Peoria Pundit

A source at the Peoria Journal Star tells me that reporters Frank Radosevich II and Erinn Deshinsky are going to be leaving the paper. No word on their future plans.

Radosevich II, who covers East Peoria and the health/medical beat, leaves in January. Deshinsky is the nighttime police reporter and is gone next week.
 
And there’s no word on from GateHouse on whether they will replace one, both or neither of them. 

My two cents: I wouldn’t count on GateHouse replacing any. I hear that the entire company went into recession mode several months ago, and they weren’t keen on replacing personnel to begin with.

My source says morale is low, but there’s still a core of dedicated journalists who strive to keep the public informed. But anyone who thinks Peoria’s only daily newspaper of record can keep shedding front-line Journalists without suffering from a loss of quality is fooling themselves.

Unless you’ve worked as a reporter, you really don’t realize how much time and effort it takes to produce a good newspaper. That means there needs to be enough reporters on hand to do enterprise reporting AND to make that second, third or fourth phone call, or better yet, to do the interview in person.

I’m guessing the Journal Star has enough reporters to fill the newshole. But as long as there’s wire copy and press releases that can be usec instead of original reporting, the powers-that-be will keep trying to discover what that minimum number of reporters really is.

The copy desk can be a reporter’s best friend. By catching embarassing errors of fact and annoying typos, they can make a writer look really good.

And then there are the days the opposite happens.

This is one of those days for the Peoria Journal Star.

C.J. Summers and I were guests of John Sharp’s journalism class at Illinois Central College today. Sharp, whose fill-time gig is being the PJS’s City Hall reporter, was a little miffed at the headline that topped this story about how the Peoria City Council was going to consider a proposal to renovate the Pere Marquette hotel block.

Trouble is, the headline said the council was going to vote on a proposal concerning Big Al’s. Not exactly true. The council voted last month to change its adult use ordinance, which would allow Big Al’s to move to a new location. In other words, any proposal the council considers is about Big Al’s as much as the downtown museum project is about Sears — not much.

I noticed the bad headline on the Web this morning, then I noticed it had been changed. Unfortunately, the headline on the print edition couldn’t be changed, and this is the version that hit news boxes and everyone’s front porch this morning.

The episode demonstrates one of the big advantages to doing journalism on the Web, as opposed to print or broadcast.

It needs to be noted for those who don’t know: Most reporters  — including those at the Journal Star — don’t write their own headlines.  Someone on the copy desk does.

This means sometimes reporters can get burned. Readers and sources often don’t know or care. All they know is that the story is wrong. But reporters know that mistakes happen. The mature attitude is to move on to the next assignment, knowing that mistakes are rare.

And then there are times that the copy desk is snake bit.

The Journal Star did it again, on the same day. Only this time I thought to do a screen capture:

The headline is “O’Neill elected County Board vice chairman.”

Well, close. In reality, the article stated that Tom O’Neill was elected Peoria County Board chairman, and current chair Bill Prather was elected vice chairman.

The article by Karen McDonald was posted at 11:07 a.m. By 6:16 p.m., it was still incorrect on the Journal Star site. One hopes the error is fixed before someone pushes a button and sends it to the printing press.

How many years has the Journal Star been publishing a “Word on the Street” column? Well, I don’t know exactly when, but it was before I started this blog in 2002. And I know that the Chicago Tribune created its “RedEye” edition after I started this blog.

So I was concerned when I encountered this blog on the RedEye Website:

Feh.

I know that “word on the street” is kinda a generic term. But you would have thought a media behemoth the the Chicago Tribume might have done , I dunno, a GOOGLE SEARCH before naming this thing. Perhaps they did, but thought “Pft! What’s a lightweight like the Journal Star going to do? Let ‘em sue.”

Hmmm … now that I think about it, it does kinda suck that the Journal Star would name a weekly column about local politics “Word on the Street” when there’s been a newspaper in Peoria for decades called the “Word.” Well, first, it was “West Bluff Word,” but now it’s called “The Community Word.”

So, I guess the PJS wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if they complain to the Chicago Tribune, after all.

But I wouldn’t advise Word publisher Debbie Adlof to sue the Journal Star. She might win and end up owning the damn thing. With shares selling for 6 cents each, that’s not a good thing.

Rich Miller of The Capitol Fax Blog doesn’t think highly of of the political and government acumen of whoever it is who wrote this editorial in the Peoria Journal Star:

* The Peoria Journal-Star editorializes about the need for constitutional amendments on property taxes, the number of local governments, TIF districts, ethics reforms, the unfunded pension liability, etc., etc., etc. and then has this to say…

We fully expect good government groups to lead the charge in drafting and generating support for these amendments, to prove as some promised just how easy it is to amend Illinois’ Constitution without having to resort to something so radical as another Con-Con.

While they’re busy writing up amendments and getting the signatures necessary to put such citizen initiatives on the ballot – please, let’s not rely on the Legislature to do that for us – here’s one issue they should put at the top of their list.

Um, PJ Star? Those dreamy amendments of yours cannot make it onto the ballot without first clearing the General Assembly. Here’s a handy link for future reference.

The same paper recently endorsed Sen. James Clayborne for Senate President apparently without realizing that Clayborne was privately backed by Gov Blagojevich. Oops.

The Journal Star used to have reporters in Springfield. Not so much anymore, thanks to GateHouse Media mandated staff reductions and buyouts. Not that actually having a reporter or two covering Springfield full time would have made much of a difference. I have found that the JSEB is often perfectly willing ignore the reporting that appears in news articles, as long as it promotes the agenda of whoever is writing the editorial that day.

I sat at my desk at work yesterday, POed that I didn’t have access to my blog so I could post about the breaking news that touched on themes and issues close to my heart. Kevin Lyons was catching and releasing again. Thomas Jefferson School caught fire, and the closure of the Fire Station 11 located right across the street was part of the discussion.

Wow. A big day for news and politics junkies in Peoria. What I wouldn’t give to be part of the mainstream media on juicy news days like today. Or, be able to blog full time.

So what’s in today’s Word on the Street? A bunch of canned tripe, all of which was apparently written and tossed into a can on Friday. Nothing at all about the about the news stories that politics and government news junkies are going to be talking about today.

The leading item was news that some reporter from a newspaper in Scotland was in town to write about how the election “plays in Peoria.”

In other words: Newspapers in Scotland are just like American newspapers in that assignment editors pass out idiotic assignments based on tired cliches. Gotcha. And in America, the fact that this happens is considered news.

Here’s another cliche: Readers canceling their subscriptions because they are sick of three-day-old news being passed off as fresh.

A newspaper being run by people with a fire in their bellies would have trash canned that canned version and instead FILLED it commentary and tips from their sources about both incidents. Beat reporters would have been woken out of their beds and sent to dig up details.

But the Journal Star doesn’t think that way. At least not on Sunday.

So, I’m reading today’s Word on the Street column and it strikes me that there isn’t one topic — Susana Mendoza’s endorsement of Aaron’s Schock. Colleen Callahan’s panned “Daisy” ad, Ray LaHood demanding Callahan stop using him in ads, the Tribune’s endorsement of Schock, the potential water company buyout — that hasn’t already been covered to death on blogs, specifically on Peoria Pundit (by Diane Vespa and myself), Rich Miller on Capitol Fax and by C.J. Summers on Peoria Chronicle. I’m not saying blogs broke these stories. We didn’t. But we sure as Hell did debate the hell out of them days before Monday’s Journal Star hit the stands.

And this has always been my problem with WotS. The Journal Star useds it to make an otherwise drab Monday newspaper a little bit newsier. Trouble is the article is usually pieced together before the weekend starts, so by the time readers see it on Monday morning, it’s informing readers about news that’s been beaten to death in the blogs.

Wednesday was the last day GateHouse Media — the company that owns the Peoria Journal Star and most of the other daily and weekly newspapers in the area — was traded on the New York Stock exchange. It’s trading price at the exchange closed? Seven cents per share. At one point, it sold at more than $20 per share.

It’s sold over the counter now.

Don’t blame the current economy, or the recent downturn in the stock market. Don’t even blame the fact that ad revenue is down for the print media in general. GateHouse’s problem was its business plan: Buy up newspapers in entire regions, consolidate operations and use the savings to prop up a huge dividends to stock holders. While that might keep investors happy for long, eventually the analysts who look at the books figure out the debt is enormous and earnings aren’t keeping up. GateHouse ended the dividend payments and tried to pay off the debt, but they weren’t able to stop the stock price from declining.

Folks, there is a very real possibility the Journal Star will not make it out of this mess. Nowhere is it written that newspapers — even those that make more money than they spend to operate — will always stay in business.

Based on what I’ve been told by real experts, I’d guess GateHouse is going to try to sell off the properties it’s accumulated. But in case you haven’t noticed, the economy is pretty well screwed right now, and newspapers were considered bad investments before the markets tanked. Will someone come along and buy the Journal Star just to save it as an act of charity? Will the employees have an opportunity to buy it? Will it survive by shrinking and doing away with Monday editions?

There is always going to be people who will pay money to get a full accounting of the day’s news. So there will always be an opportunity for someone to make money giving these people the news. But there’s no guarantee that the Journal Star will be this organization. But if it is, it will have to be a different organization that is is now.

The Turner Report notes that GateHouse Media stock reached 15 cents per share Thursday, but closed at 21 cents. The company recently submitted a plan to get it’s stock back up above $1 share to avoid delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

He also noted that stock for Nexstar Broadcasting, parent company to WMBD 31 in Peoria, dropped 32 cents to $1.04 per share Thursday.

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.

Congrats to former Peoria Journal Star Managing Editor Jack Brimeyer, who was honored Thursday at the annual Illinois Associated Press awards dinner in Springfield, held at the unoccupied governor’s mansion. Both Brimeyer and former Springfield State Journal-Register editor Barry Locher were presented with the prestigious Lincoln League of Journalists award.

Kudos to both.