We subscribe to the Chicago Tribune and the Joliet Herald. We used to subscribe to the local paper until it was bought by the owners of the Joliet Herald and the paper went from reporting a lot of local news and sports to a few pages identical to the Joliet paper. Both the Tribune and the Herald are shadows of their former selves and have many times more advertising than thirty years ago.

            The articles are often less than excellently written by the local reporters. Too often the articles seem like they come off a politicians publicist’s release. Some of those reporters replaced reporters who were downsized and thus losing experience, contacts, and skills. Even the comics have been reduced along with the size of the actual paper.

            On the bright side the Herald replaced news with some good puzzles. The puzzles must cost a fortune because both papers keep raising their prices for less and less news.

            The publishers of newspapers have always made money but today they must make huge amounts. Journalism used to be a respected and honorable profession and feared by those politicians that did wrong. Remember ‘Watergate’ was brought to light because of two hard working professionals.

            Today Americans have become so inured to actual news that the shysters and hucksters are getting away with destroying our Democracy, The lack of any morality is amplified by the lack of professional journalism today. This article was about newspapers but the quality of talking heads on news programs has deteriorated too. How sad!

        Why do people interviewing candidates never ask the obvious questions? When candidates say they will cut taxes and expenses why don’t people ask for detailed cuts instead of non-specific cuts? Voters should know specifics. Both of the remaining mayoral candidates in Chicago are going to make streets safer but don’t say how. The CPD is under a federal restriction now. Again, what does either of them specifically plan to do?

            When they don’t answer keep asking the questions! Asking doesn’t just pertain to Chicago mayoral candidates. The last cycle was a constant we will cut taxes, we will cut expenses and we will make America safe. They are careful not to say what they really will do because nobody will press them until they get specific.

            I pressed U.S. Senator Paul Simon once, but he kept dodging giving a straight answer frankly. A woman raised her hand. He acknowledged her, and she said he should answer my questions. He didn’t run out of the room but it was a very fast walk while saying he had another meeting. Many in the audience said they wouldn’t vote for him again.

            Be an intelligent citizen and voter. Seek real answers – not the dribble candidates and office holders feed you.

        I wonder how many Shaw readers are like me and do not use a computer or anything that knows what streaming is. Many of the “smart phone” users I know use them only for talking. How many readers have a flip phone that doesn’t text or take messages. Buttons and screens are too small for anything else.

            The subscribers to a newspaper want the actual paper between their fingers. Those are the people the Joliet Herald are hurting by cutting the Monday delivery. This is after cutting the Saturday paper then delivering the Saturday and Sunday expanded issue on Saturday. If a reader wants to complain about the loss of the Monday paper Shaw will credit the reader with a whole half dollar per week. They charge us more than that for each weekday.

            Because the newsprint is higher priced at the moment due to the political friction with Canada, The Chicago Tribune raised their price fifteen cents. The price for both papers is too high because the owners are more interested in profit than journalism. The Freedom of the Press is an American privilege and one which is being abused by cutting the number of reporters and replacing some of the experienced ones with novices. Less staff means less local reporting. Some newsrooms print unedited Press Releases to save money.

            Cutting days a paper is distributed is anti-American and unpatriotic especially when it is done in the name of greed. Will advertisers say they want a one-sixth price reduction?

        The quality of news dissemination today is a shadow of its heydays of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and a few others told the news as it happened and did their editorial at the end of the half hour. They often wrote their own scripts and edited the other reports for accuracy and time. The scripted talking heads giving out the corporate agenda didn’t exist then.

            Now the news is designed to be a profit center so it is slanted to target an audience and given by people who have little gravitas. Even a low level news junkie can spot skewed reporting or partial reporting which causes misinformation. The Fourth Amendment was added to the Constitution to investigate and report the news to the public. Watergate was a great example of real reporting. Reporting Trump’s antics was for entertainment factor, not news. Greater number of viewers means higher bottom line.

            Today we have millions of people who are addicted to watching Fox News and News Nation. They are designed to cater to their viewers leading them farther from truth and reality. In addition to those outlets we have pod casters who create conspiracies which are then repeated by other pod casters and cable media. No wonder so many Americans are warped.

            News reporting today has become a profit source and part of the cost-cutting means replacing experienced reporters with millennial novices. Journalism should be an advocate for truth and honesty and not more profit so some billionaires can get richer.

            Democracy is an idea that requires constant scrutiny and that job belongs to the fourth estate. For centuries newspapers around the country have been reporting on graft, corruption, and other political shenanigans. Because of the libel laws and the chance of being sued, newspapers have been fairly accurate in their investigative reporting. The television reporters like Walter Cronkite and many others with his standard of professionalism could be depended upon to report the truth. Others like Woodward and Bernstein have broken open some of the greatest political scandals in American History.

            After Cronkite retired, he spoke many times of how reporting was being diluted by the network’s cost cutting and the decreasing quality of journalists. Another reason he eluded this too is television stations and networks, like Fox, which reports the news through a philosophical lens and then fills the majority of the hour with editorials and opinions disguised as news. He said fewer and fewer people were able to tell the difference. To buttress Cronkite’s point Fox reporters have said one thing and during the rest of the hour a series of talking heads repeatedly espoused the opposite view. The viewer got ten minutes of truth and fifty of opinions hammering the viewer with fiction.

            The print media has been marching to a Waterloo of its own. First it was the consolidation of newspapers under a few people who weren’t concerned about real journalism and worthwhile impartial reporting. Second, the print media jumped into the internet without having a platform that produced an income and profit leading to their financial destruction. Third is a combination of the first two. The newspapers have reduced the physical size and started printing huge pictures, grafts, charts, and bulletin style articles to hide the fact they have fired a substantial number of their journalists.

The non-news junkies probably missed the item concerning Joe Biden, who Donald Trump believes is his greatest threat. A video was released showing Biden is anti-black. Biden has almost complete support with black voters so efforts to reduce that support are an obvious need for Trump.

The video portrays Biden making racist statements. It was 9 seconds out of a 10 minute answer to an audience question. Who has the capability to put out such a professional looking video? Lots of groups, companies, and individuals do. Who did it and spread it? Did Putin’s people do it? Were they involved in getting it spread to gullible Americans? We know they did this type of thing in 2016.

The problem is millions of Americans believe what they see on social media and not what they see on live television and from reputable journalists. Millions of voters are gullible enough to be led by the nose to vote as the Russians and others want them to vote. The Russians have interfered with elections in over fifty other countries. Putting Trump in office wasn’t their greatest achievement. BREXIT is. Others are getting several Nationalists elected to some European Union countries in an effort to divide it and NATO.

Looks like the same deceptions are being used again with fake posts on Facebook and fake tweets to Trump’s 40 million gullible followers. He often says he heard something which he uses in his daily diatribes at the front gate of the White House.

The real media — not the Fox talking heads — should call lies lies and not let Trump or any other person get away with promoting lies. Isn’t presenting the truth the job of a free press? It is a person’s right to lie but it is journalism’s right and responsibility to present the truth.