He’s the new deputy opinion page editor at the Peoria Journal Star.
The name “Chris Kaergard” isn’t familiar to me, which means he hasn’t done much writing for the Journal Star since I started this blog in 2002. He’s been at the Journal Star since 2005 and I gather all he’s done there is copy desk work. He has a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield. He also graduated from Bradley University.
He was born in St. Charles, Ill., a Chicago suburb.
And he’s one of the people who will speak for the entire institution of the Peoria Journal Star when the newspaper’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page tells people how they should think and feel about the issues of the day.
I have socks that have been to more city council meeting than this kid, and he’s one of the people whose going to pass judgment on guys like Jim Ardis and Gary Sandberg?
Please.
I’m sure he’s a nice guy. I’m sure he’s smart as a whip. But seriously … they couldn’t get someone who made his or her bones as a reporter? Or even someone who’s a native of the city or some neighboring community?
UPDATE: As a commenter noted, I should know who this guy is, since he interviewed me two years ago.
84 days 6 hours ago.
Billy Dennis
PeoriaIllinoisan
Anon E. Mouse
billy_dennis
Bookworm
C.J. Summers
Diane Vespa
David P. Jordan
11bravo
mahkno
Merle Widmer
Precinct Committeeman
Peo Proud
iwillrambleon.blogspot.com/
Neil Johnson
pdcj
Billy Dennis
Maybe if you checked your own blog, you’d have remembered that Mr. Kaergard had interviewed you for a story a few years ago when he was working for another Copley newspaper, the Rockford Register Star.
http://peoriapundit.com/blogpeoria/2005/05/23/good-news-bad-news/
OK, I’m an idiot. I should have at least checked my own archives.
Oooops.
I met the guy. I don’t really know him, but he’s hardly the boogieman you just described, dude.
Who said he was the boogieman?
First, I question the whole concept of the unsigned editorial, which this guy will be writing.
The fact the the writer will be a guy who hasn’t don’t reporting in Peoria any time recently, and who isn’t from Peoria, is telling.
Translation: the Journal Star is an evil evil place plotting to do evil evil things.
“… all he’s done there is copy desk work.”
Don’t be messin’ with copy editors. The levers of government in most industrialized countries are controlled by a secret cabal of copy editors.
BTW, that should read “his or her bones.”
I was gonna say… “her or her bones,” Billy? You really are jonesing for those girls at the PJ Star now?
As for Chris, maybe someone who is outside the “circle” might be just what that position needs. As much as I love your blog, Billy, I will say that I look forward to this kid giving you a run for your money. We could always use a new face in the blog/media crowd.
Chris has to be one of the nicest, most hard-working people I knew in my time at the PJS. He is one heck of a copy editor and I know he’ll be one heck of a deputy opinion editor.
Just because someone doesn’t report on things around town doesn’t mean they don’t know what’s going on. And, the reverse also works.
Clips aren’t everything. It’s talent and a decent brain in the head that make all the difference in the world.
Good points, justme. Copy editors probably have a better idea than reporters do of what’s going, since they see all the local, regional, state, national and world news. Who has a better idea of what’s in a restaurant’s food — the worker who picks the tomatoes or the chef?
I am NOT saying copy editors aren’t paying attention to what they edit. But there’s a difference between reading about local politics, business, crime and government and being out in the trenches reporting on it first hand. There’s a reason they send reporters out to cover events live rather than just work the phone. Mr. Kaergard will be telling PJS readers what to think and feel about people he has never met face to face.
So, Billy, what beats would a reporter have to cover and for how long in order to write editorials? I assume you think Peoria city government is the most important beat, but the whole world doesn’t revolve around that entity. Are you saying opinion editors can write only about people they’ve met?
I should point out that Kaergard’s predecessor came directly from the night copy desk, too. I haven’t seen a similar survey recently, but I recall one from a few years back that, nationwide, found newsroom managerial ranks were filled disproportionately with former copy editors. We must be doing something right.
Epstein had been a reporter but spent the last few years before his appointment to the editorial board as an assistant city editor. That’s where Barb Mantz Drake spent her immediately preceding years, too.
I suppose if you want editorials that sparkle with their wit and kill with their sarcasm, you want someone who’s skill set is how to improve copy, and who perhaps has read a lot of the articles about such things. But if I were hiring someone to write editorials explaing to residents of the city of Peoria how things work, or why they don’t, I might instead select someone who took a tour on a beat that reported on how Peoria works or doesn’t, you know someone who has MET and INTERVIEWED the people he will be passing judgement on. The former approach might work fine if the goal is to win awards judged by out-of-towners. If the goal is to be credible with the peoeple who live and work and raise families in Peoria, I would think the latter approachmight be preferref.
I’m sure he will do a fine job and the PJS will continue to win awards. Whether the board has respect from readers who KNOW about the things the editorial board writes about, only time will tell.
Public figures of all kinds come to the Journal Star continually for meetings with the opinion editors.
Kaergard went to school in Peoria, lives in Peoria, works in Peoria, owns property in Peoria and pays taxes in Peoria. I’m sorry he didn’t come over on the Mayflower.
The ultimate answer to “Who the Hell is Chris Kaergard?” is: “Someone who gets paid good money to express his opinions, unlike most bloggers.”