The Illinois State Journal-Register angered lots of us in their coverage of the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day in Springfield.
They had a series of photos and the caption was as follows:
Hundreds of gun owners and supporters gathered on the lawn of the Capitol for a brief rally during the annual Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day in Springfield, Ill. Wednesday, March 6, 2013. The Illinois State Rifle Association, in partnership with IllinoisCarry.com and other groups, including Guns Save Life, the Sangamon County Rifle Association and the McHenry County Right to Carry Association, organized the event to encourage gun owners to lobby their legislators about gun rights. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, Ted Schurter) / AP
Hundreds of gun owners?
I sent an email (although I doubt I was the only one) to the big shots at the State Journal-Register Wednesday night before bed.
RE: “Hundreds of gun owners and supporters gathered on the lawn
of the Capitol for a brief rally during the annual Illinois Gun
Owners Lobby Day in Springfield on Wednesday. Click inside for
photos.”Gentlemen (and the Lady):
Hundreds of gun owners?
*Hundreds* of gun owners are what turn out at the monthly Guns Save Life meetings in Rantoul, IL (270 in January. 282 in Feburary, specifically).
Photo here:
*Thousands* of gun owners are what turned out today at IGOLD – Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day.
Photo here:
And you folks wonder why your readership continues to decline…
Your description of the rally today is either utterly inept reporting, or a biased revision of history. Regardless, it’s no wonder so few Americans trust the mainstream media, both nationally and at home in publications such as the State Journal-Register.
Shame on you.
John Boch
I did not receive a single response after carbon copying everyone from the publisher down to the political editor with that message, but when I skipped over there today, look what the captions have been changed to:
Gun owners and supporters gathered on the lawn of the Capitol for a brief rally after a march from downtown Springfield during the annual Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day in Springfield on Wednesday. Event organizers estimate about 8,000 people participated.
Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register
Thousands of gun owners and supporters march from Seventh Street onto Capitol Avenue and toward the Capitol during the annual Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day in Springfield Wednesday, March 6, 2013. The Illinois State Rifle Association in partnership with IllinoisCarry.com and other groups including Guns Save Life, the Sangamon County Rifle Association and the McHenry County Right to Carry Association, organized the event to encourage gun owners to lobby their legislators about gun rights.
Kudos to the State Journal-Register for their acknowledgement that their reporter’s analysis was grossly out of line.
Just goes to show what a little old-fashioned activism can do.
Watch. Letters to the editor will soon be printed complaining about its coverage and they will link to the revised reporting – thus making the letter writers look foolish.
They have done that very thing in the past.
The SJR has moved in editorial position. They have gone from supporting outright ban to may issue. All headlines are framed as concealed carry rather than just carry and coverage thus year pales in comparison to last year. Maybe the reason for that is as simple as it being a repeat of last year not warranting new reportage? Imagine if news had been made to report widely- like the lobby groups openly calling for and standing for straight up constitutional carry?? Maybe actually raising the stakes and being bold would see more of a spotlight. Just sayin.
One thing is for sure. The SJR has had more articles about this subject in general the last couple of months than at any time in my memory. Conversations in comments have been long, in depth at times, spirited at times and most importantly open (absent the shushing witnessed elsewhere).
I contacted WICD, WCIA and the News-Gazette about their lack of coverage. WCIA insisted that they covered the “IGOLD Rally that took place in February.” Oh they also stated they covered the “large CCW rally at the State Capital in January”.
OK, if they say so, it “must ” be true.
The N-G said they were sure there was a large AP report on IGOLD.
I don’t want to dilute the IGOLD message, and I want to see this grow and grow each year. Would it be something to consider, hosting a food drive or such for a charity as well that day? They can’t refute the thousands of pounds of donated food that us evil gun owners would provide, while flexing our political muscle. Ask a dollar per person, hand a big cardboard check for 8-10K to some worthy charity? The turnout counts now are no longer in dispute…
“They can’t refute thousands of pounds of donated food”…
Sure they can.
But I like the idea as well.
John
I agree with Randy. That sounds like a great idea.
I think Randy has come up with a great idea.
I too like this idea. Hard to not cover a large amount of donated food. I’m thinking maybe ABATE did this years ago to garner some coverage and it worked. Maybe a “fill the bus” idea since a lot of IGOLD participants do take advantage of the buses?????
Whatever direction this takes, I think something that benefits children would be a good objective. Having helped on food drives in the past, I can say the logistics of hauling canned goods can be an issue. (Working w local Boy Scouts or such may be helpful if this is how it goes. ) The most cost effective way of doing this is with cash. The charity gets more bang for each buck, and there’s a minimal amount of workers required. You can even make it a photo op, each bus drives up and drops off a coffee can of singles, fives and tens, and rolls on to IGOLD. Organizers add up the cash, and present a big check to the charity IN the auditorium, or other media heavy venue. Now you have lots of “B roll” for the cameras and a back story about those evil gun owners are concerned with children, vets, etc. Again I don’t want to overshadow our political objective, but to add a dimension to our view that will be more difficult for our opponents to assail.
I think that the several ideas for making a donation to a worthy cause is great! As a retired USPS Letter Carrier, I participated in an annual Food Pantry Drive every year. My wife volunteered at our local Food Pantry for several years. Bottom line for doing the most good for a food pantry is th donate cash. Yes, they have suppliers that can deliver food products at below retail costs, and by having cash, they can fill in the empty shelves that may not have been filled by food donations, and thereby be better able to fill the NEEDS of their clients.