Gregory Korte

The Cleveland Press Club awarded The Cincinnati Enquirer first place honors in public service in its annual Excellence in Journalism Awards last weekend.

The award was for Foreclosure’s Fallout, a story I wrote with colleague Alexander Coolidge. The series used an examination of 30,000 foreclosures and interviews with dozens of homeowners and neighbors to explain the toll of home repossessions in Cincinnati neighborhoods, examine the role of local lenders and investigate the way sheriff’s sales are conducted.

It’s quite an honor, considering the worthy competition from other newspapers in parts of the state even harder hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Cincinnati Magazine says The Cincinnati Enquirer “seems poised to triumph in a journalistic New World Order of mommy-blogs, data collection experts, and citizen journalists.”

The story is heavily inspired by a similar story by Wired Magazine last year: “To Save Themselves, US Newspapers Put Readers to Work.”

Photograph by Baerbel Schmidt for Wired

Jay Leno: “You wouldn’t think something like this would provoke an argument…”

“… Guess they don’t want to rush to judgment on that one in Cincinnati.”

I have a theory that the closest parallel to the 2008 presidential campaign is … the 2005 Cincinnati mayor’s race. And I’m going to try it out Wednesday at a panel discussion Wednesday on “Media Coverage of The Politics of Race & Gender in the Presidential Election” at the University of Cincinnati.

Should be a lively and interesting panel. Co-panelists:

• Lincoln Ware, host, The Lincoln Ware Show, WDBZ-AM
• Kathy Y. Wilson, senior editor, Cincinnati Magazine & author of Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White
• Tom McKee, reporter, WCPO-TV (Channel 9)
• Mike Sheehy, associate journalism professor, University of Cincinnati

Where: University of Cincinnati, Tangeman University Center, Room 4002, 600 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH
When: Wednesday, February 27, 7 p.m.

The moderator is my colleague Keith T. Reed, a business reporter for the Enquirer and economics blogger at BET.com.

Sponsors: Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists and the University of Cincinnati’s Journalism Program

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Financial Times focused on Cincinnati for a story on the “real-life impact” of the subprime mortgage meltdown, and cited my reporting:

An analysis by the local newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, last November found that Deutsche Bank National Trust “owned” 188 homes in Hamilton County, more than anyone except for the federal government, and was taking on nine or 10 newly foreclosed properties a week.

Here’s that story:  Banks taking homes, but city footing bill: Repair, demolition costs add up on foreclosed property.

My colleague Jon Craig reports:

Attorneys argued before the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday whether the names and addresses of foster care parents should be public record. …

Enquirer reporter Gregory Korte made a public records request shortly after the August 2006 death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel, seeking an electronic database of all foster homes in Ohio. … The Enquirer reported in March that Hamilton County court officials discovered 27 foster parents had arrest records.

More coverage in the Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, and the Canton Repository.

Ben L. Kaufman writes in his revamped media column in this week’s Citybeat: “(W)e need more stories like Greg Korte’s nuanced data-based exploration of the impacts of local eminent domain and home foreclosures.”

Thank you for visiting my new web site.

I’ve revamped GregoryKorte.com in order to feature my recent newspaper stories and other professional work. It’s still under construction. Coming soon: My resume, a bio and some special projects.

Subscribe to my RSS feed for the latest.

If you’re looking for my personal blog, it’s moving to a new domain name. Friends, relatives, casual acquaintences and former drinking buddies may contact me for the new location.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://opera.cincinnati.com/netcasts/embedplaysm.swf?vfile=netcasts/10am/netcast_11072007.flv&vname=NetCast: November 7" align="center" width="315" height="330" wmode="transparent" /]