Jun 15, 2014 tt post

"So when Econcat88 does it, it's negativism that will set this town back 100 years. When the Blade does it, it's journalism."

November 2013 Toledo Blade front page story.

June 2014 Toledo Blade front page story

That latter is a "Special Report."

I think the June 2014 story headline should read:

"Toledo Blade: Trashing Toledo one negative story at a time."

Quoting directly and paraphrasing some of the Blade's stories from Nov 2013, Dec 2013, and Jan 2014 that mentioned EconCat88, and adjusting the language to apply to the Blade's June 2014 negative assault on Toledo.

Nov 24, 2013

• “I’m not sure what you gain from dumping on your city,” said Jeff Schaaf, brand manager for the Toledo Brand Initiative project.

• It’s unknown what impact stories such as the Toledo Blade's will have on the city’s economic development efforts, said city spokesman Jen Sorgenfrei, but they could have a negative impact on a family planning a trip to watch a baseball game in the Midwest that didn’t know much about Toledo. Maybe they’d go elsewhere after seeing and reading the Toledo Blade's work, she said.

• “That is an economic impact,” Ms. Sorgenfrei said. “They are also not going to spend money on a hotel or restaurant.”

• It’s also not exactly clear, Mr. Schaaf said, what the Toledo Blade hopes to gain from the stories. The Blade's posts are similar in some ways to ruin porn, a style of photography focused on urban decay. Some have a clear political perspective, opposing government-run building projects or grants to private developers. Others just seem to point out poverty and businesses that have hit hard times.

• It could be argued that what The Blade does is not fundamentally different than traditional journalism. They document what they feel are things that should be changed in a community in order to create awareness. And, to be fair, it’s not the media’s job to make a city look good. The Blade was criticized by, among others, Mayor Mike Bell, for its gang series, which he said hurt the city’s reputation.

• It’s not easy to combat media posts that put a city down, said Mike Horning, an assistant professor of journalism and public relations at Bowling Green State University. “In one sense it is a positive thing, because it helps a person take an active role in their community,” Mr. Horning said.

• There’s not much Toledo officials can do about The Blade's stories. It’s free speech, and they have the right to post stories.

• What the city should do, Mr. Horning said, is push its own message. “You have to fight speech with more speech,” he said.

• That’s exactly what Mr. Schaaf said is the plan. He said he doesn’t want to get into a “pissing match” with negative commentators but instead would like to focus on the positive in the region. The Toledo Brand Initiative plans to do a video similar to one done by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

• And while the internet and a printing press make it easy for the media to trash a city, it also makes it easy for residents to post their own positive messages about a city they love. There are Instagram accounts devoted to photographing beautiful parts of the region, for instance.