By: Diane Benjamim

Both the WGLT reporter and I watched the same Normal Town Council meeting last night. Nothing in the story I wrote this morning was mentioned in their story.

Mine: https://blnnews.com/2022/01/19/message-to-trustee-mccarthy/

Theirs: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2022-01-19/normal-new-public-data-portal-puts-more-information-at-your-fingertips

Media picks and chooses what to report, obviously fraud isn’t something WGLT cares to cover if the Normal Town Council is involved.

They did save me some time however by covering the mundane business. What they didn’t report is the new interactive Community Investment Plan doesn’t have a list of items the Town currently doesn’t have funding for. The old way was a spreadsheet that showed a wish list for the next few years as money became available. Got a crappy road or bad water that isn’t on the interactive map? You now have no idea whether you matter or not. Worse, that digital plan can be revised without any notice – just a few clicks of their mouse.

The Open Data Portal was supposed to go Live today, if it is Live it’s hidden.

The Public Art is going to cost you money. Beth Whisman presented possibilities and what other cities do. Chris Koos wouldn’t allow discussions about funding. That will happen when the plan is done and the Council gets to rubberstamp the bills.

I do have information about Champaign. They wanted to pay artists for murals on downtown buildings. I know people who presented plans, they weren’t hired because all murals had to have a social justice theme. The two artists I know well refused to comply, even for $10,000.

WGLT also failed to report Stan Nord’s comment about separation agreements. I wrote about the problem last September: https://blnnews.com/2021/09/18/normal-again-tries-to-silence-people/

Normal continues to violate 1st Amendment rights by telling some employees they aren’t allowed to talk about the Town when their employment ends. Normal must want sued. I suggest former employees go ahead and talk, Normal isn’t going to sue you. They know they would lose.

I hope you realize media picks what to report. I pick what to report, usually things nobody else does.

What else does WGLT fail to report?

The only way to be informed is to read a lot of different sources and then draw your own conclusions. Nobody reports all of the facts all of the time.

Hit play to hear Stan comment at the end of the meeting, he also talked about the Council being uninterested in items being passed under fraudulent circumstances.