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Subject: The REPUBLICAN Prairie Times Newspaper

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kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/09/2008 12:07 PM	Alert
Anyone see the 2/7 issue of the free paper delivered to driveways? Page 1 - huge pic of Republican county board candidate. Ok, just one pic, turning page ... Page 2 - all election results have Republicans listed first, no biggie. Page 3 - county clerk article - is really about the Republican winner Gillette. Dem winner Feeley is briefly mentioned as the Dem Gillette will be running against. Feeley couldn't be reached? Feeley didn't respond??? Page 3 - voter turn out article - is ~~really~~ only about Republican county board candidate numbers. Dems county board numbers listed at the end on pg. 6 but no info about candidates. Hmmm ... these Dems couldn't be reached or didn't respond too??? That is so weird - apparently only the Republicans could be reached for comment! Page 5 - big article about ~~IL 14 Race~~ Oberweis - briefly mentions he'll run against Dem winner Foster. Wow - that's a lot of info about Oberwies ... and none about Foster. Page 5 - big article about ~~State Rep 50th race~~ Hatcher - Holy cow! Another article devoted soley to Republican candidate. Dem winner Mary Schneider is briefly mentioned as her opponent. That's a lot of space for Hatcher! Page 20 - Guest Columnist Tom Cross - Well gee, another Republican highlighted! That is some fair and balanced political coverage. I think we have found the Fox News of Kendall County!

kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/12/2008 11:08 AM	Alert
UPDATE - Mark from the Prairie Times called me in response to my letter to the editor about this topic. He was said he was very concerned about providing balanced election coverage. According to Mark this issue focused only on candidates who were in contested races. He said they sent questionnaires requesting contact info to all candidates on the ballot, but did not hear back from many dem candidates. He said of the dem winners of contested races Elizabeth Flowers was the only one but she did not respond to the Prairie Times. I am not sure why there was not more info about County Board Dist. #1 candidates. Mark is going to get back to me with more information. I urge all dem candidates to be responsive to the Prairie Times in order to ensure they are able to provide complete election coverage.

kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/16/2008 10:49 AM	Alert
The Prairie Times is adamant that they provided fair election coverage in the 2/7 issue. I do not agree. I do not understand the concept of focusing only on winners of contested races - why not provide coverage about all winners? Coverage of contested races should be thoroughly covered before the primary. After the primary it becomes a race between the winners. My letter to the editor was not printed in the 2/14 issue. Although Mark Gregory at Prairie Times contacted me about my letter, I still expected it to be printed as the purpose of a letter to the editor is to share my message with readers, and the paper's response as well. I have provided contact information for all our candidates so in future there is no reason there should not be full coverage including all Dem candidates.

kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/17/2008 10:05 AM	Alert
Also notable - the same 2/14 issue of the Ledger-Sentinel featured prominent coverage of ALL the primary winners, not just the winners of contested races. To the Ledger-Sentinel's credit, they have previously printed a letter to the editor from me complaining about political coverage in one article, with their response. Lesson learned - you get what you pay for. Hopefully the Prairie Times will prove me wrong by providing complete political coverage in the future.

J.Lausier
Posts:57

02/17/2008 1:42 PM	Alert
Kelly, This is exactly the kind of thing that can be changed through persistence. Thanks for grabbing onto the issue. Jim Lausier

kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/20/2008 5:35 PM	Alert
Mark @ PT said my LTE wasn't printed because he thought we'd cleared it up, and that it "wasn't really a letter to the editor" (I don't get that part). He suggested I rewrite it & said he'd print it, so I submitted a different version. Should be in tomorrow's PT. I give him credit for communicating w/me about it, but I still don't get it.

kpfarrer
Posts:210

02/24/2008 1:52 PM	Alert
I heard my LTE was printed in the 2/21 issue of the PT. My cul de sac was missed during delivery so I didn't get an issue to see if there was a response from PT. At the 2/23 Young Dems open house in Oswego I met Dean from PT, who I was happy to see there covering the event. He assured me that they will get it right regarding balanced coverage. I will be glad to be proven wrong on this one!

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