By: Diane Benjamin
WGLT is not allowed to sell advertising. What did The Town of Normal pay WGLT to do? (2025 data isn’t available yet)
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Has WGLT applied for State of Illinois money? If you don’t know about the plan Springfield passed to subsidize media, read up on it: https://dceo.illinois.gov/expandrelocate/incentives/taxassistance/new-journalism-tax-incentive-program.html
Yes, non-profit media can benefit from your tax dollars too. If you found out your media was taking government money, would you think they fairly report news? Does WGLT report fairly on the Town of Normal? Keep reading.
Normal held a Council meeting Monday night. Why did they meet on the legal holiday of President’s Day? That meeting violated Town code. https://normal.municipalcodeonline.com/book?type=ordinances#name=CHAPTER_3_-_COUNCIL_MEETINGS_AND_ORDINANCES
Doesn’t it seem like CODES only matter when YOU violate it, not government? We’ve seen violations by aldermen in Bloomington with no consequences. Does “no consequences” instill trust in government? https://blnnews.com/2025/03/25/cody-hendricks-chief-cheater/
The guy who wrote the WGLT story covering this meeting didn’t mention the violation. See the bottom of the article: Braden Fogerson is a correspondent at WGLT. Braden is the station’s K-12 education beat reporter: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-02-16/normal-renews-contract-with-goal-of-reducing-utility-bills
Try typing Pantagraph in “Checkbooks” on https://www.openthebooks.com/
Does getting revenue from lots of different levels of government explains their reporting?
