The Journal Star is no longer going to print personal bankruptcies in the paper. Let’s see, they no longer print all births, only those that people want in the paper. They charge for obituaries. Now they’re not going to print bankruptcies. They’ve cut so many staff members they can cover little more than “low-hanging fruit” types of news. The paper is thinner than it’s ever been, yet they’re still chipping away at staff and content.
I guess this is just another part of the Journal Star’s plan to slowly fade away into oblivion.
Thank God! At least the museum won’t have to worry about anymore… negative press!
the PJS’s days are numbered, but eventually somebody will start up a newspaper that prints news at a reasonable price and that people will actually want to read.
This is the part that I found troubling
“The Journal Star, however, still may report on personal bankruptcies involving prominent Peoria-area residents and will continue to report significant bankruptcy filings of local businesses and corporations.”
I cannot believe they stated this in writing. So . . they will still be happy to kick someone when they are down if they happen to be a public figure because that make for good news.
have I got this right??………they get free content from Peoria County and they find that too expensive to print?
If they are cutting bankruptcies, what is next – cutting all public record info (real estate transactions, divorce, marriage licenses, etc…).
This is unfortunate, because this information is a barometer of the health of a community.
This weekend I received the PJS subscription renewal email. For years I have always paid it in total for the year so as to not be hassled with quarterly or monthly payments. This time they didn’t even bother to offer an annual payment option – let alone say what it would be annually. Instead they offer an EZ pay monthly charge to a checking account or a credit card. I really don’t like that hassle, but in view of their own apparent financial uncertainty perhaps it is best to pay monthly! Like the old joke about suspecting your bank is going belly up because they only send you their calendar a month at a time!
Sounds like the complaining 100 years ago……the buggy maker is cutting back on models and may go out of business.
Really, these sort of comments an suggestion that someone start a printed paper, a week after the iPad came out? Ann Arbor has several blog papers overlapping in subject coverage and geography and the advertisers are following.
How wonderful for you that Ann Arbor is everything that Peoria is not.
Maybe the city should just take away their privileges of delivery and paper stands since they no longer serve any civic function…
I think that the printing of real estate transactions should also stop. The printing of someone’s name, address and amount they paid for a property is really of no public value. That informatio discloses very private information about a person that others have no business in knowing.
I thought the decision was made because of the large number of them. They were taking up too much space. I do like seeing the real estate transactions. It gives everyone an easy way to see how much all the repo homes are selling for.
ANP: I agree
You certainly don’t want people to think it isn’t “better here”.
Geesh, it’s been rough lately on the gossipy little old ladies. They’re gonna lose their Saturday mail delivery, and now they get hit by this also…
Don’t worry, Doctor, they can still peruse the arrested Johns on-line.
So, some of you don’t think public information should be published? I suppose there could be an argument made for or against that. However, the Journal Star’s plan is horrible no matter how you feel about it. They’re only going to publish bankruptcies of “prominent” people. Not exactly taking the moral high ground on this one, the Journal Star. Sounds like they don’t really have any real objection to printing the info; thy just don’t want to expend the ink.
CJ:
I guess I don’t see why the public good is served by publishing on certain public records? How does it serve the public good to know my address and how much I spent on my home? I would consider that private information. The arguement that it helps me know what my home is worth is pretty weak – if you are interested in selling your home you can find out what comparable properties sold for pretty easy (and also with more detail). I have also wondered why sale notices were limited to those above $78,000 and not all of them?
I am neither for or against the publishing of bankruptcy notices. I admit that I did read them but I gained no real knowledge from them. I am not sure what good it does to publish DUI and other criminal actions, I doubt that few people are stopped from the action by the fear that they will be in the paper. I am in favor of people having the choice to publish birth, engagement, wedding and anniversary notices.
“if you are interested in selling your home you can find out what comparable properties sold for pretty easy ”
You do realize that the ease of getting that information is because the records are public.
IMO public records are an integral part of getting the big picture about what is happening in a community. When you look at the number of people who are choosing to get marriage licenses, that should bring hope; when you see children are being born, that should bring hope; when you see that a large number of people are purchasing property valued at over $100,000, that should bring hope; when you see bankruptcies appear to be increasing/decreasing – this is all info about the health of the community.
Who cares about the names or have time to read them? These public records tell a story as a whole. This is vital information, don’t take it for granted.
anp, it isn’t about YOU or your address. My goodness we are a ME ME ME society, aren’t “me”?
It is about the newspaper’s (journalism’s) responsibility to the community.
Its function is not to sell advertising and pay its stock holders… that is a byproduct of its raison d’être.
I really don’t see the value to the community knowing what someone paid for their home, their name and address. If the information is so valuable then it should be posted for all real estate transactions and not just those at a certain level.
I could understand if it just listed address and sales price but don’t people have a certain right to privacy in their financial transactions? I understand that the information is public record but at least to access the public record you have to go the court house. Even Peoria County online does not give names unless you pay for the service.
i agree with some of you who say this type of information shouldnt be published in a local paper for all to see. if someone needs to know this information bad enough, make them work for it by forcing them to go down to the courthouse and look it up. although i have never personally filed bankruptcy (knoock on wood), i am looking at it from the other side – if YOU filed for bankruptcy, would you want the information published in a local paper for all to see? i didnt think so.
anp: I guess the fact that you don’t see it, means it is just stupid…
“certain right to privacy in their financial transactions’
I don’t see why that is important.
Charlie:
I didn’t say that it was stupid, I just said that I don’t see the value in it. I do believe that this transaction should not be published, the fact is that you can look up an property in Peoria County (not sure about Tazewell or Woodford) by property address and see the tax value, taxes and recent sales but the owners name is blocked. You can only see the name and public records (mortgages, liens, etc) by going to a secure website that is password protected.
Just publish the property address and the amount paid for it, why list the persons name? The purchase of property is not illegal, it is a decision made by either an individual, couple or business entity. I believe that the publishing of a name is not news.
I know nothing about you and you know nothing about me. Maybe you would not have an issue with having your name, address and amount paid for a home published and that is fine. I have had mine published and it did bother me – our families choice to move and the amount we paid for our home was not a decision that we decided to share with the general public but we had no choice. I believe that my privacy was invaded for no good reason other than we performed a real estate transaction.
I know you are all waiting for me to chime in……….
It would be wonderful if the Star were excluding all of these ‘public records,’ to make room for more in-depth, hard-hitting reports on the major issues concerning Peoria/Peoria area.
Maybe they could write something about the ‘museum’ that doesn’t sound like another bull_ _ _ _, museum group press-release? Maybe dig alittle, come up with some solid FACTUAL data? The big hotel scandal? Sky-walks for everyone? District 150…only one more school closing if you please….
Used to be you could read the paper to find out what was REALLY going on around here…
Good. Who cares? It’s only those orcs, dwarves, elves, trolls, men and wargs in middle earth that read or care about those things.
anp,
I’ve been back and forth trying to understand your objections. At first I thought you had to down size and was embarrassed because of it – then I thought “No he/she upsized and NOW is scared of the boogie man getting inside to steal or hurt the children.” I feel for you, but I really think you have some serious mental health problems you need to deal with on a professional basis.
I totally agree with anp. I think it puts members of the public at risk when you publish their name, how much they paid for their house and where they live. This practice seems barbaric to me and I don’t see how the public is served by it in any way.
I believe the Journal Star quit the practice of publishing the transaction price of homes many months ago. It used to be in the Sunday paper. It may have been almost a year.
No, they still list homes sales above $78,000. The most recent listing appeared April 2.