David Jordan reported this on Peoria Station on June 30:
PEORIA – Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection will drop its nonstop service between Peoria and Atlanta on September 1. The airline’s online schedules show two daily roundtrips through July, then one through August. Delta Connection had reduced Peoria service to just one daily roundtrip last fall, leading to speculation that service would soon end altogether, but then restored a second daily flight in March.
The Peoria Journal Star placed this article on it’s website today, Aug. 3, more than one month after it was broken on a BlogPeoria.com site:
Delta Airlines will cut its local service to Atlanta, Ga., at the end of this month.
“Effective in September, we will be suspending service between Atlanta and Peoria as part of our continuing effort to match capacity and demand,” company spokeswoman Susan Elliott confirmed Monday.
Since Atlanta is a major hub for air travelers, the direct flights will be missed, particularly by those who promote the central Illinois economy.
So what took so long? Notice that Mr. Jordan — a citizen journalist with some expertise in transportation issues — looked at the evidence in front of his eyes and wrote what he knew. The Journal Star waited until they had comments from an official spokesperson. In other words, Peoria’s one and only newspaper of record didn’t define the news as news until someone official went on the record.
That’s called “objective” journalism and that’s why newspapers are dying. It gives government and chamber of commerce types too much control over what appears in print.
If you want to know what’s happening at the Peoria airport as soon as possible, I suggest you read Peoria Station regularly. Wait for the Journal Star, and you might find yourself scrambling to make a connection.
Tags: blogpeoria, Citizen Journalism, David Jordan, Delta Connection, Peoria Journal Star, Susan Elliott
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Thanks, Billy! I guess that means the PJStar doesn’t assign anyone to read my blog
Not really. All it means is that the PJS won’t do a business story unless someone hands them a press release.
Billy,
Are you saying the PJStar won’t take the initiative? In contrast, Thomas Bona, of the Rockford Register Star, is quite up to speed on his local airport. IMHO, he should do transportation reporting for sister Gatehouse papers. Check his blog at:
http://blogs.e-rockford.com/thepassengerseat/
What I am saying is that I know from personal experience that you can dump a business story in the lap of the business department, including contacts, and they will wait till they have a press release in their hands. But then, this describes the Peoria media as a whole.
Note to the guy who tried to post a bunch of accusations against Globe Energy: Sorry. Take it somewhere else. I’m more than happy to tell the company’s attorney’s to take a hike, but the stuff in your comment was libelous if it’s not true, and I have no way to verify it. Contact law enforcement.
[...] Peoria Pundit » Blog Archive » BlogPeoria site beats Journal Star … [...]
Hey, why haven’t you been arrested yet?
So “objective journalism” is a bad thing? Newspapers should just print rumors without verifying?
Do you really think that waiting to have a story verified is a problem? Is being first better somehow than being right?
Hey, just asking.
Read the story, Terry. Jordan went out and gathered the information which he was able to understand without having to explained to him by any officials and he went and reported it. The PJS waited until they had quotes from official sources. Because it wasn’t REAL news until it was official. PJS readers who rely on the airport were ill served by this approach.
Listen to yourself. “Verified.” You know what? Watergate was never fucking “verified” either. Until they started convicting people.
1. This ain’t Watergate.
2. Watergate sure as hell WAS “verified.” By several sources. Maybe not all of them “on the record,” but I can assure you that Ben Bradlee made sure everything was verified before they went to press.
3. I still maintain that comparing blogs and newspapers is comparing apples and oranges. Blogs report rumors; newspapers don’t. I’m not saying that’s what David did in this case, but you know that to be true more often than not. That said, I am a big fan of blogs. Really.
4. Yes, the Journal Star was late on this story. It’s happening more and more often as their news staff shrinks to nothing. Not their fault; just the nature of the beast, 2009-style.
5. You really shouldn’t use the F word, Billy. Kids might be reading this.
6. How about those Cubbies?
1. This ain’t Watergate.
Never said it was.
2. Watergate sure as hell WAS “verified.” By several sources. Maybe not all of them “on the record,” but I can assure you that Ben Bradlee made sure everything was verified before they went to press.
Ben Bradlee did not wait for a press release from the Nixon White House CONFIRMING what Woodward and Bernstein found. That was what I mean and you know it.
3. I still maintain that comparing blogs and newspapers is comparing apples and oranges. Blogs report rumors; newspapers don’t. I’m not saying that’s what David did in this case, but you know that to be true more often than not. That said, I am a big fan of blogs. Really.
There are blogs that commit serious acts of journalism every day. And there are newspapers that hire Jayson Blair. You really need to get over the concept that journalisdm is something that happens only in print.
4. Yes, the Journal Star was late on this story. It’s happening more and more often as their news staff shrinks to nothing. Not their fault; just the nature of the beast, 2009-style.
Agree.
5. You really shouldn’t use the F word, Billy. Kids might be reading this.
Please Google George Carlin and Lenny Bruce.
6. How about those Cubbies?
Stop changing the subject. But, yeah, how ’bout ‘em.
I mostly read the Journal Star online, although I do subscribe to its paper edition. I have never said that journalism happens only in print. If I did, please point it out.
Most blogs are still aggregates of news gathered by MSM sites. It’s a fact, with some exceptions like Politco, Huffpo and the Daily Beast. But I agree that journalism’s future is online. I’ve never said anything to the contrary. It’s happening, slowly but surely.
You forgot to have me google Richard Pryor. Now there was dude who knew how to say fuck.
And I wasn’t changing the subject. I was only trying to be friendly.
Wow, I didn’t think this would turn controversial
Terry,
Delta Air Lines’ own online timetables are my verified source for my June 30 post. Anyone can check them, and they tend to come out about 2 months in advance. Someone from the PJStar could, from time to time, spend a few minutes on the website of each airline serving Peoria and check the latest timetables for any changes in flights. Any change noted would be a good reason to contact the airline’s spokesperson and/or the airport authority for comment. And a story.
I find the PJStar’s coverage of local airline service to be inconsistent. In 2005, the paper reported the end of American Connection’s St. Louis – Bloomington/Champaign flights in advance, but reported the end of the airline’s St. Louis-Peoria flights a few days after the fact (coincidentally after I had posted the story on my old blog about Jan 30, 2006, and CJ and Billy picked up on it).
Staff cuts might be part of the problem, but PJStar’s coverage of local commercial aviation has been spotty for years.