If there is no news in it, is it still a “newspaper”

The Dayton Daily News is barely a newspaper. There aren’t enough resources to gather and analyze the news, and the institutional knowledge that real newspapers depend on has all moved on, been bought out, retired.

You need sources, you need to know who’s who- and what’s going on.

If you read the Dayton Daily news only in print or the E-edition you are getting 2 day old news these days. That’s because they are printing the paper in Knoxville TN now, after first trying Indianapolis and then Detroit. The deadlines and the drive time- put the paper into a time warp. But, you can get their emails, and links to most of the stories a day early. So by the time the “print” edition shows up the only mysteries are the obits, the classifieds and what NY Times articles they’ve selected for you.

Here’s the kind of stories a real paper would have picked up instantly:

Kettering Council Woman Jyl Hall, daughter of former Congressman Tony Hall resigned from her at large seat on August 26th, 2025 4 months before her term ended. She has decided to leave the area to live on a farm in Kentucky. Hall, a democrat, was ostracized from the party by many because of her pro-life stance. Her council seat will remain vacant until it’s filled in the November Election. Petitions for that election will not be certified until Sep. 9th 2025 by the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

In case you can’t figure it out, she’s the woman on the left in the post image.

The other photo in the header is of Joseph Kuzniar, who ran in the Democratic party primary in 2024 to unseat Mike Turner. That’s where I got to know him. He was a good example of why we shouldn’t let anyone over 70 run for public office, but he still managed to get 2,046 votes with no website, no campaign materials.

Here’s a video of one of his rambles at the NW Dems meetings:

I saw the short obituary for Joe in the DDn last week, and have been too busy to write this post.

Here’s his funeral home Obit:
Joseph Stanley Kuzniar
October 23, 1942 — August 13, 2025
Enon

Joseph Stanley Kuzniar, LT. COLONEL (Retired) age 82 of Enon passed away on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at Kettering Medical Center. He was born the son of Joseph & Bertha (Bonk) Kuzniar on October 23, 1942, in Reading, Pennsylvania. He is preceded in death by his parents; 2 brothers – in – law Robert Cast & Jerry Stach. Jospeh is survived by his beloved wife Mary of 53 years; sister-in-law Joyce Stach; numerous nieces, nephews & a host of friends. Joseph graduated from Wilson High School in West Lawn, Pennsylvania class of 1960 where he was a member of the National Honor Society & received the Rensselaer Award for Mathematics and Science. He then attended Lehigh University and earned his B.A. in Mathematics in 1965. Joseph served his country proudly as a member of The United States Air Force from 1965 – 1987. Upon his retirement from the Air Force he went onto work as a civilian at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the Air Force Research Laboratory from 1987 – 2009. Faith was an important part of his life and he was a longtime member of Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church in Fairborn. In his younger days he was an avid deer hunter & sports fan. Most of all he enjoyed traveling with his wife showing her the world. One of their most exciting trips was in California where Joseph introduced Mary to numerous celebrities of the day. Joseph was a loving husband, uncle, brother – in – law & friend. He will be missed by all of those who love him. A mass of Christian Burial will be held at Mary, Help of Christians Catholic Church in Fairborn & will be announced at a later date. Expressions of sympathy may be left at www.trostelchapman.com

I encouraged Joe to attend candidates events, but often times he told me he had to attend to his wife. I liked having a fellow veteran on the campaign trail- even though his number one issue was the closing of the base library. He told me he was planning on running again, but, apparently he ran out of time.

Normally, death of a congressional candidate warrants a mention in the paper. But, not this one.

How much other news are you missing? Lots.

Last Friday, I saw 3 stories on a single page that I swear were generated by AI. They were all crime stories and followed the exact same rubric. As someone who founded an ad agency called “The Next Wave” I’ve been working with AI for a few years, and you’ve seen some of it here with my music and summaries of insanely long political legal mumbo-jumbo, but to see it in simple crime stories so obviously was a jolt to the system.

Not that it matters, these aren’t real news of any importance except to the people who knew people who were involved. This is taking the crime blotter and court docket and regurgitating a brief summary. No insight, no personal stories, no depth.

Let’s face it, the only reason this paper is still publishing at all is the legal notices and obituaries which are generating revenue (especially bid notices by the City of Dayton who must be getting kick backs for their overly long notices).

But don’t worry faithful readers, Esrati.com is still here, running on your charity, and trying to keep you informed of stuff that matters.

I’ve been talking to some folks who may have a real answer to create a legitimate mini-media empire in Dayton to take on the existing news desert, but things are progressing slowly. Who knows, if they keep sucking as bad as they do, and PBS and NPR are choked off thanks to the dictator in chief, we may have a news vacuum waiting for us soon.