Dear Gov. Pritzker, Legislature, City Council and others:

We are losing independently-owned newspapers at an alarming rate. You say you value local journalism, but you undermine its very existence when you don’t return calls from reporters, don’t issue statements in response to reporters’ questions, give press conferences but refuse to respond to questions, communicate with the public through press releases and Facebook.

Yes, really, Facebook instead of professional local journalists.

There was a good photo in the Journal Star of Gov. Pritzker getting his COVID-19 booster, but the photo credit was “BlueroomStream.com.” Not your local newspaper’s photo staff, and that makes it easier for corporations to lay off local staff. When our governor relies on this corporate photo/video service, that takes legitimate work away from local news photographers. It’s a synergistic poison pill.

Blueroom Stream is owned by Advanced Digital Media Inc. Here’s the website blurb:

“Advanced Digital Media combines the latest in digital broadcast television services with commitment to client service. Producing award winning commercials, live press conferences & public service announcements. We regularly supply qualified crews for live sporting events and provide multi-camera packages complete with projection for entertainment and corporate events.”

This is like the once-popular and totally phony “Glamour Shots” retail chain.

When newspapers are too short staffed to cover public meetings or delve into public policy issues, that’s often due to newsroom cutbacks by corporate ownership.

The Journal Star, now owned by Gannett (GateHouse), gives minimal space to daily reporting. There was no coverage, in fact, of a major fire in early November at Glen Oak Towers apartments in downtown Peoria that resulted in closing Main Street at the hill and sent seven people to the hospital with three in critical condition. The official fire department’s media report indicates $300,000 in damage to the 15 floor high rise. Many residents were trapped in the building and had to be rescued.

“The rescue and evacuation of residents at this incident was complex and taxing for firefighters . . . . City Link assisted in transporting residents to the Peoria Civic Center and the American Red Cross assisted with meals and blankets.”

This fire was never covered by the Journal Star, yet information is needed for voters to make informed decisions on public policy issues, budgets and taxation.

There is little to no coverage of board meetings at Peoria Park District, Peoria County and Greater Peoria Sanitary District. No longer is the police blotter covered daily.

But the paper’s A-1 coverage for months on end includes features on restaurants and bakeries.

This poor coverage of local issues is not entirely the fault of the newsroom but of layoffs implemented under corporate ownership.

A recent article in The Atlantic, “What we lost when Gannett came to town,” traces the decline of the Burlington, Iowa, Hawk Eye newspaper. The subhead is “We don’t often talk about how a paper’s collapse makes people feel: less connected, more alone.”

Extensive research also documents there is less oversight of government bodies, less public accountability, higher municipal bond costs, lower participation in municipal elections and less efficient and equitable government. Also problematic is that people get what they think are facts from social media. And social media stokes caustic partisan divide.

It’s not the internet that’s killing local newspapers, it’s corporate ownership, and the death blows are delivered by public officials who ignore the press.

But maybe what is the most concerning about the harm caused by loss of local newspapers is the lack of dialogue that feeds informed voters. The Atlantic article states:

Tom Courtney, a Democrat and four-term former state senator from Burlington, made more than 10,000 phone calls to voters during his 2020 run for office. In those calls, he heard something he never had before: “People that live in small-town rural Iowa [said] they wouldn’t vote for me or any Democrat because I’m in the same party as AOC,” Courtney told me. “Where did they get that? Not local news!” Courtney lost in November.

Elise Allen not only understood the potential of newspapers to promote community cohesiveness, but she put in the hard work to make that happen. She was founder, writer and editor of The Traveler Weekly. She instilled in her children the same passion for words that can unite and expand understanding. Elise Allen: 1921 – 2021