The Illinois Times, a weekly and online newspaper based in Springfield (Ill.) does a good job of reporting on local media in the central Illinois region.
Recently, the Illinois Times wrote an in depth piece about Illinois Statehouse News, an onlin
e newspaper that started in 2009 and has broke a number of stories about Illinois state politics. The May 10 piece about Illinois Statehouse News questioned its conservative ownership but also reported that its coverage to this point seems fair. Read the story here.
The Illinois Times has also reported on a number of local media trends that reflect nationwide trends, including radio station WUIS changing its format from classical music to news (Story) and a piece on the struggles of the GateHouse owned Peoria Journal Star, a sister paper to the Springfield Journal Register. (Story)
Questioning the future of regional newspapers like the Peoria Journal Star and the Springfield Journal Register provide insight into the problems of the newspaper business. Regional and smaller newspapers are often still profitable during these times. But media corporations, feeling the drain from their larger newspapers, continue the cuts that so damaged these larger newspapers.