Ron Roenigk, News Addict, Ink Junkie

Ron Roenigk, publisher of Inside Publications, has written a guest column for Chicago News Bench, which we present below. In March of 2009, he acquired News-Star and Booster from Wednesday Journal (in Oak Park). Ron shares something with many bloggers - his love of news and information. He writes about that lifelong obsession and about the business he loves so much. Still Addicted to the 20th Century by Ron Roenigk I'm a news addict - I have been an ink junkie my whole life. Frankly... I'm not looking to clean myself up either. I don't really care where I find the news... I just want as much as I can get, I'm hooked.. I read a lot and am very thankful for the band of citizen journalists out there who blog away digging up good solid local news content that they then make available to people like me for free on their sites. I am a true believer in the free press and citizen journalism. I have been doing that as a career my whole professional life. Gang - being in the media is one of the last vestiges of free enterprise out there. No license needed, no OSHA visits or bribes to city officials. Just pay your payroll taxes to the IRS and everyone else just leaves you alone. What a country! Personally I have never felt threatened by news web sites and feel that we are all part of the same community and can easily coexist. I give my news away for free too! My staff and I visit dozens of local web and blog sites each and every week as we do our own news gathering rounds. It is an integral part of our mission to see what is bubbling up of a local nature on the Internet and the dearth of information, feedback and comments helps us to establish our own goals for coverage. I won't play favorites here by naming names but trust that if you're blogging about something on Chicago's North Side then I or somebody else on my staff has read your work at one time or another - indeed there are several sites I visit just about every day. There is one major difference though between many of these news sites and what we do. We are primarily a print news source. I know, I know - 20th Century technology... so call me a dinosaur if you want... but my friends, that's where we make our money. Over 90% of our revenue comes from print advertising. So let me be clear: we're a business first and newspaper second. We must make money or we don't exist. It has been my own experience that generating advertising revenue on news sites on the Internet is not really working. So for now I must focus most of my effort making my print edition profitable... and it is, thank you! It wasn't in 2008 but since our acquisition of the Booster and News Star newspapers from Wednesday's Journal last March it is now and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the good folks at Wednesday Journal for making that happen. Don't take this wrong but I have often wondered why supposedly smart newspaper people today put so much effort and attention into their web presence to the detriment of their print products when their own numbers show that the revenue they generate from print advertising grossly outperforms what they're making online? I must be dumb because I choose to focus on what is actually generating revenue for me over betting my house that I will somehow figure out a way to make money on our newspaper web site? In that scenario I don't mind being the last one in the pool... when those smart guys figure out how to make real money with an online news site I'll jump back in with both feet. Thankfully, though, most of the citizen journalists out there blogging away are doing it for their own passion and self-gratification. It's very cool seeing your work in print and available to the world online via the Internet. No they clearly do not do it for the money or there would be a lot less content on the Internet. So a hearty three cheers for you... your selfless dedication and gumption has made the world a better place.

News-Star, Booster Sold

The Chicago Journal admits failure by selling off its two most profitable papers within Chicago. News-Star and Booster were sold this afternoon in a secret lunch meeting downtown. The papers were sold to Inside Publications, which publishes "Inside," a free weekly distributed in the North Center and Lincoln Square neighborhoods. Chicago Journal sold cheap. They paid $2 Million for the old Lerner Newspapers a year ago, and they took a loss on today's sale. This, sadly, was predictable. The Reader's Mike Miner has more... (Chicago News Bench will have more on this later, with some first-hand insight that The Reader does not have, such as the mismanagement of the papers by publishers Andrew Johnston and Dan Haley, and the day-to-day operations by "managing editor" Helen Karakoudas, and the horrible web site work by Graham Johnston.) RELATED: Worst Newspaper Web Site of 2008 Kindle and the Future of Newspapers Chicago Journal keeping 2 weekly newspapers, selling 2, closing 1 Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Cool Stuff...

Worst Newspaper Web Site of 2008

Ah, the end of another year, and here's Part One of another obligatory "Best and Worst of" series, which The Bench will run through mid-January, 2009. Don'tcha hate "Best and Worst of" pieces? You don't? Okay, then, let's begin. BEST OF, WORST OF 2008, PART ONE WORST NEWSPAPER WEB SITE OF 2008: CHICAGO JOURNAL (http://www.chicagojournal.com) The Chicago Journal group of papers, owned by Wednesday Journal, Inc., is heir to the old Lerner papers, is a family of neighborhood newspapers in the Chicago area. and their print versions generally do a nice job of covering their respective neighborhoods. Before I continue, let me be very clear: This is not a criticism of the newspapers themselves, which I like and to which I have been a contributor. This is a critique of CJ's web site, not the actual papers or any of the writers. However, there is so much wrong with the Chicago Journal's web site that it's hard to decide where to begin, and it's something I've considered for over a year now. We'll muddle through somehow, though, starting with a list of territories: Booster, covering Lake View, Roscoe Village, North Center. News-Star, covering Rogers Park, Ravenswood, Edgewater, Uptown Skyline, covering Lincoln Park, River North, Old Town, Gold Coast Chicago Journal, covering South Loop, Near West, West Loop, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village. Parent company Wednesday Journal, Inc. has a separate web site (http://www.wednesdayjournalonline.com/), which is even worse than the Chicago Journal site. Whereas the CJ site lists its newspapers in a sidebar, the WJ does not. They are: Forest Park Review, Riverside Brookfield Landmark, Chicago Journal, Austin Weekly News and Chicago Parent magazine. WJ has cleverly hidden them in tiny print at the very bottom of the home page, as though they are embarrassed to admit any association with them. That's a shame, because they are fine little publications. Remember, this is not about the print versions: It's about the web sites. Why the Chicago Journal Web Site Sucks So God-Awful Badly: No Sense of Urgency Remember that these are newspapers. Key part of "newspaper," of course, is "news." They are handicapped by the fact that they are weekly, so we cannot fairly expect them to be as timely as their daily competitors, such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. In this era of the Internet, however, even a relatively small operation like the Chicago Journal can compete in the arena of breaking or up-to-the-minute news. Bloggers do it. Small town newspapers across the country do it. Sadly, the Chicago Journal does not. Rather, they make a very feeble, half-assed attempt. Sporadically and without any fanfare, they occasionally run "web extras," and more than one a week is unusual. These are supposed to be news flashes of hot, breaking news but all they do to promote them is to write "Web Extra!" in small print under the often-misspelled headline. The headline itself is given no special treatment (such as a brighter color, a larger font, special placement at the top of the page). Often, a "web extra" is buried three or four stories down on the web page. It's odd that a newspaper does not understand the concept of a banner headline, or how to adapt the concept to its online versions. The Site Is Poorly Laid Out As referred to above, the CJ newspapers are listed in a sidebar on the home page of their site. When you land on the home page, however, you only see less than half of the sidebar, so most of the newspaper listings are hidden. It would be a simple fix to move them to a horizontal bar at the top of the page, rather than hiding them in the vertical sidebar below the virtual "fold." They do, however, list a sampling of stories from current issues of each paper, but only a couple show above the "fold" and the rest are invisible unless you scroll down. If you click through one of the story links, and read that story on its own page, you will not see a link at the end inviting you to visit that particular paper's sub site. For example, on December 16, "Pining for Christmas by Nic Halverson" was at the top of the home page. It gave no indication as to which of the newspapers the story was from. Clicking through to the story, we see the title and author's name again, but with "Contributing Reporter" now tacked onto Halverson’s byline. But, again, no indication as to which newspaper it's from. Scroll all the way down to the end and still no hint. One of the two photos notes that they were taken by "Frank Pinc/Staff Photographer." The staff of which paper? Not given. This is actually the norm on CJ's web site. Which Calendar Do I Choose? Their are, oddly, two calendars to choose from. There's the non-descript "Chicago Journal Calendar" and the almost equally non-descript named "North Side Calendar." Neither is comprehensive or very large, so the separation is annoying. It would be more convenient for the reader to have all events in one place. Under the two calendars, you'll find the "Chicago Journal Community Guide." Click on it and you're whisked back to the top of a new page, where you'll see this idiotic message: "Find our selection of categories on the left hand side of this page under the 'Community Guide' title. Once you click on your category of interest, you will find the listings in alphabetical order." Huh?!? Now you need to scroll back down to where you just clicked, to find that there is now a short list that could easily have been put under that idiotic message - or into a dropdown list that kept you there in the first place. This is how web design is done when done with no consideration for efficiency or the convenience of the user. Some Communities Are More Special Than Others Continuing down the sidebar, we find the "Logan Square Community Guide." There is no explanation, or imaginable logical reason, for separating Logan Square from the rest of the city unless the merchants there paid extra to have their own section. However, the Logan Square Community Guide includes Government, Libraries, Health (no listings currently), Clubs (non-profit organizations, not nightclubs), Education, Social Services - hardly commercial enterprises. Why is there not a separate "Community Guide" for, say, Edgewater or Lake View or South Loop? More to the point, why not just one guide for all? Extra! Not So Extra! Further down, we bump into "Metropolis" in the sidebar. There, it touts Ann Gerber's tired gossip column and "Rescues of the week," a feature more concerned with the welfare of kittens and rabbits than it is with abused children. Click through and you'll find mainly warm-fuzzy feature stories. As of Dec. 16, the section had two "Web Extra!" pieces, one of which was "Obama supporters descend upon downtown Chicago Web extra!" You Call That a Bulletin? That Obama story was posted at 4:00 pm on Election Day. By that time, newspapers around the world had already been writing about the Grant Park Election Night party for days and days. Television crews from around the world and the US were there, broadcasting live updates all day. Was it really necessary for the little weekly newspaper family to post a "web extra!" telling Chicagoans what already we knew for days prior - that a large crowd of people was gathering in Grant Park in hopes of seeing Obama accept his victory? I mean, seriously, that's not "news" and it certainly didn't merit a "web extra!" treatment, the CJ equivalent of a bulletin. Furthermore, if you're going to do a "web extra!" like that, why bury it in the non-news Metropolis section, the link to which is hidden when you land on the home page? By The Way, There's Advertising Continuing downward, "Special Sections" includes an "Advertiser's Directory," which includes the following: A non-dated "Winter Education & Enrichment Guide" to private schools; the "2007 Fall Menu Guide" (yes, 2007), a list of 11 (count 'em!) restaurants; the "2007 Education & Enrichment Guide" (yes, 2007); the "2007 Spring Menu Guide " (yes, 2007); the "2006 Gift Guide" (yipes! 2006!) and the "2006 Pet Services" (how long is an ad contract good for at Chicago Journal? Eternity?) The weirdest part of the advertising sections: No link for prospective advertisers to find information about how to advertise with the Chicago Journal. In fact, I couldn't find such a link anywhere on the site. This is a glaring, money-losing omission, one that the publishers should be embarrassed by and for which Managing Editor Helen Karakoudas should get a pay cut. But let's go back a step. Suppose you click on the "Advertiser's Guide." Once there, suppose you choose the "2007 Fall Menu Guide" (there isn't one for 2008). There, you'll see restaurant logos alongside the restaurants' addresses and phone numbers. Some of the logos are linked to the restaurants' own web sites. Some are not linked. Each has "View our ad" link, but all lead to menus, not ads. (In the "2007 Spring Menu Guide," the "Link to our menu" link actually links to menus. Annoying, inconsistent, indicative of inattention to detail and a don't-give-a-crap attitude. In the main "Advertiser's Directory," there is a notice at the bottom of the page that says, "You will need the free .PDF Reader from Adobe to view ads or menus." That's nice, but why isn't it at the top of the page, and why is it excluded from the sub pages where it's needed most? The Challenge: Find a Copy Are you looking for a place to pick up a free copy of the dead-tree version of one of the a Chicago Journal newspapers? They are distributed free at coffee shops, conveniences stores and the like. Click on "Find a copy" and be ready to be flummoxed. A list of only 38 locations comes up, but the list is addresses only with not a single business name included. But only 38 locations, the vast majority of all their drop locations excluded? Is that laziness on somebody's part or just incompetence? Perhaps it's that don't-give-a-crap attitude again. Now, if you were advertising with the Chicago Journal, wouldn't you want people to know exactly where they could pick up a copy, so they could see that ad you paid for? Of course you would. Does Chicago Journal understand this? Apparently not. So Many Mistakes, So Little Time Finally, because this is tiring, there's the "Article Comment Submission Form" hidden beneath the woefully incomplete "Find a copy" (if you can) list. To put it bluntly, that's a stupid place to put it. Additionally, the Search function on the site is pitiful and rarely returns complete results where multiple targets are expected to be hit. Contact Confusion Finally finally, if you want to contact the staff you'll need to go to at least three pages on the site. Click on "About us" in sidebar and you might expect biographies about the staff. Instead, you'll get a list of names with email addresses. The "Feedback" link on the sidebar leads to a form listed separately on the sidebar, which bizarrely and irritatingly asks you for your Home Mailing Address (optional), Name (required), Email (required), Telephone (required), and an anti-spam passcode (required). This is knuckleheaded redundancy, because as noted above anybody could just send an anonymous email to any of the listed email addresses. This was longer than I had anticipated, but then the Chicago Journal's web site is worse than should be expected from a professional news organization in a big city full of talented web site management people willing to work on the cheap. Chicago Journal needs to put nepotism aside and hire a competent web site manager. Don't hold the Chicago Journal's lousy web presence scare you away from the actual newspapers, though. They're free, after all, and always have at least one or two articles worth your time.

My Chicago Journal Contributions

So far.... 6/11/2008 - OF GOLF PHILANDERING (written by T. Mannis) Bill Clinton cheats at golf. Old Town resident Carol Felsenthal says so in her latest bombshell biography, "Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House," released this month by William Morrow/Harper Collins. 6/4/08 - EDGEWATER LANDMARK DISTRICT DEFEATED (written by T. Mannis) Community representatives from the 48th Ward zoning and planning committee voted down an attempt to impose landmark status on 15 buildings in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. 5/28/2008 - BILL CLINTON CHEATS AT GOLF (written by T. Mannis) Interview with top author and Chicago native Carol Felsenthal, with a look at her new book "Clinton in Exile." 5/21/2008 - ANY OLD SPRING SATURDAY (photos by T. Mannis) Volunteers in Old Town help out with the annual Spring Clean Up. 5/21/2008 - EVERYONE OUT! (photos by T. Mannis) A Cook County Circuit Judge has ordered residents to vacate a residential and commercial building in the 6200 block of North Clark Street by June 1. 5/14/2008 - BECKER'S PHARMACY PRESCRIPTION FOR LONGEVITY (photos by T. Mannis) Unless you're an oak tree, 65 years at one location is pretty amazing. For a pharmacy-especially in an age where national drug stores compete with banks and fancy coffee shops for corner retail locations-it's practically unheard of. ... 4/30/2008 - PIPE BOMB TURNS BONG PIPE (photos by T. Mannis) A purported pipe bomb that sent residents from three Rogers Park buildings scurrying to the street last week turned out to be a false alarm when Chicago police and firefighters discovered what appeared to be sophisticated marijuana manufacturing operation in a condominium unit on the 7300 block of North Damen. ... 4/30/2008 - 'THE LAWYER IN' (photos by T. Mannis) There's a poetry reading going on at Ennui Café, Rogers Park's venerable Wi-Fi coffee shop, where some Loyola students are screaming from a riser. At a side table next to a window facing Sheridan Road, a guy in a suit talks intently with a young couple. He's been at it for 30 minutes. ... 4/30/2008 - POLICE GUARDING AUDUBON (photos by T. Mannis) Cougar aftermathSomebody is threatening to shoot and kill an elementary school student, possibly to avenge the recent killing of a cougar in Chicago. 4/30/2008 - BLOGGERS DEVELOPER SETTLE COURT (written by T. Mannis) A case of Blogger v. Developer ended quite differently than David and Goliath. Goliath won this round, but only after a few interesting twists and turns behind the scenes. 4/30/2008 - BLOGGERS DEVELOPER SETTLE COURT (written by T. Mannis) A case of Blogger v. Developer ended quite differently than David and Goliath. Goliath won this round, but only after a few interesting twists and turns behind the scenes. 4/23/2008 - THE MISSING PART COUGAR STORY (written by T. Mannis) A teacher at Audubon Elementary School called 911 to say she saw a cougar at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, April 14. Three of your officers went to the school an hour later to talk to her about the sighting. What did Animal Care and Control do between 8:30 and the time the cougar was shot? 4/23/2008 - NEWPORT PERFECT HOLLYWOOD (written by T. Mannis) What would Chicago be without politicians, developers and old buildings? A city with fewer major Hollywood productions filming in its neighborhoods. ... 4/16/2008 - OVERKILL (written by T. Mannis) Too much and not enough. That's what some residents of Roscoe Village are saying about Monday night's shooting by Chicago police officers of a cougar in a neighborhood alley. ... 4/9/2008 - ASBESTOS FOUND DEMO SITE (photos by T. Mannis) Rogers Park residents are questioning the lag time between the discovery of asbestos at the former North Shore School demolition site and the two weeks that it lay open and exposed to the elements in the Rogers Park lakefront neighborhood. ... 2/13/2008 - CITYSIDE (photos by T. Mannis) Osterman's Senior Health FairSeniors and the general public are invited to Rep. Harry Osterman's eighth annual Senior Health Fair at the newly renovated Broadway Armory Park on Feb. 19. ...

Felsenthal on NPR: Bill's Role in Hillary's Campaign

Author Carol Felsenthal was a guest on All Things Considered, May 30, 2008. She discussed the Bill Clinton's effect on the campaign of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton as she tries to get the Democrat Party's nomination. Felsenthal, a Chicago native, says the results have been less than sterling. Carol Felsenthal's book, "Clinton in Exile," was released on May 1st. You can read my interview with her in the Chicago Journal papers by clicking here. ACTUALLY, the dickweeds at Chicago Journal deleted articles by all former staff and contributors after they sold off the News-Star for a handful of nothing in March, 2009. So, without permission, I gladly reproduce that entire article below: Bill Clinton cheats at golf Local author’s book recounts Clinton’s post-presidential life By TOM MANNIS Contributing Writer Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Bill Clinton cheats at golf. Chicago author Carol Felsenthal says so in her latest bombshell biography, "Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House," released this month by William Morrow/Harper Collins. But don't take Felsenthal's word for it. She says that she interviewed "about 20 people who still golf with Bill Clinton. They all said he cheats at golf." One of those golfers is Leon Panetta, who was the Clinton's chief of staff from 1994 to 1996. Panetta still swings a club now and then with Clinton, and Felsenthal recalls Panetta telling her that "Bill Clinton always ends up with a good score," no matter how well-or poorly-he actually plays. Cheating at golf is just one minor, albeit amusing, anecdote in Felsenthal's "Clinton in Exile." The unauthorized biography of the former president covers Clinton's activities since leaving the White House in January 2001. One cannot write a book about Bill Clinton without getting the requisite criticism. "Clinton in Exile" is raising a lot of eyebrows, and more than a few hackles, by candidly discussing the Monica Lewinsky affair, Clinton's impeachment, and other details that Clinton insiders are usually reluctant to discuss. One chapter, "Philanderer in Chief," is making some readers apoplectic, and some reviewers are calling the book "mean spirited" because of its rehashing of Bill Clinton's sexual proclivities. Felsenthal defends that chapter and the inclusion of such material. "I don't think it's mean spirited," she says in a no-holds-barred phone interview. "What they're upset about in a blue-nosed prissy way is the chapter 'Philanderer in Chief,' but that's part of the story. Clinton is a man who was impeached over a sex scandal. I make no apologies for that. That's one chapter out of, what, fifteen chapters, and I would have been remiss to leave it out." Not all reviews have been negative. "Two journals that review advance book copies," Felsenthal said, "are Library Journal and [the American Library Association's] Book List. Both of them loved my book." Felsenthal's web site (www.carolfelsenthal.com) describes "Clinton in Exile" as "a candid, objective look at Bill Clinton's post-White House years." She insists that the book is indeed objective, and cites the chapter "Bill Clinton Fixes Africa," which praises Clinton's work to fight disease and poverty. Surely, fans of Bill Clinton will find something to love in this chapter. Felsenthal interviewed over 160 people for the biography. Some spoke willingly, some did not want to speak with her at all. Others strung her along. Bill Clinton's former communications director, Jay Carson, is one example. Carson is currently a spokesman for Hillary Clinton. Felsenthal recalls obtaining Carson's cell phone number and contacting him. "After promises that I should call him back at certain times.... he picked up the phone and I heard Bill Clinton in the background," Felsenthal said. "They were in Africa. They were in a restaurant. 'I can't talk to you right now, the boss wants to go.'" She says Carson never did call her back. Felsenthal taught "Writing Profiles," a course that drew on her experience writing magazine profiles of luminaries ranging from Ann Landers to Don Rumsfield, at the University of Chicago in 2005 and 2006. "That was fun," she says, "The students were great. But when I took this book contract in the spring of 2006, I really had to focus on it full time. I am still in touch with my students. One is a producer at CBS in New York. Others are freelancers. I would love to teach again." The publisher, Harper Collins, originally wanted the book in July 2007. "But," says Felsenthal, "I wasn't going to do the book without fresh material, and wanted the book to be based on interviews." So she set off on her string of 160 interviews, all without an assistant. Hundreds of e-mails and uncounted phone calls went into to setting up the interviews. "The manuscript was 80,000 words longer than the finished book is," Felsenthal says. "I way overwrote it, which is my eccentricity. Cutting the manuscript was tough. The most challenging thing was that Bill Clinton was constantly in the news. He was a moving target in a way. It's easier to write about somebody who is dead or retired than somebody who is trying to establish his legacy." Despite some critics who have called the book "catty" and "salacious," Felsenthal says she tried to be fair to all of her sources, both detractors and admirers of the 42nd president. "But some people just don't understand the difference between 'off the record' and 'not for attribution,'" Felsenthal says. "You have to let the material take you where the reality is and the extreme ends of the story will fall away. Somewhere in the middle you come up with an accurate story. I want the reporting to take me to a fair assessment rather than having an agenda." "Clinton in Exile" is not Felsenthal's first effort. Her biography of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, "Power, Privelege and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story will be produced by HBO this year. "Filming will start in the fall," she said. "They were negotiating that for years. The director (Tom Hooper) is the same one who did the John Adams miniseries. I think I will have exceptionally little input, but my contract makes me a consultant on the script." Felsenthal recalls how Ted Turner originally picked up the rights to produce the bio. Married to Jane Fonda at the time, who was friends with one of Graham's children, Turner ended up dropping the project because of pressure from the Grahams. "Around 1994, my agent told me, 'This will get made when Kate Graham dies.' Graham died on July 17, 2001," Felsenthal says, "and by August 2001 we had a deal with HBO." Felsenthal was born and raised in West Ridge. She attended Rogers Elementary School, then Decatur Classical School "when it was first built." She graduated from Sullivan High School in 1967, and then went to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. From Illinois, Felsenthal went to Boston College in Cambridge, Mass., where she earned her master's. Loyal to Chicago, she moved back with her husband, attorney Steven Felsenthal, in 1974. "I've never lived in the suburbs, never ever, ever," says Felsenthal, who resides in Old Town. "I have nothing against the suburbs, but I love being in the city. It's great for freelance, better than New York, where writers are a dime a dozen." With her full schedule of media appearances, Chicago is convenient for her. She often walks to radio or television appearances in downtown Chicago. "I love walking in Chicago. Interviewing in New York is tough, it's too dense. Chicago has a nice sense of openness. I was very fond of Boston, but I'm glad I came back to Chicago."

COP: "I JUST KILLED A F***ING COUGAR!"

What REALLY happened with that cougar shooting? The Chicago Journal story today contradicts Police Supt. Jody P. Weis's claim that a single police officer shot and killed the big cat. Not so, says the Chicago Journal story, which quotes a resident as saying that "20 uniformed police officers were lined up" to contain the cougar into a small parking area just off of the alley. "About six or seven officers opened fire on the cougar." Too much and not enough. That's what some residents of Roscoe Village are saying about Monday night's shooting by Chicago police officers of a cougar in a neighborhood alley. Two elements in the strange animal tale on the city's North side concern neighbors in Roscoe Village. Some say that Animal Care and Control did not respond quickly enough, while others feel that police may have overreacted by "shooting up the neighborhood." FULL STORY at CHICAGO JOURNAL - BOOSTER...

THE NEWS-STAR IS UNDER ATTACK

There is a sneaky attempt by self-appointed "leaders" of the greater Rogers Park communities (49th and 50th Wards of Chicago) to muzzle the free press and bully private enterprise. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

They are, to put it simply, trying to intimidate Dan Haley, the new publisher of the New-Star newspaper.

It is well known that Alderman Joe Moore (49th) and Alderman Bernie Stone (50th) are not fond of an unfettered press. They are both know citywide for calling newspaper editors and screaming - literally - that they don't like what reporters write. They demand that editors give reporters a "good talking to." But the aldermen are not alone. The Queen of DevCorp North, Bimberly Kares, is not much better, and all of her staff are very tight lipped. Brian White of Lakeside CDC is part of this group, which also includes 49th Ward Democrat Committeeman David Fagus, CAPS fetishist Kevin O'Neal, and others who hate the free press.

These neo-Stalinists are especially freaked out by the now-not-so-new phenomenon of bloggers. See, you can call and scream at an editor. You can threaten them with business license shenanigans, and you can intimidate their advertisers. They are frustrated by local bloggers (citizen journalists) who have no advertisers, no business licenses and - in short - nothing that these bullies can threaten us with (legally)?

Here's what you do. You hold a "community meeting" and pretend it's something that the entire community wants. The following was printed in this week's News-Star and also appears at Lakeside CDC's web site as a PDF. It is subtle, and tells us more about the author than was intended. The Bench's very own Cryptology Unit went to work on it. Following is notice from Lakeside CDC, with The Bench's analysis inserted:

West Rogers Park Community Organization

Presents

“Covering the Community:Perspectives from the New News-Star”

With Special Guests Dan Haley, Publisher, Oak Park Wednesday Journal & Lorraine Swanson, Editor, News Star

Thursday, March 6, 2008
6:45 pm – 8:45 pm
Rogers Park Chicago Public Library
2nd floor Community Room
6907 N. Clark Street, Chicago

In this era of 24-hour news cycles, web blogs-as-news, and ever-increasing demands for residents’ time and attention, the role of community newspapers continues to evolve. In January 2008, the News Star newspaper was sold to the Oak Park WednesdayJournal newsgroup along with other Pioneer Press publications. The News Star has served in one form or another as the community newspaper in Rogers Park and WestRidge since the 1930s.

ANALYSIS: Author is something of a Luddite, with a fear of the new media (new sites, blog sites, etc.). He has an obvious ignorance of what blogs are. Evidence: His use of the phrase "web blogs." There is no such thing. The correct term, "blogs," is short for "web logs," not "web blogs." Furthermore: Author misunderstands the nature of a privately owned newspaper. Evidence: He says that the News-Star has "served...as the community newspaper," whereas in reality every newspaper serves as a revenue generating business. In the case of a newspaper, they do this by selling advertising space. They sell advertising space by providing readers for advertisers, not by providing public service announcements or propaganda for aldermen.

On March 6, 2008 the new publisher and editor of the News Star will meet with residents, community leaders, and business owners to share their plans and hear what readers and advertisers want from the paper. A lively discussion is anticipated. The meeting is open to the public; seating is first come first served. Call (773) 381-5253 or visit www.wrpco.org on the web for more info.

ANALYSIS: Author uses phrase "residents, community leaders, and business owners," but he does not make clear which residents, leaders, or business owners. Furthermore, there are - to use a round figure - over 100,000 residents in the areas served by the News-Star. However many residents will be able to cram into the library on March 6 will represent an insignificant percentage of the total. Same for the business owners; there are many hundreds of them. As for "leaders," does he mean elected leaders, or self-appointed "leaders?" The author also fails to explain how many employees of DevCorp North, Lakeside CDC, Northside POWER, and other quasi-Stalinist organizations will pack the room on March 6. "A lively discussion" is not only anticipated, it is guaranteed. In fact, The Bench sincerely hopes there will be security guards stationed around the room.

Co-sponsored by West Ridge Chamber of Commerce, DevCorp North, and Partners for Rogers Park

ANALYSIS: These organizations are headed by self-appointed "leaders," none of whom were elected by the general population of the neighborhoods served by the News-Star. Furthermore, they all have cozy ties to Aldermen Moore and Stone.

META ANALYSIS: The event is straight out of the old Soviet Union playbook of mock trials, with a clever (and necessary) twist. If these self-appointed "leaders" had their way, they would lock up publisher Dan Haley, editor Lorraine Swanson, and turn the News-Star into another propaganda rag such as the RPCC "newspaper" or the DevCorp propaganda pamphlets. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for these "leaders," we have a long tradition of democracy, freedom of speech and private enterprise in this country, unlike the old Soviet Union (Russia). Nevertheless, these "leaders" continue to work at slowly chipping away at our freedoms. This is just one more attempt to put a chink in democracy's armor.

RECOMMENDATION: Get all your friends to join you in support of Dan Haley, Lorraine Swanson and the Chicago Journal's News-Star on March 6, 2008.