The Peoria Pundit is reporting that Newspaper Guild employees at the Journal Star are going to start an aggressive campaign “to ensure the paper is sold to a responsible buyer.” The campaign is set to kick off on January 1, 2007, with a full-page ad and website.

According to their website, the mission statement of the Newspaper Guild is to (emphasis mine):

Advance the economic interests and to improve the working conditions of its members;

Guarantee, as far as it is able, equal employment and advancement opportunity in the newspaper industry and constant honesty in news, editorials, advertising, and business practices;

Raise the standards of journalism and ethics of the industry;

Foster friendly cooperation with all other workers;

Promote industrial unionism in the jurisdiction of the Guild.

I have a feeling the driving factor behind the push for a “responsible owner” is concern that rumored buyer Dave Ransburg would compromise the bolded principle above. One wonders what kind of retribution will be meted out if their efforts are unsuccessful and Ransburg is able to gain control of the city’s only newspaper.

If, heaven forbid, we do end up with a Ransburg-run Journal Star, could that action be the impetus for a large group of disaffected PJS employees to start a rival daily newspaper, making Peoria a two-newspaper town again? Or will the status of newsie blogs be elevated — in Peoria at least — as indispensable independent news sources?

Keep your eye on this site, still under construction as of this writing, for more details after the first of the year: www.savethejournalstar.com.