double entendre: expanded local
Nobody’s More Loco.
You remember when Seminole Heights got all bent out of shape because the Tribune killed the Central Tampa edition of the newspaper, and planned to lump ‘em in with “South Tampa?” They got the Central Tampa section back, sort of. But you may want to get ready for more shape-bending.
Oh, the Tribune’s Central Tampa portion will be staying, but according to the Trib’s color-coded map in the paper, it now includes such central locations as the Courtney Campbell Causeway (including Rocky Point), Tampa International Airport, Harbour Island, East Tampa, part of the I-75 corridor, and damn near Mango and Seffner. I can see how Rocky Point and Mango have many issues in common with College Hill and Channelside. I’m getting ahead of myself. Please read on.
When the paper laid off those 70 folks, they warned us changes would be coming, including “highly local news”:
The newspaper will eliminate zoned editions in Hillsborough County and shift content to “much more robust” versions of existing community newspapers, said [Denise Palmer, president and publisher of the newspaper]. Readers will see highly local Web sites and interactive Web sites over the next several months.
Well it seems we are now getting the big announcement from the Tribune about their eight new community newspapers:
COMING WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, The Tampa Tribune will change the look of local news in Hillsborough County.
8 New Community Newspapers
- Expanded Local Coverage
- Easier Navigation
- More Photos of Your Community
- Every Wednesday and Saturday
NOBODY’S MORE LOCAL
Side note: I can’t wait to see how they are gonna give newspapers “easier navigation.” Maybe they send a guy who will flip the pages for you?
The full page ad on the back of your neighborhood edition fails to say they are getting rid of some community papers, and making other communities pretty generic. Both the Temple Terrace and the New Tampa editions have been scrapped, and combined into that great neighborhood name, “Northeast.” “Town ‘n’ Country” will be sliced out of the combination Carrollwood/TNC community paper (now to be just “Carrollwood”), and lumped in with the former “Westchase” edition. TNC/Westchase will be called another great recognizable neighborhood name - nope, not Citrus Park, but “Northwest.” I have not been able to confirm rumors that the Pasco and Hernando editions will be combined into one section called “Norther and Wester of Northwest.” In no way does an anonymous source say combined Manatee / Sarasota / Venice / Charlotte editions will simply be called “Florida - Other.”
Oh, and the Central Tampa offices will continue to share an office (and editor) in South Tampa.
So much for Palmer’s claims of “highly local.”
See the existing map and editions at TBO.com, but it will change soon, so I’ve saved the old Tribune community map on furl, just in case.
And I look forward to Seffnerites and Mangonians mingling with those Rocky Pointers at the annual dance party at the news bureau in Palma Ceia.
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May 11th, 2007 at 8:11 am
It’s still The Pasco Tribune this morning.
May 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Excellent post, Tommy. Dripping with a sardonic humor.
It seems that the Tribune decided to base their news coverage on their delivery znes, rather than on areas with some degree of commonality.
For example, Palm River, Progress Village, & Orient Park have more in common with East Tampa, but they are in the Brandon coverage area with Fishawk and Valrico.
The two island groups downtown are split —
Davis Islands is part of South Tampa, while Harbor Island is in Central Tampa. Now, I’m not sure if Harbor Island and College Hill have all that much in common.
Two areas that would make sense for Central Tampa are lumped in with Westchase and Odessa in the Northwest section: Drew Park & Egypt Lake/Leto.
Lutz loses some of its own identity by merging with Carrollwood.
Nobody’s More Loco, is right.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Ah, Media General and the people at the Media Center in Tampa are re-arranging deck chairs on the RMS Titanic again…
May 11th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Good ol’ Mother Trib! I hear they are bringing back the the short lived slogan “I Get It Daily”…
May 11th, 2007 at 10:38 am
my head is spinning just reading this post. it sounds like trivia about trivia. besides the maybe one local story the trib puts on page 1, the only other stories you might actually be bothered with are always on the front of the metro page. after that, it’s all make-work…..
May 11th, 2007 at 11:14 am
[…] Trib announces changes in local weeklies, part of hyperlocal realignment. Sticks is dubious. […]
May 14th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Excellent post!
If the folks at the top had a clue how the communities of Hillsborough County functioned, the lunacy of this current plan would be evident to them.
Sadly, they have discounted the local knowledge and abilities of those they had on staff who have covered these communities for what seems like eons.
By all reports, most of their community paper editors have been demoted to reporting jobs, covering beats, while out-of-towners or downtowners have been brought in to decide what is important and what isn’t to these communities.
It seems New Tampa will need to get used to Trib headlines that say North Boulevard is a part of that neighborhood and Town ‘N Country will once again be relegated to the back pages. No longer will these communities have a voice in the redundant “hyper-local” world of Mother Trib.
Forget the basics of “community journalism,” the every-person’s-voice-counts philosophy and the importance of covering things as small as club events, honor rolls and Girl Scout functions. These kinds of stories - the bread and butter of community journalism - will likely no longer grace the pages of any of these poorly planned sections.
What a shame.