The writer is reflecting on the Editorial printed by the Pantagraph September 7th. See it HERE
Do you ever hold out just a speck of hope that there is some integrity left in the Pantagraph?
Find it a bit hard to relegate it to the graveyard of American institutions dying a tortured death?
Well the local excuse for American journalism has just flat lined and no jolt of reality can ever revive it. Not that it should. Fake news would be a compliment to it because you have to actually print news for it to be fake.
And of course the “newspaper” self destructed. It died by its own hand. Yes it was only an editorial, which can indeed be biased, but when it attempted to legitimize Tari Renner’s outrageous behavior by actually stating that his girlfriend was a delegate, that is the best cover up since we had to debate what “is” is.
Don’t get me wrong. I can already envision the Bloomington elite (maybe a former Mayor?) jumping in to support his ridiculous claim that his girlfriend was a delegate, but a child can see through it. Why on earth Mayor did it take days to come up with that? Got some coaching maybe? You can make this stuff ip, but it takes time!
The Pantagraph in its role as shameless shill for Renner has resolved the issue for all the stupid taxpayers. Rest assured, we don’t need an Illinois State Police investigation! It was only a “kerfuffle!” Go back to sleep suckers. The Pantagraph killed the inquiry with a .50 cent word we couldn’t possibly understand. It was a bit of a backhand slam to Illinois’ finest since they, DID see a reason to investigate but the paper doesn’t miss a chance to slam the police anyway.
And the fact that the Mayor came out as a schoolyard bully to a regular citizen? ,No problem, its his standard behavior by now. We already excused that like we do a spoiled, out of control teenager.
You left us no doubt and no hope Pantagraph. You are so far in the tank for this Mayor and his merry minions (city council) and the insiders of Bloomington that we have called the code blue off. It’s over, for everyone to see. At least you went quietly.
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Couldn’t have said it better. The demise of two of the best news organizations (WJBC and The Pantagraph) In the country has been tough to watch. But this editorial tops everything !!
Here is a couple of paragraphs from said editorial:
“For any project like that to succeed, it must make sense in scope and location, be a balance of private/public partnership and have a low risk to the city. The most common pitch for a major downtown project has been a hotel, an idea floated for almost two decades.
In the meantime, the city has built the arts center and arena; established tax increment financing districts and grant programs to encourage downtown business development; worked with business owners on promotions, problems and changes; increased tourism and festivals; and connected with a downtown promotional group it recently absorbed into city hall.”
Note that the project must be low risk to the city, then compares the arts center and arena that are failures. Lol, sometimes you just can’t explain what is stupid to paid for lackeys holding on to the only job they know how to do,,,which is to distort and spin the truth, to mislead the people they claim to look out for. Aside from going to a pet store to purchase bird cage liner, using a weeks worth of the Pantagraph might be a good deal.
Continuing to revitalize the downtown for decades is akin to continuing to feed a dead horse, not to be confused with beating a dead horse. If the city council and assortment of those who have the power to spend the taxpayers money had a brain they would embrace those business owners that are successful and work to encourage those entrepreneurs rather than trying to re-invent the wheel. City council has a dismal record of sticking their noses in business.
My family was a Pantagraph subscriber for well over 40 years. We cancelled finally this year. They are beyond redemption. They have gone full on socialist in the editorial department.
Welcome to freedom!
I think the Pantagraph editorial was written by the self-aborbed person who was absorbed into the Community Development Department. The person who is co-chair of the Downtown Signage Committee, member of the Downtown Task Force and Director of Theatrical productions for the Summer Theatre at Miller Park. She writes articles in Pantagraph’s Limited Magazine. The the sentence structure and flow of the articles in each publication are eerily similar.
The person is blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other when it comes to Downtown and the Mayor who provides unfettered support.
My family had been Pgraph subscribers for 40+ years as well. The final straw for me was the clear repetition of Bloomington and Normal talking points, without asking tough questions. Literally, re-printing press releases. I pay enough taxes to keep these cities running…I don’t need to subscribe to a “newspaper” that acts as an additional public relations service.