Blogs > Tell the Editor

A conversation between readers and the editor of The Morning Journal in Lorain, Ohio

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

View webcast of town hall meeting on Ben Franklin Project news initiative

Click here to see a video of the live webcast of a town hall meeting on April 27 about the Ben Franklin Project initiated by Journal Register Company at two of its 18 daily newspapers. This meeting was in Sellersville, Pa., and was held by the Perkasie News-Herald staff. The other Ben Franklin Project newspaper is in Ohio, the News-Herald in Lake County.

Friday, April 23, 2010

You tell me, what's up?

Click the comment link and start a community conversation.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The End of the World As We Know It! (Thank Goodness) The Birth of the New World of News

The Morning Journal's parent firm, Journal Register Company, has just launched a revolutionary experiment in newspaper-making for the new digital age, and it begins not far from here. Just click and get the scoop.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

SeeClickFix local problems around Lorain County

Today, The Morning Journal formally launches a new feature that lets readers highlight civic problems from potholes to graffiti and blighted buildings. It's called SeeClickFix and you can find it on the front page at www.MorningJournal.com. Just click the "Report a problem" link to add an item.
SeeClickFix allows you to flag non-emergency trouble spots on an area map, provide details and track what is happening. It's a great way for people in the community to voice concerns and to take action toward a solution.
SeeClickFix is a new citizen journalism initiative by The Morning Journal and its parent firm, Journal Register Company, in conjunction with the SeeClickFix company.
By enabling citizens to report trouble spots that need fixing, SeeClickFix helps communities to help themselves.
Overall, SeeClickFix to date has provided help on 30,000 problems from potholes and speeding school buses to bad drinking water and blighted buildings in a number of states. More than 40 percent of those problems have been reported as fixed. Give it a try. Just SeeClickFix.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

What's on your mind? Build a community conversation

What's on your mind? Specifically, what's on your mind about issues and events in the Lorain County area?
Tell the Editor and build a community conversation. Just click the "comments" link below and type your thoughts.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Here's where things stand with reinventing our newspaper world

This is a link to "What's in a name?" which is the latest entry in the blog written by John Paton, the CEO of Journal Register Company. JRC is the parent company of The Morning Journal. Paton gives a company-wide status update and overview of the transformation we're going through. This will give you some insight on what we're doing locally at The Morning Journal. It's an amazing time to be in business of bringing you the local news. And I encourage you to join us in the process. -- Tom Skoch

Area too dangerous for school campus


The following comment arrived as a letter to the editor, but I'd like to post it here first because Denise, who cares about the well-being of Lorain, raises an important safety issue for people to talk about. 
-- Tom Skoch

Letter to the editor: 

Listening to the police scanner tonight, it is amazing with all the calls.  Fights,and more fights, 13th Long, 14th Long, 17th Long, 18th Washington...etc...code 1, code 2.
This my friends is "Central Lorain"...and "ward 2". This my friend is where they want to build a learning campus? Site 3. Are they out of your cotton picken minds?

 Wake up folks, if you live outside of this ward, you better start making your voices heard, because it is going to be your kids coming into this ward to go to school if they have their way. It is going to be your kids in the midst of drug dealers and gun toters. If you question the validity  my statements, get yourself a scanner and listen for yourselves.
It was even said last year by an officer heard over the scanner "it was like the wild wild west".

This ward has been neglected and heads turned the other way for years, but now someone benefits with a campus, and the rose colored glasses come on.
NOT FROM WHERE WE STAND!!!!!

denise caruloff
Lorain, Ohio


Thursday, April 1, 2010

Community journalism improves breaking news coverage of local police chase, shooting

Great example Thursday online of how we can work collaboratively with the public on getting the best breaking news coverage. It happened with the police shooting/car chase that started in North Ridgeville and ended in Lorain. Aside from the efforts in the newsroom and out in the field by Megan Rozsa, Kelly Metz, Joanne Allen and Debbie Clow, we got big help from a citizen with a camera.


Jeffrey Mrosko Jr. e-mailed me two great photos he took. He happened to be on the spot, while our staff reporter had to get there. His photos are shown here. In one we see the suspect being taken away for medical treatment. The other showed the chase car with an apparent bullet hole in the window.

As the facts emerged, we updated our story several times adding detail, photos and revisions, and also told online readers to see full coverage in Friday's print edition. 

We want to work with community members who have news tips or spot news photos like those shown here.

We also want to help area residents find their journalistic "voice" through our Community Media Lab. We'll help get you started in the world of blogging. It will be your blog. We'll just provide a home for it on our Web site, www.MorningJournal.com.

In the Media Lab we'll tutor you on the basics  needed to start. Then, you do the rest, sharing your news or opinions, working from home. Topics are wide open: neighborhood news, school news, church news, clubs, hobbies, sports. Your imagination is your guide.

As I've said before, the walls are dissolving between the newsroom and our living rooms. Easily learned technology now lets readers also be writers and photographers and shoot video. We're not afraid that some of you might even be able to do it better than we can. What's important is that together, our contributions will all add up to better serve the community's need for news and information delivered in the ways that serve each of us best.

If you would like us help you become a community blogger, let me know. Just send me an e-mail at tskoch@morningjournal.com. And if you've got a hot news tip, or a news photo to share, you can e-mail me with that too.