There’s quite a bit of consternation about the prospect of someone like Dave Ransburg buying the paper. The fear, presumably, is that news stories that don’t fit the buyers’ agenda for Peoria will be suppressed. There’s fear that the new owner might not be “responsible,” thus compromising the paper’s integrity.
I share those fears, but this is partially a case of “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” Is the current Journal Star pure of story suppression? Or do we just favor their known biases over the unknown biases of a rumored alliance of local businessmen (including Dave Ransburg) who may be trying to purchase the PJS?
For example, a reader of my blog recently sent me a copy of this letter (PDF format). It’s dated May 13, 2004, and is addressed to Dr. Sean C. Matheson. It’s signed by fourteen (14) District 150 administrators. It’s three pages long and expresses the administrators’ outrage over a litany of comments and actions by Matheson. “These comments and actions,” they conclude, “have been an attack on our professional judgment, integrity and reputations. They have created an uncomfortable and uncertain work environment that deters us from our mission.”
The person who forwarded this letter to me wrote, “This was passed to me a while back – it is my understanding that it was given to the PJS in 2004 and McDowell and Bailey suppressed [it] out of deference to their friendship with Matheson and Wieland.” Is this not the same kind of behavior we fear in a Ransburg? It would appear non-local corporate ownership is not the antidote to newsroom meddling.
I predict that, regardless of who buys the paper, there will be an adjustment period where we get to know the new owners’ biases, lambaste them, and then learn to compensate for them through other media, including TV, blogs, and alternative newspapers like the Peoria Times Observer.
Here are some interesting perspectives on local ownership of newspapers that I found on the web:
- Local ownership isn’t cure-all for newspapers (Boston Globe)
- Yearning to Put Papers Back in Local Hands (New York Times)
- New ‘Local’ Ownership Raises New Issues in Newsrooms (CNN Money)
- SPECIAL REPORT: Is Hometown Ownership Really the Next Big Thing? (Editor & Publisher)