Posts Tagged ‘Journal Star’
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
I slept for 10 hours last night, so I woke up groggy, but after an hour of so, I’m refreshed and reasdy to start the day with some links. All links are via the Peoria Journal Star unless otherwise noted:
- The guy who many people assumekilled his wife is upset that a year has passed and the state still has custody of his kids. So, either the Department of Family Services is protecting the cfhildren or they are keeping children away from his father. Gee, if there was only some process we could use to determine someone’s guilt or innocense, perhaps one passed on testimony and evidence, leading to a decision made by one’s peers …
- The headline reads that there’s going to be another sizzler today. Really? I checked the phone book and I could not find a Sizzler, or a Ponderosa or Bonanza for that matter.
- I have little hope that the Peoria City Council is going to do anything about its contract with Waste Management. Peoria needs to renogotiate that contract so that there is curbside recycling and mandatory trash pick up in alleys when possible instead on the curb. Won’t happen. Why should it? The council does nothing to protect its citizens against the crappy service provided by Comcast.
- An alleged journalist wrote an alleged newspaper article for an alleged newspaper, an an alleged copy desk worker slapped a headline on it that read “Peorian shot in arm after alleged dispute.” I am shocked, I say, shocked that the PJS didn’t slap the word “alleged” in front of the word “Peorian.” Was the reporter there at the birth? I think not. Thank God they slapped “alleged” in front of “dispute,” because God knows how many newspapers have been hauled into court and forced to pay millions and millions of dollars because they were so reckless as to report thast someome who ended up with a bullet in their arm was involved in some sort of “dispute.” The magic word “alleged” will surely protect them. But they still might be on the hook for calling him a Peorian.
- Silicon Valley Insider reports that the owners of the Naples Daily News are buying a building and new printing press. The cost: $95 million. Ther article fails to mention the company’s annual investments in buggy whips and 8-track tapes.
- For a collection of Luddites, the Peoria Journal Star Editorial Board made some sense yesterday by urging federal funding in support of private efforts to help evade governmentcensorship of the Internet.
Tags: alleged, censorship, Journal Star
Posted in Local, On the Media | 1 Comment »
Saturday, June 20th, 2009
The editorial board of Peoria’s one and only daily newspaper of record have consulted with the experts, read through their own reporting on the issue, consulted with the entire organization and came forth what is sure to be an award-winning opinion on Father’s Day. They in favor.
Tags: editorials, Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | No Comments »
Friday, June 19th, 2009
Check out today’s column by Terry Bibo. There are two firsts.
1. Gary Sandberg and Merle Widmer are on the same side. They’ve been sniping at each over recently, mainly because they differed on the library vote.
2. Not only DOESN’T the column take potshots at either of them, the column is actually pretty much on their side.
Someone in upper management must not have been paying attention. Because the PJS has a long history of looking for reasons to criticize these two curmudgeons.
Meanwhile, Merle lays into Dick Durbin.
Tags: Dick Durbin, Gary Sandberg, Journal Star, Merle Widmer, Terry Bibo
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
More directionally challenged journalism from Peoria’s one and only newspaper of record:
Watson was arrested about 11 a.m. after MEG agents conducted a controlled delivery of a package containing 2,300 grams of marijuana and two digital scales to an East Bluff residence at 1430 W. Willcox St.
Generally speaking, anything east of Knoxville Avenue is considered “East Bluff” (provided it isn’t too far north). Not only isn’t this address east of Knoxville, it isn’t east of North University. It’s more than a full mile away from the East Bluff.
And here’s a clue for the copy desk: If the address is on West ANYTHING, it’s not in the East Bluff.
Seriously, people.
Tags: East Bluff, Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
I’ll buy that idea that months ago, the Journal Star stopped letting readers comment on stories about people getting arrest (a policy which silences readers on about about half of stories in the newspaper).
But I will never buy the idea that the paper never does follow up stories about local public figures who find themselves charged with violent crime.
Columnist Phil Luciano should be asked, for the record, for his side of the story. If he declines, print that.
The Journal Star and WMBD 1470 need to answer readers’/listeners’ questions. Both organizations reported on the arrest, WMBD did so here, but there is nothing today about any possible repercussions. Today’s Journal Star printing a column I suppose was already in the can, and WMBD ran a tepid “Best of Markley and Luciano” yesterday.
So what happens next? It’s no secret that there’s been chatter on blogs that Luciano has been fired from the PJS.
Tags: Journal Star, Phil Luciano, WMBD
Posted in Overset | 21 Comments »
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
I know fromexperience that former Journal Star reporter/editorrial writer Christine (Smith) Ludwig has an impressive set of pipes. I’ve hears her sing karaoke.
So it was a pleasant surprise to hear her voice on WIRL-AM this morning doling out advice about tornado safety in her capacity as spokesperson for the American Red Cross.
Tags: American Red Cross, Christine Smith, Journal Star, WIRL
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
From the Democrat and Chronicle:
In response, the company plans to do more cost-cutting. Its compensation costs were down 10 percent during the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same quarter in 2008, and Reed said, “We will be even more aggressive over the next couple of quarters as we weather this economic downturn. We remain highly focused on liquidity and improving our cash position.”
Apparently, the bosses are unaware of the wonderful EBIDTA.
GateHouse owns the Peoria Journal Star and just about every daily and weekly newspaper in this part of Illinois.
Tags: GateHouse Media, Journal Star
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
From Editor and Publisher:
GateHouse Media, publisher of 92 community dailies and hundreds of non-dailies, reported a first-quarter operating loss of $10.3 million from a year-ago profit of $200,000.
Total revenue fell by 15% to $139.2 million, and was down by 16.3% to $138.6 million on a same-property basis, comparing the results of newspapers and other businesses that have been operating continuously since the first quarter of 2008.
UPDATED: It has been suggested that I do not know how to read financial statements because I reprinted the first two paragraphs from Editor & Publisher’s report on the subject of GateHouse Media’s recently released financial statements. It was suggested a more accurate report — that focused on something called EBIDTA could be found on GateHouse Media’s Website.
So I will reprint the entire release, which you will notice absolutely does NOT focus on EBIDTA. (more…)
Tags: GateHouse Media, Journal Star, Watchdog
Posted in On the Media | 6 Comments »
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
I’ve done this: Write two ledes, each one ready to use depending on the outcome of a vote. It;s one of the thngs reporters have to do to get late-breaking news in the paper within deadline.
We’ll see how long this picture stays up.
Tags: Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | 4 Comments »
Friday, April 10th, 2009
USA Today has a report about how 61 housing agencies that have been repeatedly faulted by auditors for mishandling government aid are getting some $300 million in stimulus cash from the Feds. Among these failed housing agencies is the one serving Woodford County, which is getting another $98,449.
Congress gave the Obama administration permission to withhold stimulus aid from housing authorities that the Department of Housing and Urban Development lists as “troubled” because of factors such as poor maintenance and financial management. But HUD decided to release the money to these authorities because they “should have the opportunity to improve their housing,” spokeswoman Donna White said
Well, isn’t the cash they’ve been getting supposed to be used to “improve their housing?” Answer “yes.” But they aren’t doing that, at least according to the audits.
Other Illinois agencies on list are in Chicago and Kankakee and Coles counties.
Intrigued, I did a search on PJStar.com and didn’t find one single mention of “Woodford County Housing Authority.” I found two possibly elated articles at The Pantagraph, but they are behind a paid firewall.
Tags: Bloomington Pantagraph, Journal Star, stimulus, Woodford County, Woodford County Housing Authority
Posted in Local | Comments Off
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
I don’t give the folks who toil away on the copy desk enough credit. So, I am pleased to give the award for Best Use of a Pun in a Headline to whatever evil genius created the one that ran atop today’s Peoria Journal Star article about the Peoria Ballet’s new facility:
“Tutu to-do.”
Like I said … genius.
Tags: headlines, Journal Star, puns
Posted in On the Media | 4 Comments »
Friday, August 8th, 2008
In an un-bylined article, the Journal Star reported on parent company GateHouse Media’s 2nd quarter statement and conference call. It’s the first coverage the PJS has given the company since the company’s stock prices fell below $1.
The article stated that GateHouse was suspending dividend payments and was going to use the money to pay down debt instead.
GateHouse Media Inc., parent of the Journal Star and several other central Illinois newspapers, posted a loss in the second quarter, but did experience revenue growth, the company announced today.
Also:
CEO Michael Reed said the decision to suspend cash dividends to pay down debt “makes sense in these tough economic times” and said it did not take away from the company’s goal to deliver a profitable product to its shareholders.
He told analysts during a conference call that the company remains strong, that it would be able to weather the current economic storm because its existing credit facility doesn’t mature until 2014.
“We have time to operate through this. It’s important we not panic or lose confidence in our assets,” Reed said.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how some analysts believed that GateHouse was making a mistake by continuing to pay generous dividends even though it was in great debt due a constant stream of acquisitions. Other analysts said that the dividend was the only reason for owning the stock.
I am NOT a market analyst, so the following observations are those of a layman: I’d think the beating the stock has taken would have shaken out the chicken-hearted. Some folks might sell because dividends have been suspended, but I think most of those folks are gone. And it’s better to have a plan to pay off debts than otherwise.
So, perhaps Reed is right and GateHouse is on the road to recovery.
Tags: GateHouse Media, Journal Star, stock
Posted in On the Media | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
From Editor & Publisher:
GateHouse Media is likely to default under its credit agreement unless it can negotiate an amendment to its covenants or get a cash injection from its largest stakeholder, Moody’s Investor Service says in a report downgrading the community newspaper publisher’s credit and probability of default ratings.
and
GateHouse could bump up against loan covenants, Moody’s added.
“Moody’s considers it highly questionable whether GateHouse will be able to comply with this covenant test over the near term without the benefit of proceeds from asset sales [emphasis mine] or another equity cure from its largest shareholder,” [Moody's Senior Analyst John] Page wrote.
In other words, GateHouse is going to have to sell of a big chunk of its assets (perhaps the Peoria Journal Star) or get more cash from Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund that owns close to half of GateHouse.
GateHouse stock closed trading today at 75 cents a share, which is higher than its previous closing price of 72 cents a share. But the price did reach a brand-new all time low of 51 cents a share. Its previous low was 56, which happened yesterday.
UPDATE: I’m not the only blogger on a death watch.
Tags: Fortress Investment Group, GateHouse Media, Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 28th, 2008
On the first trading day after its stock reached a new low, GateHouse Media saw the value of its stock plummet to an all-new low of 66 cents a share. The stock rebounded to 90 cents a share, less than what’s needed to avoid delisting on the New York Stock Exchange.
The drop is being blamed both on declining prices for troubled newspaper companies, and on bad news in particular for GateHouse:
Moody’s questioned management’s thinking in noting that Gatehouse Media was relying “upon proposed asset sales to provide financial flexibility.” The rating agency pointed out that the newspaper publisher had but $25 million in its pocket and all but $11 million of that was the remaining balance on a revolver line of credit that Moody’s says is doubtful its lender would permit Gatehouse to use.
“At the end of March 2008, GateHouse’s credit agreement-defined results provided the company with a modest 3% cushion within its total leverage financial ratio tests,” the Rating agency noted. “Moody’s considers it highly questionable whether GateHouse will be able to comply with this covenant test over the near term without the benefit of proceeds from asset sales or another equity cure from its largest shareholder.”
“Assett sales.” As in “selling the Journal Star,” not to mention any of the many GateHouse properties in Illinois.
No doubt any new buyer will demand their own cuts in personnel.
And like C.J. Summers, I’m not hopeful we are going to see any coverage of this in the Peoria Journal Star, or any other local media organization.
Tags: GateHouse Media, Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Twenty years ago, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper without reading something about AIDS and HIV. I wrote my share of them. These days, almost nothing. We assume that the disease has been beaten. There are people who walk around with an HIV infection who may never get full-blown AIDS, and there are people with AIDS who are living and working amongst the rest of us, seemingly unaffected.
Today’s Journal Star article reminds up that the disease is still out there in the United States, still killing people, still causing health problems for those who are living with it. And there’s still the issues of bigotry, ignorance and misunderstanding, judging by the stories told in the article and some of the comments made by Journal Star readers.
Why in the world would someone like it their compassion to those who get sick in some ways, but not others?
Kudos to PJS reporter Clare Howard for the reminder.
Tags: AIDS, Clare Howard, HIV, Journal Star
Posted in Local | 22 Comments »
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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