Category Archives: Peoria Journal Star

Journalism, Peoria Journal Star

Would Peoria support a new newspaper?

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The Peoria Journal Star was really starting to slide downhill fast when I started my blog, but now it’s reached the bottom of the hill. It’s tiny. There are hardly any reporters. They don’t cover critical government meetings. Their sports scores are printed two days after the game. They don’t cover the arts. I could go on and on, and so could you.

I have many questions, many of which I probably asked before, but I’m too lazy to look back through my blog and try to find them.

  1. Would a startup local newspaper be viable in this day and age? Is there a market for it?
  2. Would you subscribe to a newspaper if it were a full-service newspaper like the Journal Star used to be back in the day?
  3. Could it survive if it were subscription-only (no ads, higher rates)? Or would it need to be traditionally subscription- and ad-revenue-based?
  4. What if it were only offered in printed form (not online)? Crazy idea, I know, but it would mean no content being stolen by news aggregators.
  5. What if it were only offered online? Does that diminish it? Make it seem like a glorified blog?

Going back to question 1, we know that newspaper readership and subscriptions are down, but there’s a chicken-or-egg question I have about that. My parents would still be subscribers if the Journal Star offered any value. When you cut the content and outsource your customer “service” (I use the term loosely), naturally you’re going to lose subscribers. I wonder if a good newspaper would still be viable, even in 2023, because it would offer news that no one else is covering.

What are your thoughts? Both of you who might stumble across this post–what do you think? Please let me know in the comments.

Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star cuts more content

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Peoria’s newspaper of record, the Journal Star, continues its death spiral as it announces today that it is cutting still more content from the paper. Executive Editor Dennis Anderson writes in a “Note to Readers” in Monday’s edition:

The format of the Monday Journal Star is changing starting today.

The newspaper will have two sections on Mondays. The A section continues to house national and world news. Added to the expanded A section is Local & State, which appears on Page 3. The A section also contains the TV page, obituaries, police and courts news, matters of record, the Leisure & Advice page and weather, located on the back page of this section, and other features. The Comics page also is in A section today.

Sports is at the front of the B section today. Also inside the B section are classifieds.

The Opinion page will no longer be published on Mondays. It returns on Tuesday.

The editor apparently didn’t feel any need to explain the reason for this reduction in content to his readers who are not, of course, getting any commensurate cut in their subscription rate. But then, the Journal Star stopped caring about its readers a long time ago. The removal of the Forum section today (part of the Opinion page) illustrates the paper’s complete disregard for its bread and butter.

Given the staffing cuts (and attrition) and the resulting, inexorable reduction in content, it won’t be long until the Journal Star is nothing more than an ad circular.

Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star to exclude all non-Facebook users from commenting

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Mark Zuckerberg is feeling the love coming from Peoria’s only newspaper of record.

The Journal Star posted on its website today a new policy: to comment on stories, you have to have a Facebook account.

Beginning Friday morning, readers who wish to comment on PJStar.com articles will do so using their Facebook account. Facebook accounts bring context to our commenting platform, linking to the identity of a registered user who might think twice before saying something they might not otherwise say face-to-face. Consider it similar to an Opinion Page letter to the editor, which is verified by our newsroom before being published in our print edition.

It’s our hope that the move to Facebook commenting will raise the level of dialog on PJStar.com and encourage more readers to participate. We will continue to invite debate and contrary opinions – we just encourage that the discussion be respectful.

Oh yes, I’m sure it will raise the level of dialog, because people never say uncivil things under their real names. People using their real names are the epitome of restraint and civility. I’m confident this move will create a comments section for the Journal Star that is full of real people talking about interesting things in civil ways.

There will likely be spontaneous conversations about Pindar and Chekhov breaking out all over the place. Perhaps when the next science story is published, Facebook users will instinctively turn the course of the conversation toward reconciling general relativity with quantum physics.

We’ll undoubtedly see more people saying respectful phases like, “pardon me,” “if you please,” and “with all due respect.” At worst, if someone is really upset, they may lash out with an impudent “great balls of fire!”

I can’t wait to see the comments once this new Facebook policy goes into effect. The reserved and prudent language will be like reading a Jane Austen novel. It may even encourage more readers to participate — just not the 40% who are not on Facebook, like me.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Mayor

Mayor/Council=pot, Journal Star=kettle

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The Mayor held a press conference on Monday and released a letter that he and the rest of the City Council members signed (except for Gary Sandberg, natch) and sent to Journal Star publisher Ken Mauser. You can read it at PeoriaWatchdog.com, the official site of Peoria Unit 86 of the United Media Guild.

Among other things, Mayor Ardis says, “I and other city leaders are concerned about plans we’ve heard to outsource jobs, slash employees and cut wages.” And later in the letter:

I fail to see how additional moves against employees and staffing would allow the newspaper to continue as a valuable public watchdog and community resource. I have never run a newspaper. But less is surely not more, when it comes to reporting the news.

Does it strike anyone else odd that this concern is coming from a mayor and council that recently eliminated 52 positions themselves, including a third of the inspections/code enforcement department? I mean, I’ve never run a City, but less is surely not more when it comes to inspections and code enforcement. I fail to see how all these moves against employees and staffing would allow the City to add value to the taxpayers.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like the way GateHouse Media is pillaging the Journal Star. I actually agree with the sentiments in the letter. I just think it’s a little inappropriate for the Mayor and Council to be passing judgment when they have acted similarly. After you slash important services to the taxpayers while simultaneously giving over $30 million to an out-of-town developer, it doesn’t give you much moral standing to scold the Journal Star’s publisher for doing essentially the same thing.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star

“Save the Journal Star” news conference Monday

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From a press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PEORIA MAYOR JIM ARDIS AND OTHERS TO CALL FOR FAIR NEGOTIATIONS AT THE JOURNAL STAR DURING 9 A.M. NEWS CONFERENCE MONDAY, APRIL 9, AT PEORIA CITY HALL

It’s time to save the Journal Star.

As downstate Illinois’ largest newspaper, the Journal Star continues to be highly profitable. However, New York-based owner GateHouse Media continues to push for the slashings of jobs and salaries of the people who write, create and deliver the paper.

Why? GateHouse recently lavished a $800,000 bonus on CEO Michael Reed, who makes a salary of $500,000 a year. Further plump bonuses to other executives pushed the total to far over $1 million.

While GateHouse continues to try to slash the Journal Star, readers might ask questions. How does a smaller local staff make for a better local paper? How do continued cuts at the newspaper make for a better value for readers?

We ask the same questions. We are Peoria Unit 86 of the United Media Guild, which represents those targeted employees. We want only reasonable contract negotiations and a fair settlement. We just want to do our jobs as Peoria’s public watchdog.

Please join us at 9 a.m. Monday, April 9, in front of Peoria City Hall, 419 Fulton Street. Mayor Jim Ardis will present a letter signed by the City Council urging GateHouse to reach a fair settlement with the Guild.

We also will present a similar letter from the head pastors of two of the largest churches in Peoria – who requested to meet with Journal Star publisher Ken Mauser, but were denied – urging justice and moral fairness in ongoing contract negotiations.

In other Journal Star news, Managing Editor John Plevka is leaving the paper to head up the student newspaper at ISU.

Peoria Journal Star

I thought real journalists got both sides of the story

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I was recently taken to task by none other than Journal Star columnist Phil Luciano for a recent blog post of mine that was picked up by The Drudge Report. My blog posts are “unvetted,” unedited, and of questionable reliability. Furthermore, bloggers are scurvy individuals you’re better off not knowing. He asks, “can you call it journalism when much of it consists of unedited copy shared without any attempt to seek other sides?”

So imagine my surprise when I came across this article about Main Street Commons. In it, the journalist reports all the positives of the new project and what a boon it is to the area without ever interviewing a single resident of University East or other surrounding neighborhoods, despite their expressions of concern over some aspects of the project, including the pool that is mentioned in the article.

On the other hand, there are numerous quotes from the project developer, as well as a representative from Bradley University. But there is no mention of the fact that Bradley is an investor in the project, which would of course bias its opinion just a little. There is no mention of the slow sales of units that the developer has experienced, which was covered by the Bradley Scout over the past several months, or how that likely contributed to Bradley’s decision to turn part of the development into a freshman dorm — the first time Bradley will be allowing underclassmen to live off campus.

Indeed, the whole piece reads like a reworked press release and advertisement for the new development. I guess that’s what an edited, vetted, reliable news article looks like. It’s apparently okay to be one-sided, as long as you’re on the approved side. Or if you’re so short-staffed you can’t spare a reporter to go out and get the other side.

City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star

Puff piece ignores controversy on Matthews Market disposition

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The Journal Star just published a puff piece on East Peoria developer Gary Matthews written by the recently retired Paul Gordon. It includes this gloss over the disposition of Matthews Market:

Matthews returned to Peoria – something he’d always planned to do – and went to work for his father at Matthews Market in the early 1970s after they made peace with each other. The idea was that he’d take over the business some day.

“But I didn’t like the grocery business. I don’t know why, exactly, but it just wasn’t for me,” he said.

He got his real estate license and went to work for David Joseph in his company’s residential real estate division. “My dad was disappointed, but he understood. He sold the grocery store after I left.”

Well, there’s a lot more to the story than that. And it’s all chronicled in erstwhile reporter Gordon’s own newspaper’s archives.

Matthews Market was located at 1500 NE Jefferson and was open until December 1992 under Gary Matthews’ ownership. It closed reportedly due to crime and urban decay in the neighborhood, as well as competition from larger grocery stores. The store still carried a mortgage and a lien, but suddenly the City of Peoria was interested in acquiring the property. On January 16, 1993, the Journal Star reported this:

Peoria’s second police storefront is expected to open this spring in the former Matthews Market building, 1500 NE Jefferson.

The City Council will be asked Tuesday to approve a deal to acquire the building.

The city’s cost is expected to be $135,000, provided a deal can be worked out with Northside Neighborhood Housing Services. That deal would involve the trade of a city-owned house at 1120 NE Jefferson in exchange for the housing service releasing its $33,000 lien on Matthews Market.

First of America Bank holds the first mortgage on the building, which closed in December.

The city’s first police storefront opened Dec. 15 in a city-owned building at 101 N. MacArthur. In addition to neighborhood policing, the storefronts deal with zoning and code enforcement issues.

“What it represents is the partnership of the city, community-based policing and the neighborhood,” 3rd District Councilman Dave Koehler said. “Hopefully, (area residents) will have an ear for their concerns and complaints that is more readily available.”

Development Director Tom Tincher said the second storefront is expected to open within 90 days. Police Chief Keith Rippy said last year he plans to open a total of five storefront police offices throughout the city.

Pretty sweet deal for Mr. Matthews. He had more into the store building than it was worth, but the City was willing to take it off his hands for the cost of the amount owed on the property. Controversy erupted on February 11, 1993, when this story broke:

Third District Councilman David Koehler showed poor ethics in mingling his private matters with Peoria City Council business, his opponent in the upcoming election said Wednesday.

Koehler responded by calling candidate Nina Nissen’s charges “politics of desperation,” and added that Nissen is ethically suspect herself for mounting a “smear” campaign.

Nissen, a former assistant personnel director, issued a statement Wednesday calling for a “cleanup of City Hall in the area of ethics.” In recommending a city ethics code, Nissen questioned … the city’s recent purchase of the former Matthews Market, 1500 NE Jefferson, for use as the city’s second police storefront. The city will assume a $135,000 first mortgage on the building and swap another house to the Northside Neighborhood Housing Service to clear up a $33,000 lien.

The problem, Nissen said, is the building is owned by Koehler’s former campaign manager, Gary Matthews.

“It’s wrong if Koehler used his influence to help his campaign manager benefit from an action of the City Council,” she said. “Sure, we need a storefront. But does it have to be Matthews Market?” Koehler said Gary Matthews is no longer involved with his campaign. Koehler’s campaign organization statement on file with the city clerk lists Matthews as his chairman, but Koehler said the statement — — filed in July 1990 — is outdated.

“Yeah, Gary helped me out” in his 1989 campaign, Koehler said, adding that he kept a distance from the Matthews Market negotiations. “In terms of whether there was any special favors on my part for Gary — no.”

Koehler won reelection, but not before more criticism was heaped on the project. The following article appeared in the Journal Star on February 22, 1993 — which is also when we learn that, in addition to a $135,000 mortgage and a $33,000 housing service lien, Gary Matthews still owed $65,000 to the City of Peoria for a loan they gave him as well:

A local political organization claims city officials are wasting taxpayers money by purchasing a deserted grocery store for a storefront police station.

Peoria’s second police storefront is expected to open this spring in the former Matthews Market building, 1500 NE Jefferson.

Members of the People’s Coalition for Political Reform said at a news conference Sunday they want to reveal what they call “a waste of city funds” on the abandoned building.

Although not opposed to the storefront idea, group officials said there are many questionable factors involved with land acquisition, building administration and finances.

Group members said the city is paying too much for the run-down, deserted supermarket.

The city’s cost is expected to be $135,000, which is what remained on the buildings mortgage. City Manager Peter Korn said the city will make monthly payments on the building until the mortgage is paid off. He said he is unsure what the monthly payments will be.

First of America Bank holds the first mortgage on the building, which closed in December.

That deal also involves the trade of a city-owned house at 1120 NE Jefferson to the North Side Neighborhood Housing Service in exchange for the release of a $33,000 lien on the former market.

“The only thing they are doing is putting the city of Peoria more in debt. What we have here is a money pit,” said organization spokesman Rolf Sivertsen.

Korn said the city will also forgive a $65,000 loan balance owed to the city by the former owner of Matthews Market , Gary Matthews. The original loan to Matthews was $110,000, but $45,000 has been repaid.

The city became interested in the property because they already had money invested in it as a result of the loan, Korn said.

In addition to financial problems with the project, the People’s Coalition said the facility is too large for what the police need. The building is 8,000 square feet.

Korn said the police facility will occupy about 2,000 square feet and the remainder of the property will probably be used for community organizations.

But Sivertsen said he won’t believe the city will lease out the extra property until he actually sees the leases.

By September 10, 1993, the City was looking to resell the building, which was too big for the City’s needs from the beginning, and lease a portion of it instead:

Peoria’s third police storefront amounts to a pig in a poke, a city councilman said this week.

The city’s purchase of the former Matthews Market, 1500 NE Jefferson, was first announced in January. The deal took a new twist in recent months, however, as a business offered to buy the building and lease a portion to the city.

“The net result will be an economic situation that’s less costly than for us to be in the . . . storefront at Sheridan and Nebraska,” city development Director Tom Tincher said Wednesday.

The city currently operates police storefront stations at Sheridan and Nebraska and at 101 N. MacArthur Highway. Fourth District City Councilman Steve Kouri is not sold on the deal, which he figures will cost more than $250,000 before the storefront opens.

“It’s a bottomless pit, as far as I’m concerned,” Kouri said.

Tincher refused to divulge details of the pending resale of the building.

The City Council in January approved the first part of the deal: assuming the $135,000 mortgage held by store owner Gary Matthews and swallowing a $60,000 city loan. The store closed in December 1992. Tincher said the business approached the city about six months ago, intent on buying Matthews Market and occupying a portion of the structure.

Third District City Councilman David Koehler agreed the Matthews Market deal might not look good on paper, but said it represents a life preserver tossed to an inner-city neighborhood drowning in disinvestment.

Further repairs on the Matthews Market building will cost an estimated $63,975, according to city estimates. The City Council approved $27,315 of that amount Tuesday in the form of a roof repair contract awarded to Peoria Roofing, a contract awarded after competitive bidding and an approval based on the criteria list in this article (Common Questions To Decide How To Treat Your Roof – SWS Roofing).

Kouri said he supports the concept of community-based policing, but not the storefronts, which have been lambasted by critics as mere public relations ploys.

On December 22, 1993, the aforementioned deal was approved. In a story about the council’s decision to grant a sidewalk cafe license for, ironically, one of the buildings adjacent to Big Al’s that Matthews now plans to tear down, the Journal Star added that the council also took the following action:

Authorized the sale of the former Matthews Market building, 1500 NE Jefferson, to A&E Blueprint, which would lease a portion of the building back to the city for a police storefront.

A&E Blueprint currently is located at 3530 NE Adams, but will be bought out for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s McClugage Bridge and Adams Street improvement.

A&E will pay the city $135,000 for the building and lease back 2,600 square feet for the city storefront, at an annual rate of $2.50 per square foot, or $6,500.

I’m not sure when the police storefront idea fizzled, but at some point this leased space became the Peoria Township office. Recently, the township also moved out of the building, and the City no longer rents the space for anything to my knowledge.

The bottom line is this: The taxpayers of Peoria gave Gary Matthews a $98,000 gift 19 years ago by forgiving his $65,000 city loan and erasing the $33,000 housing service lien as part of the exchange for his run-down Matthews Market building. The sweetheart deal was alleged to have been political payback by then-council-member Dave Koehler because Matthews had been his campaign manager. The building was in such bad shape that the city resold it less than a year later and just leased a portion of it.

This is the same Gary Matthews to whom the taxpayers of Peoria are now giving a $37 million gift (including a $9 million developer’s fee) to build the Wonderful Development (aka, the downtown hotel project).

And now you know the rest of the story.

Peoria Journal Star

PJStar.com to start charging for content

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On April 4, the Journal Star will start charging to see their news articles online. You’ll get a few articles for free each month, but then the rest will be behind a pay wall. You can read about it here and here.

I think it’s a good idea. I cancelled my 7-day-a-week subscription to the Journal Star precisely because they were putting all the same information online for free. Why should I shell out around $200 a year for material everyone else is getting for free? I mean, if the Journal Star wants to give away their content, then I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

Now that they’re going to start charging, I’ll consider resubscribing. However, I’m probably not going to subscribe to the print edition again. Why? Because it doesn’t include the web content.

Users who currently receive a seven-day subscription to the Journal Star are eligible for full online access for $1.49 a month or $9.95 per year. For those who do not subscribe to the Journal Star, the cost will be $6.95 per month or $69.95 per year.

That’s right: if you pay $200 a year for the print edition, they won’t throw in the web access for free (like, say, the New York Times does, even for its Sunday-only subscribers). You’ll have to pay even more to get the same information on the website. I think the news the Journal Star provides has value and is worth paying for — but not worth paying twice for the same thing (except when they endorsed me, I did buy a couple of print copies — it was worth it then!).

So, once the pay wall goes up, I think I’ll pick up the web-only subscription and leave it at that.

Peoria Journal Star, Television

Bar Louie is gone

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I thought this was kind of funny. On page B1 of the Journal Star Thursday, December 30, there’s this little blurb:

What’s up with Bar Louie?

Blogger and entertainment editor Danielle Hatch is still trying to find out details on why there’s a closed sign on the door at the Bar Louie restaurant a the Shoppes at Grand Prairie. If you know more, join the conversation online.

So I go online and just type “Bar Louie Peoria” into Google. WEEK’s site pops up, where this story is posted with a date of Wednesday, December 29:

The General Manager at the Shoppes, Dawn Shipman says Bar Louie has closed “as a normal course of business.”

Bar Louie’s lease at the Shoppes has expired and closed immediately.

Mystery solved! Can someone from WEEK drop the Journal Star a line letting them know what’s going on over there at the Shoppes? They’re looking for details….