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Dispatch your art section makes us look bad

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Started 2 years ago by Coreroc
Latest reply from Andrew Hall

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Coreroc
Egoville USA
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So for weeks upon weeks now I have been thinking daily about how bad the arts section is in the dispatch. In reality it's more like false advertising since there truly isn't any content on art 95% of the time. Today I picked up the paper to see a poor illistration of Ohio State and Michigan footballl helmets adorn the entire front page. The picture may have taken more physical real estate in the "arts" section than any actuall content.

Seriously with the ammount of arts energy in this city we have nothing more to talk about on the front of the arts tsection than the freekin OSU vs. Michigan game this weekend. Why even try to include art in the landscape of the dispatch if your going to make it look like outside of the wex or CMA we have no arts culture in Columbus. I know this gripe is an addition to the long list of things the dispatch sucks at, but does the list need to grow any more?

Posted 2 years ago #
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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While what you say is true, it is missing the point and backwards.

Instead of griping about the increasingly irrelevant Dispatch, why not celebrate the fact that the greater arts community in Columbus is diverse enough, strong enough and thriving to the point it does not need the Dispatch? That is really cool and positive.

The community which supports ~(CMA + Wex) is also the community which doesn't read the Dispatch and vice versa, though there is some intersection.

A.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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My thoughts exactly, Coreroc

Posted 2 years ago #
Coreroc
Egoville USA
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@andrew- you have a good point however I don't think I have it backwards in respect to those from outside of Columbus that tap in via our major daily publication. Sure we here know about the thriving arts community, but that can only go so far.

Posted 2 years ago #
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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Coreroc wrote >>
@andrew- you have a good point however I don't think I have it backwards in respect to those from outside of Columbus that tap in via our major daily publication. Sure we here know about the thriving arts community, but that can only go so far.

Does anyone outside Columbus have any interaction with the Dispatch? Visitors are more likely to use the Internet in some fashion to search. The Dispatch's technical ineptitude (more than its content) causes fail in that regard so incoming people are even less likely to encounter the Dispatch.

Like I was with the Wine Clash, I think you have an internalization process which identifies success with appearance in traditional print media.

A.

Posted 2 years ago #
Cookie
Flyntonville
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Didn't we have a conversation a few months ago about The Dispatch arts section being decimated by layoffs? Didn't you say those writers should start their own blogs?

Posted 2 years ago #
joev
Merion Village
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Coreroc your command of the English language makes you look bad

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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JoeV, unnecessary personal insults make you look bad.

Posted 2 years ago #
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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The Dispatch has made so many bad decisions they can't recover at this point. And they have made it clear they have no desire to listen to the feedback from their readers.

Both Coreroc and Andrew have valid points. Fortunately, when you google "Columbus Arts," no results are from the dispatch

The Dispatch represents the city poorly to outsiders and people who are new to Columbus; however with print media being practically comatose and subscriptions slipping precipitously, I can see why there is no effort to improve it.

I am inclined to think the Dispatch should just give in and become a platform to discuss Buckeye football, religion, and politics.

I wish some of the good writers let go from the Dispatch would start some good online content, but unfortunately they need to make a living, and no one is willing to pay for online content, so they are in a catch 22.

Posted 2 years ago #
chaptal
West Side
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Andrew Hall wrote >>

Coreroc wrote >>
@andrew- you have a good point however I don't think I have it backwards in respect to those from outside of Columbus that tap in via our major daily publication. Sure we here know about the thriving arts community, but that can only go so far.

Does anyone outside Columbus have any interaction with the Dispatch? Visitors are more likely to use the Internet in some fashion to search. The Dispatch's technical ineptitude (more than its content) causes fail in that regard so incoming people are even less likely to encounter the Dispatch.
Like I was with the Wine Clash, I think you have an internalization process which identifies success with appearance in traditional print media.
A.

Back before the internet when we found out we were going to move here we ordered the Sunday Dispatch to be delivered to us in Western New York. Through the editorial page alone we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. It's so much easier now to evaluate potential moves online, and I'm not sure if the local paper is representative of a city's climate anymore, if it ever really was.

Posted 2 years ago #
FilmFlam20

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It's time for a new newspaper.
1. Keep all contents of new paper off the net so it has to be bought to be read.
2. No editorials
3. Movie, art, music reviews critiqued and not just gush, and lots of them!
4. Invitational page layouts. Invite local graphic designers to design a page or two, or more.
5. Sell the positive not always the negative. But have insightful writing about the bad when needed.
6. Community focus with in depth looks at individuals.
7. Combine free paper and daily paper format. Then put it in boxes next to free boxes and charge 50 cents.
8. Cut what people don't want. Add what they do. This forum is a good indicator of what people want.
9. Experiment. Keep changing. New formats, layouts. Make people want to see what it's going to look like tomorrow! Maybe all adds on the right and features on the left. next day top and bottom, etc etc.
10.Profit sharing; writers, contributors etc., all have a stake.

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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lisathewaitress wrote >>
I wish some of the good writers let go from the Dispatch would start some good online content...

Former Dispatcher Ann Fisher's got some good online content. ;)

http://www.wosu.org/allsides/

Posted 2 years ago #
deraj1013
Merion Village
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The Dispatch is a newspaper with an arts section, not an alternative paper. Columbus Alive and The Other Paper are more likely to give local arts full coverage than the Dispatch, especially considering the staff and focus of each publication.

Newspapers have been in decline for half a century now. Arts coverage in the Dispatch might not meet your standard of approval because people aren't buying the paper. Because people aren't buying the paper, advertising decreases. Because ad revenue decreases, the staff is thinner. Because the staff is thinner, the arts coverage is limited. And so it goes.

Nobody is starting a new paper...the investment is too steep, and the competition will crush it. And if you figure out how to turn the revenue stream online into a legitimate revenue stream for a writers' guild, you'll probably be able to retire from your earnings. For now, the Dispatch's bread and butter is OSU football, both inside and out of the city. It's a for-profit business, and I'm sure they'll stick with what pays the bills.

Posted 2 years ago #
Coreroc
Egoville USA
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joev wrote >>
Coreroc your command of the English language makes you look bad

No it's really just my face that does that!

I understand everyones points and honestly I am just tired of opening the paper to say what does that even have to do with the arts? at least they could drop the entire section and stop trying to include it as if they have relavant content!

moving on!

Posted 2 years ago #
jmak
Gahanna
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Coreroc wrote >> at least they could drop the entire section and stop trying to include it as if they have relavant content!
moving on!

please don't suggest that - there are some of us out here that still benefit greatly from the limited amount of press we can get.

Posted 2 years ago #
ZHC
101 East Main Street, Downtown
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Andrew Hall wrote
Does anyone outside Columbus have any interaction with the Dispatch? Visitors are more likely to use the Internet in some fashion to search...
A.

Yes I would say they do have interaction with the big D. I regularly see the dispatch quoted by national media and ancedotally my out of town friends often will link me an article from the dispatch to get my opinion on a given Columbus issue. And I know new arrivals to the city often regularly peruse the local paper to try to get the vibe on a place.

It has the most national punch I think of any the local media outlets here as far as I can tell...

How much of a total influence that is in outside Columbus perception, I don't know.

It would be very interesting to find out quantitatively though!

Posted 2 years ago #
myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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deraj1013 wrote >>
The Dispatch is a newspaper with an arts section, not an alternative paper. Columbus Alive and The Other Paper are more likely to give local arts full coverage than the Dispatch, especially considering the staff and focus of each publication.
Newspapers have been in decline for half a century now. Arts coverage in the Dispatch might not meet your standard of approval because people aren't buying the paper. Because people aren't buying the paper, advertising decreases. Because ad revenue decreases, the staff is thinner. Because the staff is thinner, the arts coverage is limited. And so it goes.
Nobody is starting a new paper...the investment is too steep, and the competition will crush it. And if you figure out how to turn the revenue stream online into a legitimate revenue stream for a writers' guild, you'll probably be able to retire from your earnings. For now, the Dispatch's bread and butter is OSU football, both inside and out of the city. It's a for-profit business, and I'm sure they'll stick with what pays the bills.

I'll disagree with the "Newspapers declining for 1/2 century meme". This might apply to readership numbers, but as surprising as it sounds, newspapers have never been about readership, they've been about selling ads. The newspaper business model was actually going gangbusters untli the digital news revolution really hit. That, and nothing else, has blown a hole through the business model that's already sunk more than one newspaper conglomerate.

I think what we're seeing is a broader collapse of the over-homogenized newspaper business model (good riddance) and more of a return back to the founders' days of different broadsheets being hawked on every street corner. Granted, today's broadsheets are websites, and journalism students' dreams of being jet-setting famous reporters have probably gone up in smoke for the near term.

Posted 2 years ago #
mbhays

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I agree. The lack of decent writing on the visual arts in this town is very frustrating. The Dispatch seems to have cut its arts staff in half and to have pretty much abandoned covering the visual arts in the Weekender section. Columbus Alive is pretty hit or miss as to whether they will have anything and I haven't seen The Other Paper do an arts review in ages. This has not always been the case. We used to have good resources such as Dialogue magazine and it wasn't that long ago that you could get a good review in Columbus Art: The Journal of the Ohio Art League. Even the New Art Examiner used to cover Ohio pretty regularly. They have recently gone belly up. And as nice an addition to the local art scene as http://www.theartistsinterview.com is, it still doesn't replace a journal review on your resume when you are trying to impress that big gallery to carry your work. So short of trying to convince the OAL with some donations to revive their journal I'm not sure where else to go.

Posted 2 years ago #
FilmFlam20

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Starting the new newspaper:

I would really like to know the cost of printing 12 pages of newsprint in black and white times 3,000 copies! Then, sell them at 3.00 each for 9,000 dollars. Plus some advertising but not a focus on advertising. 2-3 writers to start. 2-3 distributors "hawkers" on street corners especially during gallery hop. a couple of page layup people, an administrator, Then utilize tier profit sharing. Bingo

Posted 2 years ago #
blammo
in the shadow of the wonder of bread
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FilmFlam20 wrote >>
Starting the new newspaper:
I would really like to know the cost of printing 12 pages of newsprint in black and white times 3,000 copies! Then, sell them at 3.00 each for 9,000 dollars. Plus some advertising but not a focus on advertising. 2-3 writers to start. 2-3 distributors "hawkers" on street corners especially during gallery hop. a couple of page layup people, an administrator, Then utilize tier profit sharing. Bingo

2 or 3 people are gonna stand on the street corner & move 1000 copies apiece at $3 each? That might be a little optimistic. You might want to try & work for a local paper/publication first to see how they do it. Kinda like working as a cook/busboy/server before opening your "dream" restaurant. In my experience, ad sales are what gives you the revenue, not selling individual copies of your newspaper.

Posted 2 years ago #