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Trib paper goes all Larry Flynt on us
Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller * The Tribune itself played this story kind of straight, although the usual problems with over-blowing a bill which was just introduced and has no co-sponors are clearly evident…
You have to read way down for this…
As noted above, the bill has just one sponsor. It hasn’t even been assigned to a committee yet. * But check out the RedEye’s front page today. Click for a larger pic if you dare…  I won’t even get in to the two “columns” the Tribune Co. paper published on the topic. Stay classy, Mother Tribune. And let’s just hope Politico doesn’t see that front page and stupidly assume that there is a real bill to tax, um, posteriors. Keep it clean in comments, people. This ain’t TribCo. Thanks.
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- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:49 am:
I’m not sure why you are bashing the Tribune on this, Rich. The reporting itself looked entirely accurate and straightforward, despite the trashy RedEye headline. It is a very reasonable question to ask whether this is good legislation before it moves, instead of waiting until it is a fait accompli (witness the Chicago speed trap cameras, which had lots of bad press after it was a done deal…)
- Easy - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:49 am:
I thought pole taxes were illegal
- OneMan - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:50 am:
At least it wasn’t Dat A–
- OneMan - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:52 am:
Well it does play into the Tribune Corporate Motot
magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri
or
(Large buttocks are pleasing to me, nor am I able to lie concerning this matter.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1001719/posts
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:55 am:
===entirely accurate and straightforward===
I’ve been complaining about how new bills are covered for years, and this was another example of it. Perhaps you missed those posts.
- John A Logan - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:55 am:
Only in Illinois would this even get introduced at any level. Another reason why Illinois is the dunce of the Union.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:57 am:
===Only in Illinois would this even get introduced at any level.===
Oh, please. Stupider bills than this one get introduced all over the country every year.
- OneMan - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:58 am:
Other states tax it…
Texas
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/us/27texas.html
- Peter - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:05 pm:
@JAL We tax far less services than most of the states around us. The “Only in Illinois” meme is tired and incorrect.
- Shock & Awww(e) - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:06 pm:
It still strikes me as messed up to see profanity spelled out on the front page of a newspaper.
Not trying to be a ninny, but seriously?
Makes for one awkward conversation with your kid after walking by a RedEye distribution box at their eye level.
- soccermom - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:08 pm:
I find Red Eye deeply and consistently offensive. Especially the constant, vulgar jokes about hookers.
- Coach - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:11 pm:
I must say that headline from Trib’s little paper has me beside myself. I guess it’s safe to say the hypocrisy swamping Illinois, and which the Trib is all too eager to rant about, pervades the Trib too.
- soccermom - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:27 pm:
I am just getting madder and madder. To be clear, the tax would be on the patrons of these establishments, not on the “asses” involved. But I guess a photo of a strip club patron would not attract so many bored commuters.
It says something that I occasionally would read Red Eye on the El between Oak Park and Thompson Center. It’s about a 15-minute ride — and there wasn’t enough in the Red Eye to sustain reading it for the full trip.
- Boone Logan Square - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:28 pm:
I can’t imagine that Sam Zell would allow such a thing to happen.
==- Easy - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:49 am:
I thought pole taxes were illegal==
Outstanding.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:32 pm:
Well, it’s the Red Eye. It’s not like it’s a real newspaper.
- Wensicia - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:40 pm:
“Can’t let the opportunity to sexploit a headline pass by!!”
Chicago Tribune
I’m sure Jack Ryan would agree.
- amalia - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:46 pm:
I’ll see your stupid Trib stuff and raise you the idiotic Hot Corner page in the Sun Times. rampant use of wives and girlfriends of male athletes in little clothing, waste of space that could be used to feature, oh, say women in actual sports competition. and no, the pathetic women in sports who pose in swimsuits don’t count. then again, if the money flowed to women in professional sports in even a bigger fraction of the way it flows to men in professional sports, perhaps they would not partake.
the comment in the article about stopping the objectification of women could not be more spot on.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:54 pm:
I don’t know what is more over the top here, the introduced bill, the Red Eye front page, or comparing that front page to “Larry Flynt.”
All three?
- Secret Square - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:02 pm:
In a strange sort of way, I can see where someone could mistake the Wisconsin flag for a union flag. If you didn’t know better because you had never done a school report on the Badger State, you might think “Wisconsin 1848″ is some kind of statewide union local and that the two guys standing on either side of the state seal represent hard working laborers. Notice also the arm and hammer symbol in the lower left hand corner of the seal; most of us associate it with a certain brand of baking soda but it was at one time a symbol of the labor movement. That said, if the writer for Politico (which is NOT, as far as I know, a right-leaning or conservative site) didn’t know for sure what the flag meant, he should have ASKED someone instead of just assuming he knew what it meant.
- Great Coverage - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:13 pm:
Despite this blog’s constant hand ringing of how bills are covered, it does seem like a great way for a state legislator to get some big time press. Sen. Hutchinson seems to be getting incredible coverage out of all this.
- TCB - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:15 pm:
@amalia = then again, if the money flowed to women in professional sports in even a bigger fraction of the way it flows to men in professional sports, perhaps they would not partake.=
If you can figure out a way to market women’s sports to the masses, without using sex appeal, more power to you. But let’s be real here……that sort of publicity/marketing is the only thing keeping women’s pro sports afloat. But until the women in the WNBA learn to shoot a lay-up, I won’t be watching regardless of how many swimsuit ads/ playboy spreads they do. The fact that far less money goes to women’s professional sports has to do with the inferior product that they are selling & little else. It’s sad, but true.
- just sayin' - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:28 pm:
Easy had the definitive response:
“I thought pole taxes were illegal.
Well played.
- Dirty Red - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:33 pm:
Getting a cover photo like that is every photog’s dream. Any Tower folk out there in CapFax commenter land that can provide an eye witness account of how much bickering went on in the photo lab when this assignment came up?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 2:22 pm:
I thought Randy Michaels was gone.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 2:28 pm:
To be fair, Erickson had this in the Lee papers Tuesday night:
http://qctimes.com/news/local/strip-club-tax-being-considered/article_ec8a9fca-575c-11e1-818b-001871e3ce6c.html
And to be really fair, this was filed in 2008 to similar media titillation:
http://www.chillicothetimesbulletin.com/state_news/x1148170867
- 3rd Generation Chicago Native - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 3:20 pm:
I would not pick it up, and most people won’t want to be on the CTA or Metra reading something with a cover like this. Couldn’t they use more acceptable language, and why in such large easy to read print from far away.
- siriusly - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 3:48 pm:
Did you notice that the Tribune version of the story included a “it is still early in the legislative process and the bill could change quite a bit” paragraph?
I think that was clearly influenced by CFB’s recent admonitions that sometimes bills are just goofy ideas going nowhere.
That said, this isn’t the worst idea. It’s certainly not as bad as the once proposed House Republican Porn Tax for education (1995 ?).
- D.P. Gumby - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 3:57 pm:
Damn, I didn’t get one this morning and now I bet they are all stripped from the boxes! Actually, $5 is a little high; I think they only use single $ bills at the strip clubs!
- Bill - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:32 pm:
Tax boom,
chick-a-boom !
- amalia - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:40 pm:
@TCB, when in doubt about women’s hoops, consult the opinion of the expert, John Wooden, who thought very highly of the sport because of the use of basic basketball skills. I’m thinking he was sick of the overuse of showboating dunks of men’s basketball. I enjoy watching men play sports and I enjoy watching women play sports. it’s the love of competition.
perhaps I should also add the money should flow more to women in sports at all levels. there are still questions about whether education institutions follow title IX, note, see lawsuits from wrestlers in college. The Sun Times with their laddy mag page makes the assumption that only straight men watch sports. you know, kind of like how the Republicans in the House in Washington think only men should be at the table talking about birth control.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 5:40 pm:
I’m sure the US Attorney’s offices throughout our fair state will be willing to vouch for these fine establishments, that they are run by upstanding individuals without a hint of involvement by organized crime and are honest and accurate in calculating and paying their taxes to the very last dime.
Pay no attention to the frequent stories in the Chicago papers about the Feds finding large stashes of cash from these places and ownership getting locked up on tsx charges…
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 5:48 pm:
Red Eye knows their market and their function. There was no way that front page was going to get spiked — it was perfect for the market.
A lot of times when I hump downtown early in the morning to Union Station, the Red Eye is the only publication at my el stop.
The Red Eye is all about 20-somethings, mostly from Roosevelt Road north, hooking up, drinking, eating, hooking up, watching TV, drinking, eating, football, hooking up, movies, the Bulls, drinking, eating, the Cubs, hooking upm TV…
Good work if you can get it. Youth is wasted on the young.
- Kyle Hillman - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 6:01 pm:
Curious, at what point in the bill process would it be ok to report on it?
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 6:41 pm:
Just for perspective, last year the House rolled out budget plans and debated them in committees, in April. But very few people thought it was the real budget so there wasn’t much detailed coverage. In the end, those plans did in fact become the budget.
If you’re a reporter facing weeks of mind-numbing discussions about pension liability and Medicaid reimbursement rates, wouldn’t you leap at the chance to write about a stripper tax?
Bill Brady never got his mass dog killing bill passed, but the fact that he introduced it certainly got a lot of attention during the gov campaign.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:22 pm:
===Curious, at what point in the bill process would it be ok to report on it? ===
At any point. Just keep it in perspective. It’s just a bill.