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The Peoria Journal-Star’s fawning coverage of state Rep. Aaron Schock has long been a running joke in Springfield. I don’t blame Schock in the least. If he’s able to get that sort of “homer” coverage, then more power to him. It’s entirely the paper’s fault.
The Journal-Star’s own political reporter was apparently incapable of writing a follow-up to Bernie Schoenburg’s column yesterday which exploded a gaping hole in the paper’s original coverage of Schock’s official congressional campaign announcement. The task was instead given to a Statehouse scribe.
That was probably a good idea. As the Peoria Pundit notes about the author of the original story, who failed to include the stunning revelation that Schock would sell nuclear missiles to Taiwan if China didn’t help the US deal with Iran…
PJS reporter Karen McDonald… also attended the [GOP congressional candidate] McConoughey press conference where her single question was to ask McConoughey, essentially, “Oh yeah? Well what’s YOUR position?”
The reporter in question was assigned to do another story on Schock for today - the sort of piece that the Peoria Journal-Star has excelled at over the years…
Instead of discussing laws with his peers in Springfield or discussing platforms for his congressional run, state Rep. Aaron Schock had to answer to students Thursday at Roosevelt Magnet School, where he served as “principal for a day.”
A group of about 100 students asked Schock about his grades in school, future goals, the city’s jaywalking ordinance and, perhaps most important to them, whether he gets national holidays off as a state representative.
Yep. She had him right there and didn’t ask him (or at least didn’t report) about his Strangelovian idea to destabilize the world. That pretty much sums up everything that’s wrong with the Peoria Journal-Star.
Now, to the question: Does your local paper skew its coverage in favor of any particular politician? Explain.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 9:54 am
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I know that Madigan’s boys have long had an issue with the coverage from Peoria, but one of the reporters they thought “skewed” the coverage left for the Old South.
Comment by Gus Bode Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:04 am
Let’s stick to the question, please.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:07 am
Having had personal experience at a once-rival paper that has since been gobbled up by the Gatehouse empire, let’s just say it doesn’t surprise me that the reporter in question gave Schock an obvious pass.
Having since moved to Springfield and taken up reading the SJ-R, I do believe they go a little too easy on certain city and county officials.
Comment by Secondhand Bookworm Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:21 am
[…] Rich Miller picked up on the fact that the Journal Star didn’t even use its own reporters to cover Jim McConoughey’s press conference yesterday. This is his lede paragraph: The Peoria Journal-Star’s fawning coverage of state Rep. Aaron Schock has long been a running joke in Springfield. I don’t blame Schock in the least. If he’s able to get that sort of “homer” coverage, then more power to him. It’s entirely the paper’s fault. […]
Pingback by Peoria Pundit » Media: Journal Star ‘a joke’ throughout the state Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:26 am
It is my belief that the local newspapers in Chicago do skew their coverage for politicians. However, it appears to be on specific or individual issue rather than in general. The columnists are another issue.
Kass is always pounding Daley. Many of his insinuations and inferences go way over the top and are not based on fact but rather speculation. I’am not a great fan of Daley, but I recognize the difficult job he has, and given the circumstances he has done a decent job.
Kass is a poor imposter for the late Royko!!!
Comment by MOON Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:26 am
What is a paper?
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:30 am
Yes, Obama. The media coverage nationally has been in love with this guy.
Locally, the papers hated my state rep until say…August or July.
Comment by Wumpus Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:31 am
My local paper still thinks GWB is the greatest guy ever and it’s editorial coverage largely fawns over him.
Yup, The good old boys at the Tribune.
My neighborhood paper hated Alderman Matlak, and rightly so. It was in love with Waguespack the aldermanic candidate, but I haven’t see much reporting on Wags the Alderman.
It is pretty balanced on Manny Flores, though. Sometimes praises him, sometimes goes for the throat.
Comment by jerry 101 Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:34 am
Peoria Journal is my local paper, hence why I’m here and at Springfield paper. I have not purchased Peoria’s for years and stopped reading it online about a year ago. But as that was not the question asked, I’ll go back to scanning real story headlines this morning and ignoring the Peoria paper as usual.
Comment by Princeville Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:34 am
I agree with Wumpus. The Chicago papers treat Obama with kid gloves, but then print a story about Bill not inviting them into his pow wow. On the other hand, I don’t exactly expect objective reporting on one’s “favorite son.”
Comment by Greg Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:42 am
[…] UPDATE: Great minds think alike. Independently, Billy Dennis and Rich Miller each commented on basically the same thing. […]
Pingback by The Peoria Chronicle » Blog Archive » Is McDonald a Schock supporter? Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:52 am
Another thing: does the PJS really even HAVE a political reporter anymore? Their best one, Molly Parker, left months ago, and under the Gatehouse regime they are not hiring any replacements, just shuffling around the reporters they have.
Comment by Secondhand Bookworm Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:56 am
Y’know, Vanillaman, newspapers are the websites that develop most of the original copy for blogs by using these devices called “journalists” that are like spiders or something except they actually go outside during daylight hours and cover events and write stories. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work!
Comment by HoosierDaddy Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:59 am
my small town newspaper doesn’t print anything controversial, political or trouble causing. I have to count on the SJ-R or Rich Miller for the real news. I used to read the PJ star for Rick Baker. Can’t someone start a real newspaper?
Comment by jane doe Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:01 am
I wonder what state rep. David Leitch has to say about Shrock recently…dave has been way way quiet, especially given that he was such a strong supporter of AAron two years ago…..
Comment by ed u Kate Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:03 am
ps….David Leitch is a former PJS reporter..now banker in Peoria
Comment by ed u Kate Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:04 am
oh, Jane Doe, you remember Rich Baker–me too. Loved his columns. Nobody in the Peoria area could tell it like it is and let the feathers fly and fall where they may like he could. Since then, it all just seems like fluff.
Comment by Princeville Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:05 am
The Tribune defers to Jim Thompson on just about anything he says. During the Conrad Black trial, the Tribune was put in a tricky spot. The Trib mentioned that Jim admitted to “skimming” Black’s disclosure statements. The Trib did not dwell on the fact that Jim was paid handsomely to scrutinize Black’s actions and that Jim failed to do that.
Unlike the Trib, the foreign press described the mood in the court room while Jim testified. He was embarrassed and hostile at times - not the confident, sanctimonious man we have all come to know and love.
If Jim’s testimony were to be believed, the hot-shot former federal prosecutor and former governor got hoodwinked by some greedy scoundrel. Black’s attorney made Jim look like an overpaid, incompetent fool.
Comment by take it easy Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:07 am
Interestingly, Rich, there was a study done not to long ago of bias in the media, and they found substantial liberal AND conservative bias in the media. What they also found was that bias reflected the bias of their market. Schocking.
I think the bias at the PJS is two-fold. First, Schock is what passes for celebrity in Peoria, so he gets the celebrity treatment. Secondly, the paper’s political coverage and their editorial board took a turn for the worse after their corporate buy-out.
I doubt they’ll ever recover.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:08 am
On the contrary, if you look at comparable cities (Decatur, Champaign, Bloomington etc.) they are usually pretty hard on General Assembly members.
The school girl-crush that PJS has on Schock was cute when he was debating specialty license plates or some other small potato business, but this is Congress, diplomacy, international relations. Kind of a big deal, might want to do some real reporting over there.
Comment by L.S. Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:10 am
Perceptions of local bias and soft reporting aside, Gatehouse has more reporters at the state capitol than any other news outlet. Why wouldn’t they cover it. They ARE Peoria Journal Star reporters. It’s not like there’s a great deal of activity at the Capitol to keep reporters busy.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:17 am
Has any paper in Illinois taken a sober look at Obama’s qualifications to be President of the United States? In wartime? If Dan Hynes had won the Democratic primary, beaten Alan Keyes, spent his first two years as senator doing virtually nothing but fundraising, would he then be a serious candidate for president?
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:17 am
Let’s get this straight.
The Peoria Journal Star “might want to do some real reporting on Congress, diplomacy, international relations.”
Any reporter who could do “some real reporting on Congress, diplomacy, international relations” would’t be hanging around a berg like Peoria or Springfield.
Comment by True Observer Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:19 am
yes. There are two main political reporters for our paper. They are also political columnists. Too often, they forget to take the columnist hat off when they are writing news stories.
To their credit, it isn’t that they are biased against all Democrats or all Republicans, it is that they are biased against certain politicians, and biased in favor of certain politicians, some of whom are D’s and some who are R’s.
Even when they are biased in favor of your guy, it doesn’t feel right.
Comment by winco Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:20 am
I had to laugh at the SJ-R once, in 1996 after the Iowa caucus. There were 5 paper vending machines in front of my building:, SJ-R, Trib, Sun-Times, Globe-Democrat and USA Today. Four of them had the headline “Bush Wins in Iowa”. The SJ-R’s headline that day? “Buchanan Finishes Strong 2nd”
Comment by What planet is he from again? Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:25 am
I see skews in the local paper of all sorts of various size races.
Certain reporters in the Chicago Sun-Times only report the vague & less critical stuff of certain candidates, but the more critical and personal-side of other candidates (i.e.– Clinton and Obama).
I’ve also seen in The Star paper poor coverage of local elections. I remember during last election cycle when they endorsed their candidates for the election, they didn’t do any background on ANY CANDIDATES. They said they only endorsed candidates who “reached out to them.” Since when does a candidate “reach out to a paper” and say “Pick me!”??
These papers are skewed to the personal preferences of the reporter… and these ELECTIONS ARE TOO LONG.
Comment by HelpMeUnderstand Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:29 am
The coverage has been outstanding in the River City. No one has reported AS is dreamey — yet !
All three of the GOPers in the Race to RePlace (hey that sounds cool)are for the war so what diference does a few more nukes make?
Comment by Reddbyrd Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:30 am
Yes, I remember Rick Baker too. You either loved him or hated him but you couldn’t ignore him. After he died in a car wreck, the JS ran an empty space with his picture and column header on the editorial page as a tribute. No one — not even his widow, Terry Bibo — has ever been able to fill that space in quite the same way.
Comment by Secondhand Bookworm Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:45 am
Sure they do. Consider any story concerning Alderwoman Gail Simpson (SpringVegas). Further, they turn off the comments section online to any debate in respect to stories involving her. C’mon, don’t stifle discourse- just filter out/disallow the inappropriate stuff!
Comment by The Welshman Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:54 am
Who can forget the infamous Chicago Sun-Times publisher’s decision,overriding the editorial staff,to endorse Rod Blagojevich instead of Paul Vallas for Governor. Rumor had it that the publisher made this decison because he wanted Dick Mell’s support on the zoning changes neceesary to construct the Trump tower building on the Sun-Times site. I have no idea if this story is true, but it seesm plausible. This is the Chcicao version of hometown coverage - naked economic self-interest.
Comment by Captain America Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:54 am
Whoops. My apologies. I failed to clarify; The SJ-R does not skew the story in favor of Alderwoman Simpsom per say. They just won’t allow any blogging on topics related to her.
Comment by The Welshman Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:58 am
My hometown paper is a Pioneer Press publication, and yes they do print every press release from my legislators and congressperson.
Clearly there is a bias, but I think its mostly towards incumbents as YDD suggests.
I think the locals crave good sources and interviews, so they tend to give the incumbents favorable coverage to not risk being cut off. I noticed the same thing in the Daily Southtown and Daily Herald, they tend to favor incumbents with coverage.
Comment by Napoleon Has Left The Building Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 11:59 am
Aside from Doug Finke and Bernie Schoenberg, there’s not much value-added state reporting at the SJ-R. It’s gotten to the point where the lead stories in the Tribune or Sun-Times from the previous day becomes the headline the following day in Springfield. My original hometown paper, the Kankakee Daily Journal is deeply lacking in any real political journalism, so, like many others, I am grateful for Rich’s incredibly up-to-date and relevant information on this site. It is by far the most comprehensive site for up-to-the minute news and views on the Illinois political scene.
Suggestion to the SJ-R: if you’re going to have an interactive “comment” section, it might be good to update the comments more frequently than every 2 hours.
Comment by DC Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:00 pm
Welshman, it’s probably out of fear that any comments about her will degenerate into race-baiting, which happens with frequency in other Central Illinois newspapers; but keeping that from happening is what an online editor/moderator gets paid to do (I assume).
Comment by Secondhand Bookworm Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:03 pm
Our local Waukegan News-Sun has basically abandoned all in depth coverage of local politicians elected to Springfield and Washington or even County Board. They have replaced such coverage with doggie pet photos, a full page of anonymous talk of the county postings, and an over abundance of crime stories. From newspaper to tabloid.
Wasn’t like that “back in the day” (just a few years ago).
Their plunging circulation numbers should be telling them what a mistake they’ve made. It now looks like a minature Sun-Times without any substance concerning Lake County.
Comment by LouisGAtsaves Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:04 pm
Secondhand Bookworm, my thoughts completely. Yes, their will be people who will attempt to post inappropriate and offensive material, given the sensitive nature of underlying themes in the stories. But to completely bar all dialogue? Yes, pay someone to screen the comments!
Comment by The Welshman Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:21 pm
ooops..(there will be people…)
Comment by The Welshman Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:22 pm
The favoritism isn’t restricted to just politics. The sports pages of the State Journal Register have always skewed towards private schools / away from Springfield Public Schools. Want to get an eyeful about crime reporting? Read secondcitycop.blogspot.com - the “underground” blog for Chicago Police Department officers. Favoritism is everywhere, not just newspaper political coverage … .
Comment by Smitty Irving Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:25 pm
Our local papers do have a bias for the status quo. Does not matter how incompetent or corrupt the politician is, as long as he/she is an incumbent they are for them.
This can be verified by the ‘endorsements’ made by the papers during the election cycle. It takes something extraordinary for them to oppose an incumbent. Additionally we also have a gender bias going as well. Females are looked at with far less scrutiny/scepticism than the males and they are frequently allowed the excuse as Hillary tried to use recently that the ‘boys’ are being mean to me.
Comment by plutocrat03 Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:26 pm
point taken, true observer. but some more effort would be nice. real deal major paper reporters had to start somewhere.
Comment by L.S. Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:37 pm
I’d sure like the Peoria paper to take over Schoenburg’s duties covering Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aeillo and Sangamon County government in general. Their coverage of county government is a joke.
Comment by Sango Dem Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 12:48 pm
The family of Wednesday Journal newspapers (downtown Chicagoand near west suburbs) clearly favorite non-machine types, “independents” and “reformers.” But, so what? The Sun-Times is essentially Daley’s mouthpiece. Most papers have a point of view. And most reporters tend to give more favorable coverage to accessible, intelligent, quotable, and clean politicians.
Comment by phocion Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 1:00 pm
L.S., David Broder worked at the Pantagraph once upon a time, a long, long time ago…
Comment by Dan Vock Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 1:05 pm
When Versace decides he wants answer questions maybe they should ask him about it… Is he still on his bus tour?
Comment by Underdog Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 1:36 pm
The Quincy media drools over its pols. It’s a joke.
The Quincy Whig endorsed George Ryan and Blago. You’ll never see any negative Blago stories as long as they think he will help them build another road.
Comment by Old Irish Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 2:06 pm
Every newspaper in the 107th State Rep. district skews its coverage in favor of Rep. Kurt Granberg…most notably, the Mt. Vernon Register-News and the Centralia Sentinel really had their lips planted firmly on his backside during his heated race with John Cavaletto last year.
Comment by heet101 Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 2:07 pm
The Rockford Register Star is as big an offender as the Peoria paper.
Comment by rockford man Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 2:21 pm
I used to edit a weekly paper (not in Illinois) that was, thankfully, not part of a large chain. We were tough but fair. Occasionally politicians would pout and not return calls (at the state rep/state senate level; US Congress and local had thicker skins), but that’s part of the game. Coming to Illinois, and no longer in the newspaper industry, I was shocked at how superficial and incomplete the coverage was. I’m very thankful that Capitol Fax is here to fill a large part of the void.
One of the journalism trade magazines a while back had a good feature on resources devoted to state government coverage. The winner, by a significant margin, was Florida, where one paper alone, the St. Petersburg Times, had nine reporters in Tallahassee. As I recall the total across all papers was something like 40-50.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 2:36 pm
Does the Peoria Journal-Star even have a political reporter?
Comment by DeepFriedOnAStick Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 3:01 pm
Deep Fried, see my 10:56 post.
Comment by Secondhand Bookworm Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 3:45 pm
Without overlooking the sins of newspaper, and they are many, I think it’s equally fair to say that most readers are clueless about whether newspapers are intentionally biased for or against anyone. They just see coverage that’s not hostile to someone they don’t like and instictively label its boosterism. So as far as all these testimonials go, some may have merits but many are sour grapes.
Comment by chief Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 4:26 pm
The local papers here in the Fox Valley region of Hastertland rarely have anything bad to say about anyone in office. A minor exception are some past columnists (google “bob thomas chronicle”) who had fun dissing the local mini-combine. There are too many non-profit fundraisers and school “issues” to write about for the Sun, Republican, and Chronicle.
Comment by Lefty Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 4:48 pm
The Rockford Register Star will do what ever it takes to protect Mayor Larry Morrissey. It is truly sickening. Political Editor Chuck “I don’t even live in Rockford” Sweeney makes friends with politicians and protects them in his writing. This is one of the main reasons that I left Rockford!!!!
Comment by Glad to be out of Rockford Friday, Nov 9, 07 @ 10:13 pm
[…] The Journal Star’s political coverage may be a joke (I didn’t say it, he did) but I’ve gotta hand it to them. They’ve got the Krispy Kreme beat well covered: A Washington woman has created a new culinary confection by transforming Krispy Kreme doughnuts into a decadent dessert, winning second place in a national contest of 1,700 entrants. […]
Pingback by Peoria Pundit » Media: Lots of holes in this Journal Star report Saturday, Nov 10, 07 @ 12:12 am
Before he left office, Congressman Evans was bashed by the Quad City Disgrace (Dispatch) nearly every day. They still slant to the right.
Comment by Scott Saturday, Nov 10, 07 @ 12:14 am
The Sun-Times is more pro-Obama than Obama himself is, if that is even posssible.
Comment by Man Who Grew Up Reading Chicago Today Saturday, Nov 10, 07 @ 8:48 am
The Naperville SUN Fawns over the two City Council members running for the 96th & 48th House races - they ran a story with photo’s how krause & singer car-pooled to file their petitions. Yet the other FIVE (5) 96th & 48th candidates - Bowler, Carlin, Wisniewski & Connoley (R’s) were not even mentioned nor was the Dem. candidate McGuire. Way to go SUN.
Comment by The_Commish Saturday, Nov 10, 07 @ 9:26 pm
They are all bias’ed to some extent, if not in the actual reporting, then in the choice of adjectives they use. Even the NYT has let slanting adjectives slip in the last few years. The only solution is to read news sources from as many “sides” as possible and you might get a true picture somewhere in the middle. No guarentees.
Comment by Another Ex-State Employee Sunday, Nov 11, 07 @ 2:26 pm
The Aurora Beacon News (Be Confused) has Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner looking like a saint. Reporter Andre Salles you would think is related to the Mayor.
Comment by BlueGirl Sunday, Nov 11, 07 @ 2:29 pm