The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents government intrusion on journalists’ rights to tell their stories and your rights to read or watch or listen to them.
But that means things can get messy. Some reporters can make everyone else look bad.
“There are no bad questions,” is something I learned growing up. But after doing this job for a number of years, I’m here to tell you that, yes, there are bad questions.
I’ve been guilty of that over the years. Heck, I messed up my own remote question to the governor on April 24 because I got into a hurry and mistyped it. Oops.
Too often, though, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s daily press conferences have become a theater of the absurd.
We’re in the midst of a global crisis that might eventually prove to be empire-changing. On top of the massive health scare, the nation is suffering through its sharpest employment and business collapse in its entire history. And on top of that, news media outlets — already reeling from years of corporate greed and systemic readership changes — are in very real danger of disappearing forever at a time when we desperately need them the most.
So, you’d think that present circumstances would bring out the best in reporters. It definitely has in a lot of them, but it hasn’t in others.
We’ve had the repetitive and even childish “Are we there yet?” sorts of questions for weeks on end, sometimes three, four or five a day during Pritzker pressers. All asked while hospitalizations continue to rise, the virus continues to spread throughout the state and deaths have taken an alarming upward turn. It’s like some news reporters can’t see the news in front of their faces. And, too often, it’s those very reporters who are the ones hogging the question period.
Some ask questions that can be answered with simple Google searches. For instance, a reporter recently asked the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (who appears with the governor every day) how many COVID-19 patients were in the ICU. That information is posted on the IDPH website every day. The briefings aren’t supposed to be quiz shows.
And then there are those who advocate for their own personal hobbies or interests.
“Golf courses,” a Chicago TV reporter recently told the governor. “People are so anxious just to get out on the green, to be outside. Golf courses. Maybe you could do it in a socially distant kind of way?”
There are questions and then there is lobbying. That was lobbying.
The governor clearly said in response to a reporter’s recent question that he would definitely not be following the lead of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp when it came to loosening his own stay at home order.
Gov. Kemp imposed a stay at home order and then decided to reverse some of it, and even President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized his flip-flop.
But some reporters acted shocked on April 23 when Pritzker extended his own order. And some of their questions went off the rails. It was perhaps the worst day of all.
A reporter for a suburban newspaper proclaimed: “Many people in rural parts of the state want to quarantine Chicago and the suburbs and reopen parts of Downstate Illinois that aren’t seeing infection rates like the urban areas. Why has the state not done that?”
Reporters should give voice to the voiceless, but the governor has repeatedly said the virus is everywhere and quarantining one area wouldn’t work and he was rightly stunned.
A talk show host for a small Chicago radio station delivered an extended soliloquy on bankruptcy and Puerto Rico. Another reporter claimed Pritzker had been accused by some Republican lawmakers of “operating in a bubble.” Pritzker denied it, and I spent some time looking for an instance of anyone saying that and couldn’t find anything. Maybe I missed it.
A reporter for a conservative news site asked how the governor could justify raises for state workers, even though most state employees have binding union contracts and the governor can’t just wave a magic wand to get rid of them. It went on like that for what seemed like forever.
Many, many reporters have asked thoughtful, well-researched and tough questions over the weeks. They are my heroes. But I have been getting an uneasy feeling lately that those questions are being drowned out by the stupid ones, and it’s undermining everyone’s credibility at a crucial moment in history. We just gotta do better. Myself included.
- WeAreAVillage - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:23 am:
Very well said. Thank you.
- Not a Billionaire - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:28 am:
Warren County has 50 and counting cases thanks to the now closed Chinese owned meat place. He expanded takeout to small business. He is looking at manufacturing that can distance . This virus will just rage until it kills who knows how many . We have to wait for a vaccine. Look at the meat plant spreads.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:36 am:
== and it’s undermining everyone’s credibility at a crucial moment in history==
This might be part of the plan for some of them. If you’re a “journalist” for a radio show that spends half its time deriding the “fake news media”, help to undermine the credibility of the institution as whole isn’t a bug - it’s a feature
- GADawg - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:38 am:
“…just gotta do better.” You mentioned the decline in media outlets. The type of questioning and reporting you cite is just one of the reasons. My grade school English teachers told us if you really want to learn how to write, read the newspaper. That’s no longer true because of too much shoddy reporting and poor writing. There are still good journalists and reporters, and we need to continue to thank them and highlight their work. Thanks for the work you do, Rich.
- efudd - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:38 am:
“a reporter from a conservative news site”
Same “reporter” did a “story”, before Covid 19, basically criticizing the higher taxes on vaping.
The angle propagated the myth that vaping reduced smoking, therefore additional taxes on it would hurt those trying to quit smoking.
That’s what you get from that “reporter” and that “conservative news site”.
- PrairieChicken - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:38 am:
What no one is saying right now is that this quarantine is going to have to last for many things, including but not limited to bars, sports events, concerts, large parties, public transportation, etc.until there is a viable vaccine widely available. Governors have been extending stay at home orders in small time frames while all the time knowing that this is going to be going on for at least another year. However, if you told people that now, they would freak out so you give it to them in dribs and drabs until it starts to gradually sink in. Reporters are apparently no different than the general public on this. As us Cubs fans say, “Wait until next year”.
- efudd - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:40 am:
GADawg-
Man, you said it. I read stories today and scream, Who the heck edited this.
I’ve seen stories, from reputable sources, that my high school grammar teachers would have told me to re-write.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:49 am:
We can thankfully see the delusions of right wing interests fully on display, asking Pritzker if he’ll take the graduated income tax off the ballot, dismantle the AFSCME contract and the like. I guess they’re doing it for their own echo chambers, because he’s not going to (or can’t) do these things. But they are the super-minority and just can’t let it go. Pritzker strongly rebuffs them and makes them look bad.
- horseplayer - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:49 am:
efudd — myth? vaping most definitely reduces smoking. I would agree that higher vaping taxes probably won’t drive many people BACK to smoking, but vaping has significantly reduced smoking. Lots of people have quit cigarettes by vaping. That’s not even remotely a “myth”.
- DownSouth - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:53 am:
Well stated, much appreciated read. Can’t wait to hear the questions in today’s presser from Cabello, Bryant et al regarding IDOC policies. It will either be enlightening, entertaining, or enraging. My money is on a little of all three.
- Rabid - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:56 am:
Noncoronaviris questions should be answered with next
- Roman - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:56 am:
The one thing I’ll say in defense of a few (but certainly not all) of the stupid questions at JB’s briefings is that the TV reporters often ask about things they already know the answer to because they want a clip of the governor saying it on video.
- Practical Politics - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:01 am:
How does WIND 560 AM rate as a small radio station?
In the not too distant past, this station was the Chicago affiliate for the Fighting Illini.
- Louis G Atsaves - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:03 am:
Part of the problem I’m seeing with the bad questions is too many reporters are working from home or not getting out and talking to people. They need to remove themselves from their little bubbles. The economic fears of many of my legal clients is not really being expressed and the flattening of the curve and models with changing projections are confusing. The more confusion with those numbers, the less they are being trusted. Sure, everyone should be tested, but the basic facts that 300 million or so testing kits do not exist in the country, and the capacity for analyzing them and getting quick results just isn’t there, and never will be. The premise of your article is spot on, but the what about questions are drowning out common sense and facts.
- Leatherneck - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:04 am:
I’m surprised no one has asked about whether State Employees that have been sent home since mid-March will still be going back to the office on Friday, or if we’re still staying put and on work-at-home status all through May now. Still no word from my office on this, so I’m still assuming that we’re going back to work Friday.
- EmptyMailbox - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:06 am:
* this is going to be going on for at least another year *
Even those who are hiding in their basements may have something to say if it goes on that long. Completely unsustainable.
- Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:10 am:
Using a pandemic press briefing to ask the governor if he’s been watching the Michael Jordan documentary.
Sad.
- Wut - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:10 am:
Leatherneck, if nothing changes in the May 1 order regarding the stay at home part, why would you have to report back to work?
- Telly - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:11 am:
@ Practical Politics
I hate say it, but a small station for a small team.
- ajjacksson - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:15 am:
Nice job Rich.
- Bogey Golfer - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:16 am:
It’s a 5000 watt station. Can’t receive it outside Joliet or Aurora.
- Top of the State - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:20 am:
The historian John Meacham calls this the “partisan pandemic”. And we see this conflict between Chicago reporters and downstate. The “gotcha” type of questions get old, and people are starting to tune out.
- Rural Illinoisan - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:24 am:
I’m not for it, but there are quite a few rural Illinoisans who advocate issuing a quarantine for Chicago and the suburbs and to reopen others parts of the state because the infection rate is lower. I’m not for it, but why shouldn’t the Governor address this.
- efudd - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:26 am:
horseplay-
Citations that vaping reduces smoking.
From peer-reviewed sources, of course.
- Morty - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:26 am:
Practical Politics - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:01 am:
How does WIND 560 AM rate as a small radio station?
Miniscule ratings?
- Camel - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:28 am:
The worst question yet was the question about whether JB has seen “The Last Dance” — just otherworldly levels of pointless.
- Morty - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:32 am:
Rural
He has.
Repeatedly.
Because some people don’t like the answer that doesn’t mean he hasn’t answered that.
He has made numerous references to the fact that the virus doesn’t understand county-lines.
The virus is in you county. You may not know who or where, but it is.
- Cheryl44 - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:33 am:
Governor Pritzger addressed it. He’s said they’re looking into it. So they are discussing how to open up areas that haven’t seen a lot of cases without killing a bunch of people.
- Demoralized - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:36 am:
==but why shouldn’t the Governor address this.==
He has. Multiple times.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:38 am:
===I’m not for it, but there are quite a few rural Illinoisans who advocate issuing a quarantine for Chicago and the suburbs and to reopen others parts of the state because the infection rate is lower. I’m not for it, but why shouldn’t the Governor address this. ===
Um, that’s in the column above and he did address it that day. Also, how the heck do you quarantine one of the largest metro areas in the nation? You got any idea how many roads and streets lead in and out of that region?
- efudd - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:41 am:
But, but I want a quarantine of Chicago. It plays into my dystopian view of everything bad about urban areas.
Don’t waste my time with logistics.
- @misterjayem - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:49 am:
“Even those who are hiding in their basements may have something to say if it goes on that long.”
Please direct all complaints and suggestions to COVID19@coronavirus.com.
– MrJM
- PrairieChicken - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:50 am:
Some states are reopening non public contact business like factories and packing plants. There problem here is that those places are designed to have workers basically shoulder to shoulder. In order to practice distancing they are going to have to open with something like a third of the normal workforce. How are they going to be able to produce enough to make a profit? Then how do employees get to work? One of the reasons NY city and Chicago have had more cases is their excellent public transportation systems. You really can’t open those up to a lot of people. Then if they don’t have cars do they car pool? It’s not going to work.
- Chicagonk - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:50 am:
This goes for both the federal and state leaders. Pare down the number of press conferences.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:54 am:
=== packing plants===
Meat packing plants are stopping production here in Illinois.
Keep up.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:55 am:
=== How are they going to be able to produce enough to make a profit?===
Money over people is the losing argument.
Sorry.
Money. Over people. Is the losing argument.
- @misterjayem - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:58 am:
The governor’s daily press conferences have become a vivid demonstration of the distinction between 1) the Media, and 2) the Press.
– MrJM
- Chucko - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 11:01 am:
I was a reporter for decades,and I can tell you that standards have dropped. Too many so-called reporters ask questions designed to draw attention to themselves rather than to get information.
- Steve in Edwardsville - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 11:07 am:
Great column, Rich, both in terms of your speaking up on behalf of the press and simultaneously calling on journalists to be responsible in the midst of this crisis. Thank you for all that you do to keep up informed, especially now.
- Leatherneck - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 11:11 am:
- @misterjayem - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 10:58 am:
The governor’s daily press conferences have become a vivid demonstration of the distinction between 1) the Media, and 2) the Press.
– MrJM
————————–
I wonder how many radio/TV stations which carry the Governor’s press conferences sign off their coverage when the Q&A sessions begin.
Here in the Springfield DMA for local TV stations, WAND (NBC) doesn’t even carry the press conference presently; WICS (ABC) (and sister station WRSP-FOX) carries the press conference but IIRC may cut out after a few questions; and WCIA (CBS) carries the show to its entirety (I haven’t checked if WCIA’s sister station WCIX also carries it live too).
- Left Leaner - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 11:21 am:
Bravo! Well stated.
At a time when journalism can shine - and is in many places, ie Capitol Fax - it seems that some journalists are either terribly lazy, obnoxiously narcissistic, or hellbent on damaging their own profession.
Keep up the great work Rich - typos, mistypings and all.
- Proud Papa Bear - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 11:31 am:
I used to include WIND in my channel flip rotation back when John Howell was tolerable (many moons ago). That station definitely kept their weaker link.
- Flapdoodle - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 12:03 pm:
The worst question yet was the question about whether JB has seen “The Last Dance” — just otherworldly levels of pointless.
Not so sure it was pointless — you ask the question, the guv says he’s watched, then you get to bash him for watching TV during a pandemic and not getting the state opened up. Lot of “Gotcha” being played in those pressers.
- Evanston - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 12:39 pm:
“Grandson of Man - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 9:49 am:”
The Union is always willing to work with the State. AFSCME has been very reasonable and there is talk about accepting furlough days like what was done in 2011. Keep the contract as is but accepting furlough days to help the State and then both sides benefit. The State saves money and the workers have the time off.
- Evanston - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 12:56 pm:
Sorry, it was in 2010 that their were furloughs.
The furloughs were two for one. For every two days that an employee took a furlough not-paid, they would receive a day off which was paid.
- JoanP - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 1:29 pm:
I kept waiting for someone to ask Gov. Pritzker or Dr. Ezike about this report: https://www.hpherald.com/news/ucmc-finds-non-invasive-alternative-to-ventilators-has-truly-remarkable-results/article_2a30feb8-85a9-11ea-8bf4-df8e5b426a90.html
Seems a lot more relevant and important than whether the governor has watched “The Last Dance”.
I loathe the idea of restrictions on the press, or barring reporters from press conferences, but some reporters are just asking for it.
- dbk - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 2:19 pm:
–Warren County has 50 and counting cases thanks to the now closed Chinese owned meat place.–
Yeah. The packing plants, and not just Smithfield, are petri dishes of contagion due to working conditions.
Saw a FB post by a cousin earlier today; she’d taken the 10-month-old for a day visit to his grandfather and great-grandmother (age 90+). They’re in the town where the Smithfield plant is located. I was beside myself.
- revvedup - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 2:54 pm:
I applaud Rich for calling out his fellow journalists/reporters for the massive decline in quality of reporting over the years. Self-important or decidedly politically slanted reporting of everything is not merely tiresome, but adds to the stress and confusion. Opinions belong on the editorial page, not in new articles. Writing quality is abysmal, frequently unclear, and unsupported by facts.
- RDB - Monday, Apr 27, 20 @ 8:35 pm:
WILL is the only radio station in Champaign-Urbana currently airing it. They broadcast the whole thing. Honestly, though, I’m not too concerned because the briefings are live on the Governor’s Facebook page.