Local means less

By Lou Grant | Aug 22, 12:58 PM

The Springfield-based CapitolFax.com notes several newspaper losses in Springfield starting with the Rockford Register Star closing its bureau and laying off bureau chief Aaron Chambers. "Chambers," the Capitol Fax says, "worked like the devil to give his paper local angles on every possible story. It's just a sad state of affairs."

According to the story in the Rockford paper, "The newspaper also closed its Springfield bureau today, a step that had been considered five years ago and again 18 months ago.

"We kept the bureau open through some previous tough times," said Linda Grist Cunningham, executive editor. "Frankly, I made a choice between the bureau in Springfield and local news in the Rock River Valley. It's a loss, but losing another local reporter would have been worse."

Rich Miller notes in the Capitol Fax, "the Champaign News-Gazette closed its bureau earlier this year, putting Kate Clements Cohorst out of a job. The Tribune eliminated one of its Statehouse positions on Friday, laying off the incredibly hard-working Jeff Meitrodt, who was recruited, from New Orleans not long ago. And, as of yet, the AP has not filled the vacancy created when Ryan Keith was hired by the State Journal-Register.

So, that's two bureaus and four reporting slots gone from the Statehouse this year," Miller reports.