How low will Cleveland and Northeast Ohio sink in the global new economy, as a result of the embarrassment the leadership of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and their Newhouse parents have brought upon this community, as a result of their pathetic if not illegal misuse of information technology and the Internet here? It doesn't get much lower than this... "Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold files $50 million lawsuit against The Plain Dealer and others".

Linked above is the PD spin on this case. Read the actual lawsuit linked as a PDF here (1.13 MB)... and read all the way to the end, where it concludes "Plaintiffs demand a trial by jury by the maximum number of jurors permitted". Smart move for the citizens-Saffold to choose to be judged by their peers.

As a new economy expert and entrepreneur, I have found the current leadership of the Cleveland Plain Dealer ineffective if not corrosive with Information Technology, disrespectful of citizens, harmful to the new economy here, and uninterested to improve. I'm interested in the opinions of many other experts from outside Northeast Ohio, and a jury of neighbors from down the street.

While I do not have facts about how the leadership of the Cleveland Plain Dealer may have misused their available information technologies against the interests of citizens like the Saffolds, I have found the Plain Dealer only uses information technology to support the commercial interests of their owners, the Newhouses. As such, they use information technology against the interests of citizens, in general, and are not at all inclined to use information technology for anything but profit.

This Citizens vs. Newhouse lawsuit has global implications, including proving to the world the need for a restructuring of the leadership of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and a need to break-up their monopoly on supposed "news reporting" in this region. NEO needs real new alternatives to the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Newhouses, if NEO is to grow its new economy. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer leadership and the Newhouses must now defend their information technology strategies and management in court, as the world's new economy watchdogs shift their focus from civil rights issues in China to civil rights issues here in NEO, centered around our "hometown" newspaper.

As such, I look forward to seeing honest, open, outside public inspection of the Plain Dealer management and ownership and their new economy practices here.... I am interested in the opinions of unbiased, professional outsiders on these matters.

Of course, what will matter most are the opinions of the jurors who decide the case of new economy citizens vs. mainstream media monopoly Cleveland Plain Dealer and their billionaire owners the Newhouses, filed by simple citizen Cuyahoga County Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, on behalf of all stakeholders in the new economy of Northeast Ohio and the world.

Thank you Judge Saffold!