* Check out the caption on this Bloomington Pantagraph photo…

Tom Cullerton? Majority speaker of the Senate? Did Dan Proft buy that paper, too? /snark

* As I told you yesterday, the Pantagraph’s parent company just shut down its Statehouse bureau. I’m assuming we’ll see lots more oopsies like these in the coming weeks and months, if they even bother covering the Statehouse at all.

       

24 Comments - Vote Quimby! - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:42 pm: Cullerton is the longest-serving majority speaker of the Senate in Illinois history… - DownStateGrl - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:49 pm: This local and regional divestment in solid, sound, professional governmental news coverage is just fueling the prefect storm for the national stage. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:50 pm: Proft will get a column written for one of his newspapers on the Majority Speaker Cullerton that will be then put into a radio news report that Proft will package as news so later an opinion driven radio show will discuss Majority Speaker Cullerton, followed my Proft Mail Pieces citing the newspaper report, the radio news, and the opinion radio show blasting Majority Speaker Cullerton that will then finally be in :30 ads citing all the “Vertical Integration” as facts… … because… with Vertical Integration of media by Rauner… Proft can make this… actual. Whoa. - Conn Smythe - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:50 pm: If their editors can’t catch this kind of thing then what motivates anyone wishing to be informed on state issues willing to take what that editorial board has to say seriously. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:52 pm: No snark — has Lee Enterprises shipped its copy-editing to New Delhi? McClatchy has been doing that. - RNUG - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:57 pm: Just one more step in the dumbing down of America … - Anon221 - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 1:59 pm: Maybe the only thing left to do with Lee Enterprises newspapers… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kcdt4_5Ncc - Huh? - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:03 pm: 1.4% thinkin’ to himself “I wish I knew why that lady in front of me is wavin’ her arms around. It sure is distractin’.” Sign Language Interpreter thinking to herself “How am I supposed to interpret this guy’s speech when he is so many g’s? - Publius - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:21 pm: We live in a time of mis information, unfortunately - siriusly - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:30 pm: Tom needed a new nickname. I think Majority Speaker Tom Cullerton will do nicely. - Flapdoodle - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:32 pm: >>If their editors can’t catch this . . . - An editor - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:42 pm: This is almost three years to the day since the Pantagraph outsourced its copy desk - Now a Hoosier - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:43 pm: The gaffes in this caption and the closing of the statehouse bureau both stem from the same cause: cutting cost without regard to the harm caused to content. The gutting of copy desks and the outsourcing of local design to out-of-area hubs likely helped produce this gem, but understand that happened well before the decision to shutter the Lee bureau. The situation at Gatehouse newspapers is roughly the same. Peoria and Springfield do a bit better than most in that group simply because Gatehouse is still honoring Guild contracts, but the staffing at nearly all downstate newspapers is far from healthy. If Proft & Co. gain ground with their products, part of the reason is the MSM forfeited that ground. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 2:44 pm: –This is almost three years to the day since the Pantagraph outsourced its copy desk– Where to? - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 3:07 pm: Bruise Rauner - Now a Hoosier - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 3:27 pm: – This is almost three years to the day since the Pantagraph outsourced its copy desk – Where to? I’d guess the actual page-building went to Munster, Indiana. Lee has one of its design centers there. Not sure if the ‘Graph retained any local copy editors … maybe 1 or 2 in the daytime and 1 or 2 at night. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 4:14 pm: Pretend it was sports, http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/11/03/watch-kris-bryant-was-smiling-entire-time-on-clinching-out-of-cubs-championship/ And the caption was: Albert Pujols throws to the basket as the Chicago White Sox record the final out to win the Super Bowl. Wrong guy, wrong sport, wrong title. Would you take them seriously on anything else? It’s not like this information is secret and unavailable. It’s all cleverly hidden on the internet. - Mama - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 4:20 pm: Now days fake news seems to rule so why pay staff to get the Facts? When they need the Facts, they can get their facts from Capitol Fax. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 4:27 pm: We don’t need a statehouse bureau, Catherine Kelly can give us the day’s propaganda. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 4:46 pm: I’m pretty sure CK would get the names and titles right. Like or not, she is a pro. - Now a Hoosier - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 4:56 pm: – It’s not like this information is secret and unavailable. It’s all cleverly hidden on the internet. — Every writer and photographer on earth has filed errors in his or her copy. The point is not that copy editing is impossible or even difficult to do, the point is news organizations should employ someone to do it. And they used to. These days … not so much. - Sigh - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 8:07 pm: Alternative facts - Facts are stubborn things - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 10:02 pm: LAZY! - Newsclown - Tuesday, Jan 31, 17 @ 11:56 pm: PantaGaffe. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.