We all know by now that America has lost its ability to have a conversation, with people getting their information from such wildly divergent sources that we don’t have a shared reality. It’s like we’re on the Tower of Babel talking different languages.
But in our newsroom, we’ve recently lucked into a method of sharing sentiments from a cross section of readers widely, to provide insights into how people of different stripes think. It’s one small way in which we might listen to each other again.
For more than five years, I’ve been sending weekday morning text messages to people who signed up for them, a list that has grown to just under 3,200. The aim is to share stories we have in the works or questions we seek to answer, to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
I don’t believe there is a better way for a newsroom leader to engage with a community. The tens of thousands of messages I receive each year are generally warm and thoughtful, even when they are critical. I’m grateful that so many people take a moment to let me know their thoughts.
I read all of the messages I receive, but I know our community would be a better place if more people could see them. Prior to 2025, when we received a particularly insightful set of responses, I’d copy them into a document and send them to a reporter to convert into a story. We don’t use names, as I’ve guaranteed texters anonymity, but those occasional stories summarized the key themes and included many quotes. Producing the stories took hours, though, so we did not assign them often.
The Readers Write
This year, I’ve turned to artificial intelligence. I’ve used a chatbot to help shape these voluminous comments into stories of the kind we once assigned to reporters. I’ve been surprised by how effectively the chatbot sums up what people tell me, and it has unfailingly chosen the same quotes I would have featured.
Because the new process is so efficient, I’m doing it about once a week. We call the feature The Readers Write. Recent topics have included items people are not buying because of economic fears, thoughts about Charlie Kirk, fears of attending events because of shootings, crime in general, artificial intelligence and politicians using their offices to punish opponents.
I like these stories because the readers, basically, write them, and their tone is generally courteous. A courteous tone is missing in our discourse these days. I’ve wondered of late whether the huge drop in churchgoing might be a reason. People who go to church are bombarded with messages of kindness, selflessness and community. Is anyone else delivering such messages today? Certainly not our hate-mongering politicians.
The Readers Write is a small step, maybe, but when we read courteous insights from others – especially those we don’t agree with – maybe we gain some empathy toward them. Just maybe, we open a door to fruitful conversation.
You can join the conversation by signing up for my text messages. They are free. Register at https://www.joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn
Ad-free cleveland.com!
On a very different note, I was reminded this week of another way readers support us when I paid my bimonthly Plain Dealer. Producing trustworthy news reports is not cheap. Plain Dealer subscriptions are one of the revenue streams that make it possible in Cleveland.
In our latest step to making that subscription more than worth the price, I’m happy to announce that Plain Dealer subscribers now have access to a cleveland.com experience without ads.
We have a variety of subscription tiers these days, starting with the basic cleveland.com subscription at $10 a month, with heavy discounts for first-time subscribers. The Plain Dealer subscription, however, is our premium product. The Cadillac version.
We’ve worked to make it richer in recent years, first with the Extra section in the online version of the newspaper. It’s filled with late-breaking sports and news stories, along with additional national, international and opinion content. Earlier this year, we greatly expanded comics in The Plain Dealer, with even more in that Extra section.
And now we have an ad-free version of cleveland.com. It is quite sweet.
You access it through the online newspaper app. On the bottom of the screen is a tab for cleveland.com. Click it, and you get the home page of cleveland.com, in the cleanest interface possible, with no advertisements.
You can scroll through the top news, entertainment and sports stories. It also has tabs to exclusively see news, Sun News local stories, sports, life and culture, things to do, opinion or shopping deals.
We are giving up some advertising revenue for people to have this experience, but that’s ok. This is another way for us to say “thanks” to our most ardent supporters. You can subscribe here: https://subscribe.cleveland.com/
Rest assured that the web version of cleveland.com remains available to those who don’t subscribe to The Plain Dealer. Many of the stories remain free for all to read. Some are available only to those who subscribe to cleveland.com or The Plain Dealer.
I also remind you that any subscriber to the print edition of the newspaper has full access to everything, including the online version of The Plain Dealer and the new cleveland.com experience. People also can subscribe to the online edition of The Plain Dealer, without print delivery, and receive all access as well.
Whether through subscribing, reading, or writing back to me, you make our journalism possible. Thank you.
I’m at [email protected]
Thanks for reading
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
