* More background is here, but this is from August 24…
Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 134, which creates the Local Journalism Task Force. The Task Force will conduct a comprehensive study of the status of journalism and make recommendations for improvement to the Governor and General Assembly.
“Many communities across our country have become news deserts – through this legislation, Illinois is taking a step toward addressing that challenge,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Robust local journalism is vitally important and I look forward to reviewing the recommendations from the Task Force as we seek to maintain and grow a strong press corps in Illinois.” […]
Senate Bill 134 creates the Local Journalism Task Force, which will:
• conduct a comprehensive study relative to communities underserved by local journalism in Illinois,
• review all aspects of local journalism including, but not limited to, the adequacy of press coverage of communities, print and digital business models for media outlets, the impact of social media on local news, strategies to improve local news access, and public policy solutions to improve the sustainability of local press business models and private and nonprofit solutions, and
• submit findings and recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly by January 1, 2023.
The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will be required to provide administrative and other support to the Task Force. The Task Force is also required to meet a minimum of five times.
* Today…
She’s really wanted to be on that 15-member panel ever since the bill was passed.
* I asked Abudayyeh for comment…
As a former journalist, I care deeply about media literacy and ensuring the news industry remains viable amid our ever evolving media landscape. I look forward to working with the taskforce to identify ways to increase media coverage in underserved communities, so they do not have to rely on social media and political groups for their information. Our government functions best when communities are served by professional impartial news outlets that inform and educate their communities.
Thoughts?
- Osborne Smith III - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:08 pm:
Standing by for Amy Jacobsen’s absolute freakout over this.
To the appointment, I love it. I’ve long respected Jordan for not only her current position, but her previous one, as well.
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:13 pm:
Really, how does the press secretary and the Governor’s freak out over a completely reasonable question about the efficacy of masks for young school children given the CDC’s current guidance not recommending them for kids under age 6?
- Dirty Red - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:22 pm:
Haters gonna hate. Jordan will still be great.
Congratulations!
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:22 pm:
Congratulations to Jordan, a fine addition to an ambitious charge this committee has..
… how important in historical context and to the discussion prompting this committee will be measured by the work product delivered by this group, and how best to move forward in a better bubble of expansive news.
Congrats.
- phocion - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:22 pm:
==Our government functions best when communities are served by professional impartial news outlets that inform and educate their communities.==
Of which, I agree. But how does appointing a partisan flak to this commission further the goal of promoting “professional impartial news?”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:29 pm:
===partisan flak===
Who would you suggest to add to the committee.
Thanks.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:35 pm:
I think Statehouse Chick isn’t too busy these days…
… just a thought? No? I’ll move on.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:39 pm:
Charlie. Wheeler.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:40 pm:
Why is there no mention of the bill sponsor? It’s relevant for this topic.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:41 pm:
=== Charlie. Wheeler.===
Restaurant quality. Second that.
- Joe Schmoe - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
Mike Lawrence, too. A veteran of the press, government, foundation work and so much more. He and Charlie Wheeler have more institutional knowledge of the workings and ethics of a fair and unbiased press than anyone I know.
- ;) - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
Oh great.
- wut? - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:51 pm:
While I deeply respect Wheeler and Lawrence, them being the only suggestions to this panel as two white men from a completely different generation– That’s precisely the problem with the journalism field. Journalism looks nothing like what these guys did back in the day. Want to fix it for the future, bring in people who understand the current landscape.
- walker - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:51 pm:
Robert Paddock Jr Former owner and recently retired senior executive at the Daily Herald.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 3:59 pm:
===Journalism looks nothing like what these guys did back in the day===
This has been my brother’s exact complaint about SIUC’s journalism dept. for years. They brought in a bunch of retirees who cannot relate to the current landscape.
- Suburbanon - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:00 pm:
Another vote for Wheeler and Lawrence. Two quality credible advocates for a free press.
- Moira - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:04 pm:
This is not a knock on Jordan, and I know most Statehouse reporters worked as local reporters at some point.
But, I’m hoping to also see some folks who are currently in the thick of it on local news and not only Statehouse-centric appointees, given the purpose of the committee. Would love to see somebody like Molly Parker from The Southern and also hoping Block Club Chicago will have a role or at least be consulted by the group.
- Shytown - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:06 pm:
Just seconding that this task force will need youth and diversity. But it’s ok to have a good mix of old timers and younger journalists. Different perspectives and lenses should make for an impactful set of recommendations.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:06 pm:
===who cannot relate to the current landscape.===
A. D. Quig in an interview someone (I can’t remember, sorry) talked about the use of twitter, journalism, etc., and to paraphrase one thing Quig likes about twitter to a journalist point was it wasn’t old guard thinking to thing (like news)
If I find that quote, it’s relevant to that point; news, abd its delivery now, is far different. Her thoughts to it stuck out for me, obviously.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:06 pm:
What journalism looks like today is not much to brag on. Hence, the bill. Old school guys have perspective and context to apply to modern situations. Don’t discount the shamen. Rather, look at the best of what they were doing and see how it fits in today. A lot of what is wrong IMO is the new entrants lacking historical context and background, and falling for a lot of stuff the oldsters would have spiked for not meeting standards.
- Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:09 pm:
Modern news is horribly broken. Historical context and background from experienced veterans will be necessary.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:12 pm:
The quote from eMagazine
=== “What I think it has helped me with, which is an age-old problem, is finding sources and perspectives that aren’t old white guy perspectives,” Quig said. “Twitter is younger, it’s more diverse. A lot of times if you’re talking to those same people and you’re asking, who else should I talk to, and you’re hearing those same names over and over again, and a lot of those names are white guys. That’s not something you’ll get on Twitter.”===
My point is, not that twitter *is* in of itself “news”, but that perspective of reaching out to find new perspective, maybe this new committee will look at going beyond the old white guy thinking and how can journalism be better understanding itself in these new arenas.
Myself, I’m looking forward to this committee gathering and their work product.
- Asteroid of Caution - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:15 pm:
You need a business model to support local journalism.
Put business side people on this task force, not newsroom people. People with effective backgrounds in marketing, community investment, non-profit conversion, etc.
This shouldn’t be about building a better newsroom. It should be about how to make that better newsroom financially feasible.
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:18 pm:
Huge gulf between Twitter and America.
No wonder journalists are so out of touch and trust in media is so low
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/twitter-is-not-america/587770/
Trust in media outlets among Republicans has been reduced by half since the 2016 election, according to a new poll.
Data from the Pew Research Center released on Monday shows support and trust in the press among Republicans dropping from 70 percent in 2016 to 35 percent this year.
Along partisan lines, 78 percent of Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents said they they have “a lot” or “some” trust in the information that comes from national news organizations. But among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, only 35 percent said the same thing, Pew found.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/570132-republican-trust-in-media-cut-in-half-since-2016-poll
- Joe Schmoe - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:23 pm:
The way this discussion is going there first has to be a definition of what constitutes journalism. Is twitter journalism? Facebook? Any blog penned by someone who thinks they are a journalist?
- Chito - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:30 pm:
Linda Lutton from WBEZ would be great. Yeah, she’s a white middle aged woman, but she’s got a Peabody under her belt, and her intimate knowledge and familiarity with the Latino community, is second to none.
- Amalia - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:35 pm:
who are the working journalists on the panel?
- here we go - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:37 pm:
No doubt a part of this discussion is one of economics — there is a direct correlation between the economies of communities and regions and the health (or lack thereof) of local reporting and journalism. In the more rural communities, there still remains a strong interest in local news which is served by community newspapers — although their numbers are shrinking due to the rise of social media news via Facebook, etc.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:42 pm:
- Lucky Pierre -
No one worries about trust more than you.
That can be fact checked as “true”
- Morty - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:45 pm:
Hopefully there will be some investigation into the Tillman/Proft/Timpone scams
- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:51 pm:
I’d be worried, if I were a propagandist like Amy…just sayin.
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:55 pm:
=Trust in media outlets among Republicans has been reduced by half since the 2016 election, according to a new poll.=
One of the results of offering propaganda masquerading as news. It’s not that you don’t trust news, you’re unwilling to believe facts and reality that you don’t agree with. You’ll have to heal yourself.
- Leslie K - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 5:08 pm:
==Put business side people on this task force, not newsroom people.==
Hopefully some business-side people will also be included. But you absolutely have to have newsroom as well, to protect the integrity of the news they are trying to save. Just ask Carol Marin who quit her job at a channel (I forget which) because they wanted to cloak commercials as “news.” It can’t be only business model.
To the post, I think Abudayyeh is a good choice. She was a journalist, but also sees another side of because of her comms work.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 5:37 pm:
Looking at the charge of the task force;
=== • conduct a comprehensive study relative to communities underserved by local journalism in Illinois
• review all aspects of local journalism including, but not limited to, the adequacy of press coverage of communities, print and digital business models for media outlets, the impact of social media on local news, strategies to improve local news access, and public policy solutions to improve the sustainability of local press business models and private and nonprofit solutions===
That’s the framing of what is the intent.
Simple? Right?
So much of what is in both these dot points boils down to underserved media (journalism) and how to make it worth the time and money investments in a 21st century servicing where tweets (any social media) can go viral but be inherently wrong to facts or undermining truth for a narrative.
These ain’t asks like proper use of semicolons or two spaces after a period.
I hope this task force has diversity that includes age along with diversity of society, reflecting a bigger thing, all the while recognizing even places like Oswego and Kendall county can be underserved and we can use true journalistic integrity… and how can we achieve that… in a business model too… in a 21st century news consumption.
My best to all, congrats to Jordan.
- Barton Lorimor - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 7:22 pm:
= They brought in a bunch of retirees who cannot relate to the current landscape. =
= Thoughts? =
Umm, yeah. I might have a few. How much time do we have?
- Journalism Ethics - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 7:48 pm:
Interviewing Bruce Rauner as an “objective” journalist just a few weeks beforw joining JB for Governor is ethics that Illinois Democrats can identify with.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 8:03 pm:
==Just ask Carol Marin who quit her job at a channel (I forget which) because they wanted to cloak commercials as “news.”==
I thought the only time Marin quit at a station was her first stint at Channel 5 in 1997 (along with Ron Magers) because the station hired Jerry Springer for commentary.
- Just Me 2 - Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 11:28 pm:
The loss of journalists at local city council, county board, school board, and park district boards etc had led to those officials having no real oversight. That is where most of the big mistakes in government happen.
- Thomas Paine - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 6:21 am:
No knock on Jordan, but they should keep partisan political operatives as far away from this task force as possible.
Also no knock on Jordan, but a knock on tv journalism, is this clip from Channel 20 covering the “Illinois Exodus”:
https://newschannel20.com/news/local/census-illinois-lost-more-people-than-any-other-state-12-20-2016
Channel 20 has a statehouse reporter, and yet the best they could do on a story about the drop in Illinois population was quote press releases from both sides.
No actual digging to see if there was any actual “exodus”, if there was out migration, who was migrating or why.
CapitolFax, by contrast, asked all of those questions and gave answers.
Again, i don’t think that is Jordan’s fault, that is what most of tv reporting is like. And let’s be honest, those small towns that are “journalism deserts” are not gonna be saved by television…so i don’t understand how its helpful to have any formal tv reporters driving the conversation.
- Elliott Ness - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 7:09 am:
Solid journalist for sure, but not the best way for the task force to avoid political posturing and that is a big part of the issue with journalism today, way too slanted politically. Jordan is great, this appointment not so much. As far as whom to appoint: Bernie Schonberger, Rick Pearson, Ray Long are all solid and span decades, they could bring perspective for sure.
- Gene Masseth - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 7:10 am:
The free press is a great concept, but most media groups are for-profit organizations, so it’s easy to prioritize profit over truth and accuracy. I’m not sure a task force is going to change the money aspect of media.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 8:01 am:
==Also no knock on Jordan, but a knock on tv journalism, is this clip from Channel 20 covering the “Illinois Exodus”:==
She probably was told by Channel 20 and Sinclair higher-ups to report the story exactly how it aired and appeared in the link. Kind of like they were enforcing the Code Red system even if the only storm was a few flurries in Danville. Until Joe Crain called them out on air for it and got fired.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 8:06 am:
==The loss of journalists at local city council, county board, school board, and park district boards etc had led to those officials having no real oversight. That is where most of the big mistakes in government happen.==
The SJ-R is among those newspapers that have cut back their city council beat. You’re most likely going to get City Council meeting wrapups the next morning from Sam Madonia’s show than the SJR or even the other stations.
And although after the events of the past year it could have been dropped anyway, but there are SJR readers that are still mourning the loss of the Police Beat in the paper. Due to the police reporter being cut or leaving (with no replacement). Police Beat has disappeared about 3-4 years ago.
- Downstate Dem - Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 11:32 am:
Look forward to seeing the task force work. Lots to be done.