I’m sitting here watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games, and I’m growing increasingly annoyed at the annoying pop-up ad for Sherman’s that WEEK is running. It’s bad enough during regular television shows because they tend to make it hard to get lost in the story. But the graphics are covering up the information [...]

WEEK announced at last night’s 10 p.m. newscast that weekend anchor/producer Jenny Li was leaving the station to work in public relations for State Farm Insurance in Bloomington.
What’s good for Jenny — better pay and better hours, no doubt — is bed news for news consumers. I’ll miss seeing her around the press table [...]

I was chatting with one of the parents who unsuccessfully tried to convince District 150 to NOT gouge 45 minutes of instructional time from primary schools. His assessment mirrored my own: HOI News has presented the best coverage, hand’s down, of the whole controversy.
And this was before today’s story about how at least one school’s [...]

I managed to catch the debate on 18th District Congressional debate tonight. Jim McConoughey, John Morris and Aaron Schock were grilled on issues ranging from earmarks to the growing power of the presidency.
Again, most of the time, the three gave remarkably similar answers to the questions. That’s not unusual, since most of the time, they [...]

Cindy Ardis-Jenkins and I have been exchanging phone messages for a week. We finally touched base a few moments ago.
She said there’s going to be a formal announcement on Nov. 15 that is seeking the GOP nomination for the state representative job now held by Aaron Schock.
“It was really a surprise” when she was approached [...]

Granite Broadcasting’s Chief Executive W. Don Cornwell wants the $460,000 in bonuses owed to him while the company, owner of WEEK TV, was in bankruptcy, which is “raising the ire” (a phrase found only in the media of creditors and shareholders, and no doubt the lowly peons who work for them. From CNN Money:
Cornwell, [...]

Commenter “Tony ” wants me to do more research on SilverPoint Capital, the company that just bought Granite Broadcasting — WEEK’s parent company — out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, instead of just bashing. I did no bashing of this company. I simply commented that I could not find any evidence on the Web that [...]

Granite Broadcasting Corp. can’t make a pending…

Eyebrows McGee recaps her experience at WEEK’s studio and discovers — to her amusement but not surprise — that newscasters often don’t wear pants. I can expand on this: It includes when they are in the newsroom working on stories, and when they are sitting in the studio.
One day I’d like to have a job [...]

I have to admit that this sort of thing* not only annoys me, it worries me.
On WMBD 1470, I hear Dan DiOrio, Greg Batton and Jamie Markley segueing from commentary on public affairs into advertising messages. On WEEK, I see Tom McIntyre** and other anchors hawking vacation packages. These aren’t the only ones. Newspapers — [...]

I just caught Ray LaHood answering WEEK’s Mike Dimmick’s questions about money from lobbyists and travel.
First, LaHood said that he proud of the fact that 70 percent of the money he gets comes from sources within the 18th Congressional District. He didn’t mention that lobbyists are the largest single source of his donations during this [...]

Now, I know I’m a bit late in commenting about this but …
How many readers saw the WEEK 10 p.m. news the other night when they ran a “consumer” segment about how much money that can be saved by buying a newspaper every day and using the coupons? The damn thing sounded like a free [...]

Funny how this report is far less enthusiastic than the original press release I quoted earlier:
Granite Broadcasting Corp., the owner of WISE-TV, Channel 33, narrowed its losses in the third quarter but continued to hemorrhage money.
New York-based Granite lost nearly $19.7 million in the third quarter, according to the company’s earnings report released Thursday. That [...]

Via PR Newswire: Granite Broadcasting Reports Third Quarter 2005 Results:
Commenting on the results, W. Don Cornwell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our station group showed solid gains with net revenue increasing 7.1 percent as recent strategic initiatives more than offset the absence of $3.5 million of political and Olympic-related revenue, reductions in network compensation [...]

I try to not make posts when I am upset. I usually end up saying something want to retract after I’ve had a nap.
That being said, I think I’ll wait till tomorrow to comment on Peoria and college television stations turning over raw footage of their coverage of the murder of Illinois State University [...]