By: Diane Benjamin
Source: https://ipmnewsroom.org/illinois-newsrooms-receive-4-million-from-state-through-tax-credits/
The State of Illinois passed a law in 2024 to help fund local media. They claim Illinois has “news deserts”.
Heard of Separation of Church and State? Evidently there is no Separation of Press and State.
Under this $4 million giveaway the Pantagraph received $140,000 for “qualified journalists” and $10,000 for new journalists.
What is a qualified journalist? It must mean what they have now since they got the tax credit.
The Pantagraph is now government media. Criticize the wrong people and the money goes away. They are the only news organization in McLean County receiving money. Evidently the State doesn’t know there isn’t a “news desert” here because other news sources actually exist.
Since the state only received 61 applications for the money, maybe other organizations don’t want painted as government media. The Pantagraph doesn’t care. Is their downtown office still by appointment only and locked the rest of the time?
A list of all recipients is at the bottom of the story.
Interesting I just got a notice from the pantagraph that due to ongoing cost increases my online subscription would be going up another $4.99 a month
I will be interested to see what they say when I call to cancel my subscription
I will not continue to support a newspaper that accepts money from the government
I had a dog 20 some years ago that would go out every morning and fetch the paper. Her job. She loved it. Once that old dog was gone, the otherwise useless Pantagraph was cancelled.
The should change the name to Pravda.
We used to always refer to it as The Paragraph. That name fits now more than ever.