PeoriaStory

Union and Peoria take on Wall Street -- Can the PJS be saved?

PEORIA -- So it's come to this:  the union representing editorial and circulation employees at the Peoria Journal Star must take on Wall Street for the newspaper to survive as authentic journalism.

Even the Peoria mayor Jim Ardis agrees.  He appeared at an April 9 news conference where the  union, Local 86 of the United Media Guild, formerly the Newspaper Guild, announced a radio ad campaign to persuade PJS publisher Ken Mauser to stop trying to slash PJS jobs and pay on behalf of GateHouse Media, the New York-based owner of the newspaper.

Ardis released a letter to Mauser saying: "I fail to see how additional moves against employees and staffing would allow the newspaper to continue as a valuable public watchdog and community resource. Surely less is not more when it comes to reporting the news." Most of the City Council members also signed the letter.

The union's contract expired last August, and negotiations are on-going.  GateHouse wants to outsource the 36 district managers, who oversee the carriers, and the copy desk, perhaps a dozen journalists who set up stories, proof read them and create headlines.

GateHouse also wants a 3 percent wage cut, and an 80 percent increase in health insurance premiums, aside from the loss of perhaps 50 jobs and the salaries that they carry, over $1 million annually.

It's pure corporate greed. 

The paper is profitable, union officers said. GateHouse, whose stock price has tanked, is apparently looting the newspaper to provide $1.4 million in executive bonuses last year, and an $800,000 bonus this year to CEO Michael Reed.

At the news conference Ardis commented on how much the newspaper has declined since GateHouse bought it five years ago. The corporate policies are "contributing to the decimation of our once proud newspaper," he said.

GateHouse is also apparently trying to bust the 76-member union, the only organization with the resources to protest what's happening. It once had about 120 members.

The PJS is still the largest downstate Illinois daily, but everyone acknowledges it is a shadow of its former self, even as it remains profitable in its monopoly market.

It's fat with advertising, and most of that money now leaves Peoria for Wall Street, reportedly millions yearly. That's also true of the other downstate communities where GateHouse owns the newspapers, everywhere except Bloomington. Talk about a monopoly!

That outside New York ownership is also an issue. Why should people in New York be deciding what readers in Peoria receive as news, Local 86 president Phil Luciano, a reporter and columnist, said.

Can the PJS survive as a glorified shopper?  It has lost perhaps half of the editorial staff since GateHouse bought it. 

It no longer covers bankruptcies, even though that was a widely read column. It sends reporters to cover cheap and easy soft features that fill space (kids at school, people enjoying good weather in a park, for example), leaving them no time to perform the paper's traditional watchdog investigative function.

It even has outsourced advertising design overseas, which means delays for the advertisers.  How long will they put up with that? Those advertising department employees had no union protection. 

It recently laid off the photo editor of 30 years, and is using "supplied" photos -- gradually killing off photo journalism, since there is no guarantee these photos are not altered or even represent what they are said to represent.

It already runs news releases and stories from readers masquerading as news stories.  People write and pay for the obituaries, without the acknowledgement they are paid, though it's no secret.  They can say anything, true or false.

When the integrity of news reporting and photo journalism is destroyed, newspapers have no reason for existing, and the public will have no idea what is really taking place in their communities. If journalism is the foundation for democracy -- and it is -- what happens to democracy?

Former experienced PJS journalists now populate the public relations offices of the major institutions in Peoria. 

The managing editor is leaving to take a job at Illinois State University overseeing the campus paper. He'll have some job security there as a state employee. Others remaining at the paper have their resumes in circulation.

The PJS appears to be in meltdown mode, but it's not the union's fault.

The union says it just wants "a fair contract that preserves Peoria jobs and maintains solid, locally produced and edited journalism in Peoria."

If that doesn't happen, what then? A subscriber strike?  An advertising strike?  A new, alternative newspaper? Must the community of readers and advertisers in Peoria destroy Wall Street's cash cow to save journalism?

As a PJS retiree, I am horrified by what is happening. Stay tuned.

Here's a recording of the radio ad. It asks the public to call Mauser at 309/686-3000 to protest. Or you can try an email at kmauser@pjstar.com.

PEORIA NEWSPAPER GUILD_final_ad

 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 UPDATE 4/10/12:  Here's a terrific interview on this topic by the Peoria NPR station, WCBU-FM.

Journalism needs a revolution: McChesney

PEORIA -- Occupy Downstate is coming on Wed., Oct. 5 to a campus near Peoria, namely Illinois State University in Normal at noon. 

Students from ISU, WIU and Bradley U. are planning to meet at noon on the bridge at the ISU library, according to students who heard Robert McChesney speak on Oct. 4 at Bradley.

Their comments came after McChesney, a distinguished author of several books on journalism and the media, told the audience "your generation is facing downward pressure on quality of life like no other in history. Yell, scream, let people know you're unhappy."

The multi-week protest last winter in Madison, Wisc. was "amazing," and "life changing," he said. "I think the same thing is going on at Wall Street. Your generation is going to change" the problems that have led to the downfall of journalism today."I think there's a powder keg out there."

 "Democracy needs journalism, but journalism needs democracy ," he said. "It can't survive in an oligarchy."

Some of today's factions benefit from an "ignorant population," he said. 

Then he told a story about his friend, former Wisc. US Senator Russ Feingold.  When Feingold ran, and lost, his reelection race in 2010, he was basically not covered by the press, though in previous elections reporters had accompanied him everywhere. State politics is being ignored by the press because of newroom cutbacks, McChesney said. 

McChesney's radical solution to revive journalism is government subsidies, in the form of federal grants to not-for-profit media, say $200 per person, authorized by individuals through their tax returns. They would choose the media to receive the money and there would be checks and balances to be sure the system is not ripped off, he said. To stop profittering, the work of this media could not be copyrighted, and would be free to all on the Internet or in print.

He traced the history of journalism in the USA from the beginning of the nation, when subsidies in the form of reduced postal costs were the equivalent of $35 billion in today's dollars.

Jefferson and Madison realized that journalism is a public good, like education, he said, and "the first duty of the state is to guarantee an independent press."

Other nations continue to subsidize journalism today, he said, and as a result are considered more democratic by independent publications.

Only toward the end of the 19th century did advertising begin to pay for journalism, he said. Journalism's decline began before the Internet, when corporations (abetted by Wall Street?) saw they could cut out legitimate news coverage and still sell ads and make profits. 

Now surveys show the rapid decline of real news stories, as opposed to news releases or public relations propaganda, he said.

"You have to pay people for real journalism," he said. "On-line is a digital sweatshop.  To have journalism you need institutions, fact checkers, editors, competition."

Journalism and other aspects of a democracy are intimately connected, he said, thus a non violent revolution likely will be required to revive the nation and its heritage of journalism.

Has it started on Wall Street, even as its spreads to downstate Illinois?

Do the powers-that-be  even care if 1 million people take to the streets?  Will they change?

"There will have to be an uprising for more democracy.  The young, under 25, will have to do it. I'm here to support you," McChesney said.

  -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newest Peoria magazine published today, but no frowns, please

PEORIA -- Peoria's newest magazine, The Peorian, won't be doing investigative reporting, its editor, former Peoria Journal Star business editor Paul Gordon said.

It will run poetry and fiction, but it won't be the New Yorker of Peoria, Gordon said. "I just want to have fun," he added. 

The Peorian made its debut on Sept. 15, at a news conference where many of the creators were introduced. 

"We're not looking for bad news, but "upbeat news," Gordon said.

"We're going to become the voice of the community.  We're going to ask hard questions," publisher Julie Russell, said, perhaps unaware that she had just contradicted her editor.

But let's not be fooled, here.  This is an advertising vehicle.  "We're an ad agency. We already publish three magazines, 90 websites," plus do TV shows and events, Russell said.  She's the principal in AdCo Advertising Agency, Inc.

The 66-page, slick, colorful magazine has a cover photo of Mayor Jim Ardis and others in a rowboat on the Illinois river.

"Photo-shopped?"  sniffed a PJS staffer at the news conference, as the audience began to mingle.  (For the non technical: that's asking whether the five people in the boat were actually on the river for the photo, or whether their photo was imposed on a photo of the river.)

And yes it was photo-shopped.  See this link.

One thing's for sure:  nobody wants to rock the local boat, the magazine staffers said. At least not intentionally.

It will contain feature stories, book reviews, spotlights on not-for-profits, even a serialized novel by local mystery writer Norm Kelly. It will be "heavy on the arts."  (Take that, PJS, which has laid off most of its arts staff.)

And here's a new twist:  restaurant reviews won't be surprise reviews. Instead restaurants will be warned in advance, and asked to prepare their best for the "reviewers." 

Well -- that's fine for them, but what about ordinary customers?  Isn't the purpose of a restaurant review a story about its usual fare, so that customers can decide whether to try it?

Restaurant and arts critic Kevin Kizer said he plans to review local writers -- a good idea.  The first issue has a review of The Pale King by David Foster Wallace, a big name writer who once taught at Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal. It has scenes set in Peoria. 

"One character describes (Peoria) as being 'remarkably flat' as if 'stamped on with some cosmic boot.' "  (Did Wallace really ever visit Peoria?)

Wallace committed suicide before it was published and it likely was not completely finished. It has been panned by some critics, and Kizer doesn't much like it either, though he concludes "it's not to be missed."  So much for upbeat stories.

Gordon said The Peorian won't compete with the PJS or InterBusiness Issues, but of course that's not true:  it competes for the advertising dollars. 

It also has a website,    with some very interesting stories and commentary -- maybe some boats will be rocked after all -- and a TV show on WHOI-TV at 8 a.m. on Sunday, where it will compete with Meet the Press.  (Set your VCRs and DVRs).

No doubt this publication will continue to evolve.  Gordon is a skilled editor. Stay tuned.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

New magazine for Peoria

PEORIA -- Here's a fascinating news release posted Sept. 10 on the Community Word.

Former Peoria Journal Star business editor Paul Gordon is beginning a new publication, The Peorian, and it's not being run out of his home basement. 

From the release: "The Peorian will hold a press conference to officially announce the launch of its magazine, website and weekly TV show on Thursday, September 15, at 4:00 p.m. at the magazine’s editorial offices at 1302 W. Pioneer Parkway. The press conference is open to the public and will feature writers and editors from the magazine, along with refreshments and entertainment."

Yes, it says "magazine, website and weekly TV show."  Interesting combination.

The PJS has been flirting with fire by laying off and buying out its talented news staff. 

These people, like Paul Gordon, have the skills to run their own publications, which will compete for advertising dollars the PJS needs to satisfy the GateHouse Wall Street paymasters (reportedly millions per month in loan payments, owed to Wall Street.)  GateHouse is the corporate owner of the PJS.

Other news publications in Peoria cannot match the talent, experience or sources of former PJS reporters.  Someone willing to use them, like Paul Gordon, should be able to put out a credible and readable publication.

Let's hope it rises above its local magazine competitors, which use public relations releases and advertising releases in lieu of real journalism.

The release states: "The Peorian is edited by Paul Gordon and features writers Peter Couri, Kevin Kizer and Cathi Hawkinson. The first issue includes a new poem by Illinois Poet Laureate Kevin Stein."

These writers are not former PJS reporters, but have credible local reputations. 

Good luck, Paul!

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

And -- The Sept. InterBusiness Issues has the stories of a few recent PJS staffers who left the newspaper, some under very difficult circumstances.  See their stories here.

 

 

Byline strike at PJ Star April 2

PEORIA -- Take a close look at the April 2 Peoria Journal Star.  Anything missing? 

Yes.

Members of the Peoria Newspaper Guild are striking the paper by removing their bylines from their stories.

It's a protest against the layoffs or forced resignations of a half-dozen more Journal Star newsroom staffers, all of whom contribute to the news.  Some were laid off. Others resigned or retired when their jobs were downsized into something other than what they were trained and qualified to do.

April 2 is their last day at work.

The incredible, shrinking Journal Star is still fat with ads -- but the money reportedly is being shipped out of town to the GateHouse corporation so it can pay inflated salaries to its executives and pay its inflated debt to Wall Street. In other words, it's a form of looting this profitable local newspaper.

Businesses and readers should be -- and are -- furious at what is happening to the Journal Star, which even in its shrunken state still sets the news agenda in Peoria and central Illinois.

Newspapers are not just another business. They are vital to our democratic society, which cannot function without news reporting. (That's why totalitarian societies closely control the news.)

As newspapers shrink, the victims of corporate greed (and reader indifference!) the nation will know less and less about what is really happening, because newspaper research is the foundation for all news, including news on TV and the Internet. 

And as for GateHouse, at the end of April it is shutting down the Peoria Times-Observer, which it bought a few years ago.  Nothing like a corporation buying the competition and closing it.  Then it has a monopoly.

Whatever happened to anti-trust laws in the USA?

 It's a sad, even dangerous situation for our democracy.

     -- Elaine Hopkins

Here's the real word on journalism today'

PEORIA -- The key question: who pays?

"Journalism's most critical funding question: Who will pay for public interest news that provides the fodder for so much of the discussion and argument growing so swiftly online?"

This discussion is part of the most recent in-depth look at journalism in the digital age. Here's a sample:

"When it comes to audience numbers online, traditional media content still prevails, which means the cutbacks in old media heavily impact what the public is learning through the new." As much as news-related start-ups are multiplying online and audiences are growing, most of the audience continues to rely on traditional media, one way or another, for news. And the reporting provided by those organizations is in steady decline. "In short," the study concludes, "the cutbacks in old media are drastically affecting not only traditional media but still significantly impact online content as well." 

Read the story on this new report here.

There's a link to the original report, The Project for Excellence in Journalism's "State of the News Media" report, in the story. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Newspaper bankruptcies: what to do?

PEORIA -- If US newspapers, including the Peoria Journal Star are shrinking, don't blame the Internet.  Blame their terrible financial management.

Here's an interesting article about the financial state of US newspapers today. The author, Alan Mutter, has his own financial stake/conflict of interest in sinking print newspapers, since he's a Silicon Valley consultant.  Nevertheless his facts are facts.  Here's what he says about GateHouse, owner of the PJStar:

GateHouse Media owes $1.3 billion in debt, or 14.7 times the $85 million in operating profits it produced in the prior 12 months. (Operating profits also are known as EBITDA, which stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.)

He also states:   Fitch Ratings, a private agency that analyzes the quality of bonds for institutional investors, said publishers at this critical point should not have debt greater than one time their annual operating profits.

GateHouse is at nearly 15 times its operating profits, many of those at the expense of Peoria readers of the PJStar, as staff has been cut and coverage cut back. 

Meanwhile others bemoan the fate of newspapers, as if storms they can't control -- not financial malfeasance -- is killing them.  Their solution:  government vouchers to prop them up. The PBS show NOW devoted its most recent half-hour to a new book on this subject:

NOW's David Brancaccio talks to professor Bob McChesney and journalist John Nichols about the perils of a shrinking news media landscape, and their bold proposal to save journalism with government subsidies. Their new book is "The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again."

Alas, nobody mentioned the foolish debt the newspapers have run up,  so their executives could grow rich at the expense of the public.  Yes -- a lot of that money went into high salaries, bonuses and other compensation. 

So how would McChesney and Nichols deal with that issue?

Their solution to save journalism is to let the public choose which media to subsidize!   They claimed gossip sites would not really benefit.   Oh sure.

The alternative is to let the government choose which media would be eligible. Uh oh!  That's a terrible idea.

What is the answer?  Perhaps the government's role could be in bankruptcy court, so that when overextended media file to ditch their debts, the properties can only be sold to non-profits or cooperatives, less likely to loot the company for executive compensation.

Or maybe not.  Look at this post on Gannett's excesses with its not-for-profit. 

Meanwhile, it's a very sad day for the readers, for as McChesney and Nichols rightly state, democracy depends on an informed public, and the newspapers, especially, do the basic and vital research upon which electronic media feed endlessly.  At least they have done so in the past because they had the resources, unlike blogs, websites and smaller publications.

When the newspapers collapse, nothing likely will the void.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Journalism in crisis, author says

PEORIA -- Here's an account of Todd Gitlin's talk at Bradley University on Oct. 21, by Burt Raabe.  

Thanks, Burt! 

Amazingly enough, apparently no mainstream media covered this event, even though it is about the media!

            On Wednesday night at Bradley’s Neumiller Hall, Todd Gitlin spoke to a full house, most of whom were students.  The subject of his lecture was A Glut of Crises: Journalism and the Prospects of Democracy.  Dr. Gitlin is the author of twelve books on culture, journalism and politics. He is also presently the chair of the Ph.D program in Communications at Columbia University. 

            Dr. Gitlin began by saying that he realized that “crisis” is an overused word but he felt that it was appropriate for this subject.  He focused on the decline and possibly the fall of print journalism and the effects that has on democracy.

            Gitlin cited six reasons for concern for print journalism:

1.       Decline in circulation of newspapers.

2.      Decline in advertising revenue.

3.      Decline of news reporting.

4.      Diffusion of attention.

5.      Decline of authoritative reporting, or decline of trust.

6.      Journalists’ failure to penetrate the veil of obfuscation.

            All of these can be intertwined.  Decline in circulation leads to advertisers being less willing to pay for ads.  Less revenue leads to reporters being laid off.  Fewer reporters lessen trust in reporting because of superficial stories. 

            Gitlin noted that reporting staff in big papers has declined by 40 – 60% in last twenty years.  He also said that the public’s reading habits are undergoing a “sea change” in that there are many more sources for information than before, for instance cable news and the internet.  Therefore, a consumer can select where their interest lays, say, sports or entertainment or national politics, rather than leafing through a newspaper to find their interest.  He believes that there is a “decline in sequential text” because people now tend to “laterally cruise” when taking in information.  He claimed, or recognized, that “multi tasking alters cognitive patterns.”

Maybe this is why we have to give Ritalin to kids.

            With the diffusion of attention and sources of information comes a decline of trust in print which theory is reinforced every time journalists fail to see through vested interests self promotion and misleading “facts.”  Gitlin cited the lead up to the Iraq war and the current financial crisis as failures of the media to display a healthy skepticism with disastrous results. 

            Among the sources of these crises is a free market, profit motive business model for journalism.  Short term profitability and a pursuit of the lowest common denominator combine to condemn the sector.  Just as health care has reached a crisis under this for profit model, so has journalism.

            Gitlin proposed some alternatives including publicly funded financial support for non profit news sources.  In many European countries, publicly funded news sources are common because people realize it is essential to democracy.  Italy was not mentioned among those countries and we see the consequences of their system.

            The capitalist system works very well in many sectors of the economy although it could be argues that there are very few purely capitalist sectors.  We subsidize innumerable industries and activities that we believe are essential to the national interest.  Print journalism is a special case because as Gitlin noted “money and power depend on inattention and disinterest” and as we allow money and power to reach its tentacles into journalism, they will maintain the status quo. 

             -- Burton Raabe

GateHouse in debt, USA has become idiot nation

Debt: Here's a fascinating story about GateHouse, the publishing outfit that owns the Peoria Journal Star and most other downstate newspapers. They're apparently looting these papers to pay their debts.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/06/02/red_ink_flowing_at_gatehouse_media_publishers/

Idiots: And look at this interview -- about our idiot nation (which includes the GateHouse executives, for going into debt): http://blog.buzzflash.com/print/8590

Great statement on plight of newspapers, the real villains

David Simon, former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of the HBO's series The Wire,
testified before Congress on Wednesday about what really went wrong with US newspapers.

It's a great statement, brought to us from that great program Democracy Now. Worth reading or hearing.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Comment by Ed Dentino: The David Simon viewpoint was excellent. He makes a strong case for the role of citizen's shared interests (government). Surprising how many believe they are self made, well off. Without the programs, information, research, and legislation of various agencies and governments, few of those characters would thrive.

Probably, regional news and ads will be the ongoing domain of print papers for a pretty long time. Most of us have a strong curiosity about what happens in the region affecting our daily routines.