes are in some pretty deep shit.
I call my wine glass Leonard, I have already disclosed on CleveScene that I am a retired State of Ohio corrections officer, so I am amused that you wanted other CleveScene posters to know what I already disclosed.
If you want information about what criminals, State of Ohio prisons, and prison inmates are like, you should pay attention to what I post, because I really do know a lot about them– and far more than most CleveScene readers.
This is why I warned on CleveScene about granting early release to ODRC prison inmates, because a very large percentage are drug addicts, and many have told me that the first thing they want to do when they get out of prison is to get “high”. This means that many will overdose, because their physical tolerance to drugs have diminished while incarcerated, and because of the deadly fentanyl and carfentanil which is being sold across Ohio.
If you know any prison inmates, you can ask them if they know of former ODRC prison inmates, who died after being released from State of Ohio prisons from drug overdose.
This is one often a topic of conversation in State of Ohio prisons– that is, what former prisons inmates who died of drug overdose.
It is also why I could post where you can find the ODRC statistics that reveal that 2086 Marion Correctional Institution inmates have already recovered from Covid-19 and that early release advocates waited too long to try to exploit the fear of Covid-19 at MCI, one of the prisons where I used to work at.
I spent 34 years working in State of Ohio prisons, and I supervised thousands of prison inmates, which includes former police officers, the infamous OSU rapist, and even a former judge, who was convicted of hiring two men to kill his wife. I was also at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility during the 1993 Easter Sunday Riot in Lucasville, Ohio and help process SOCF inmates from K-Block when they were transferred to Trumball Correctional Institution during the riot.
Having inside knowledge of ODRC makes me an asset to CleveScene Magazine– especially, since I am posting for free.
I am not Republican or Democrat. I am not black or white, and I am not right-wing or left-wing.
Instead, I am a moderate political independent, who spent over three decades working with convicted murderers, rapists, and criminals of every type.
I like discussing public issues too, so expect to see more of my posts on CleveScene.