Last week, ChicagoNow pulled a controversial post from popular blogger “Joe the Cop” after a day of protest personally led by Time Out Chicago editor-in-chief Frank Sennett. Sennett called Joe a racist on Twitter in a day-long stream of 100 tweets. I think the real question is whether that makes Sennett an Internet bully.
In Chicago, how people feel privately about the status quo and what they say about it in public are rarely the same. That applies to Chicago’s blogosphere, too. In a new-media space where dissent makes people run for cover, how can local bloggers hope to make change happen?
For some time now, I’ve been of the opinion of media-watcher blog, Newspaper Death Watch: that is, journalistic hubris and an outdated refusal to change with the times have rendered the print-news industry immune to learning lessons from the people on the web who know full well how to build a community of visitors.
I find the Chicago Tribune’s new, smaller size inspiring. I can think of any number of things that would benefit from a likewise miniaturization…
What on earth is Bill Adee thinking? The Chicago Tribune’s associate managing editor in charge of online operations announced today yet another slew of changes for the paper’s website. If anyone misses 1990s-era websites, have no fear: the Trib has your back with these changes. From a clunky Times font and a space-wasting blocky layout, to big, ugly ads and ad boxes intruding in places they shouldn’t, the new Trib sites has it all…except news, that is.
You could fill 25 Soldier Fields with the number of people who use Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains on an average weekday. It would take 1.5 million people–half of Chicago’s population–to do it. That still wouldn’t take into account almost 300,000 additional daily riders of Metra and Pace suburban trains and buses. And most of these 2 million plus people are potential voters. So why doesn’t Chicago’s mainstream media take Chicagoland’s transit beat seriously?
Today, my boyfriend, Devyn Caldwell, was quoted in the New York Times regarding the Homeland Security cameras that he and I helped get removed from their former home–smack on top of Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park.
Ah, the power of the blogosphere. As of 11:00 a.m. this morning, the City of Chicago has removed the security cameras from the top of Millennium Park’s Crown Fountain. Good riddance. Devyn and I blogged about the offending cameras and got the Chicago Tribune to write an article on the issue–and article that appeared today. You’re welcome, Chicago 🙂
Today, the Chicago Tribune quoted Devyn and me regarding the horrendously misplaced Homeland Security cameras that now sit atop Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. We found the cameras over the weekend and immediately contacted the newspaper to complain. Why? Surveillance cameras don’t belong welded to public art.
There are many good places to put security cameras in Chicago’s architecturally brilliant Millennium Park. Smack on top of Jaume Plensa’s hyper-popular Crown Fountain is not one of those places.