The Journal Star has posted a midday report on the Surface Transportation Board decision from two weeks ago (reported here on April 25).

The headline says “Rails staying on trail for at least 90 days.” I know reporters don’t write headlines. I’m sure the person who wrote it was looking for a clever turn of phrase. However, it reveals the newspaper’s bias — notice they already consider the Kellar Branch a trail. The rails, which have been there for over 100 years, are made to sound like an evicted tenant who refuses to leave his apartment.

If you read the whole story, you’ll notice a couple of other little biases. While they interview George Burrier, president of both the Recreational Trail Advocates (RTA) and Friends of the Rock Island Trail, and Bonnie Noble, executive director of the Peoria Park District, they don’t interview Carver Lumber Company. Isn’t that interesting?

They talk about the grants the Park District has had on hold for twelve years waiting to build the trail, but don’t mention the $55,000 Carver Lumber had to spend on additional transportation costs when the city broke their promise to provide uninterrupted rail service via Central Illinois Railway.

They talk about trail advocates (like the RTA) being unhappy, but don’t mention rail advocates (like the Illinois Prairie Railroad Foundation) being thrilled.

In short, it’s an editorial masquerading (poorly) as an unbiased news report.

UPDATE 5/6/06: They’ve run a lengthier article in today’s paper that does interview Carver Lumber and has a different headline (“Trail delays drag on“). This article is much better than the original one in the “midday report.”