Akkam’s Razor

Full disclosure:  I have friends who currently work for Tierney, have worked in the past (and were layed off and subsequently "temped" to avoid paying benefits). and know others who have worked there in the past.

I put a poll up PhillyFuture inquiring as to whether the collective Inky-Daily News/philly.com (hereafter referred to as the "Philly Press") have improved since Brian Tierney has taken ownership.

Personally,  my feelings are mixed.

• I'm indifferent as to the rightward-tilt of the new talent and the Sunday Currents section.  As far as national politics are concerned, we've seen how well a Republican Majority has influenced public opinion (as being firmly against having a Republican Majority).  It remains to be seen as to how this will play out in the 2007 Philadelphia Mayors race as well as the 2008 State and Federal Election.
• The constant pimping of condos to the wealthy (endemic of all the media, telling us how wonderfull things are for the creme of society, implying that we should aspire to their lives) seems culturaly irresponsible and ignores the majority of the Philadelphia and greater regions residents in lieu of the economically priviledged.
• My perception is that "bought" wired stories are up as a percentage of content, and original reporting is down.  Again, this seems like an artifact of my second point.  Philadelphia is a 1/10th scale New York - the perspective of the Philly Press seems to be one that focuses on Manhattan and ignores the other boroughs, unless murders are involved.
• The back-page-front-page seems like a good idea, but sources indicate that there are strong opinions that it may compromise some journalistic integrity - How likely would the Inky investigate an advertisers role in loan-making with local politicians and municipalities if they're a major advertiser.  This runs parallel to thoughts that the current Philly Press would NEVER have covered the Priest Abuse Scandal (as Tiernney flacked for the Archdiocese throughout that affair).
• I'll be honest - aside from Will Bunch (online), I haven't read the DN in ages.
• I try to link to Philly.com sources whenever appropriate, even if it's a wire story from McClatchy or the NYTimes, in the hopes of helping a local publication.  It's a shame that the reporting isn't originating here.
• The suburbs - yeah, how about that?  Art galleries and feel good stories?  I could get that from the local paper of record, the Delco Times.  I suspect that it's the same for the other suburban counties as well.
• Flash ads on Philly.com.  You DO realize that they annoy the crap out of people, right?
• I'm not even upset by the rumors of the reappearance of Rick Santorum as a columnist - he'll fit in perfectly with Jonathan Last and Michael Smerconish.  I look forward to more insanity, cheerleading, and water-carrying throughout 2007-2008.
• Web 2.0 stuff - where's the comments?  The trackbacks to the story on Technorati?  The social bookmarking links (add to reddit, digg, del.icio.us, etc.)?  How about automatically ranking stories based on those criteria?

What are your thoughts?  Do stop by the poll and vote.