All The News That Fits...

The onslaught of articles in the Daily Herald should not come as a surprise.

Newspapers, as PBS' Jim Lehrer describes it, have become "fourth responders" and are providing more analysis. It has become known as "Watchdog Journalism."

It's not unique to the Herald. Look at the Chicago Tribune or any other major market newspaper.

Added to the fray, the handful of newspapers that are making money are those that focus on local news.

So when you get someone like Lisa Stone, it's a way to promote some degree of local news. Not necessarily watchdog journalism.

The Herald's accounts were, in many ways, a rehash of Stone's whining about what she would like the world to think is a critical health issue. The IEPA and EPA don't seem to think it is critical, but none the less, to Stone all the meetings a stage.

What is bothersome about the accounts in the Herald is the lack of sources, especially from the village. Granted, they did include the EPA and IEPA -- they had to -- but most of the sources appeared to be skewed toward Stone.

Environmental attorney Shawn Collins is based in Naperville (in the Herald's circulation area) and while I'm sure he has a solid background, his background in law and accounting. He was, according to his firm's web site " honored as a finalist for the Daily Herald newspaper’s “person of the year” award for his work on behalf of the families in Lisle, Illinois to secure a safe source of drinking water after learning their groundwater had been contaminated with trichloretheylene (TCE) from a local manufacturing plant."

Again, I am not questioning Collins' background, but it does surprise me that aside from a brief comment from Krishna Reddy, director of the Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who told the Herald that "more investigation is needed to find out exactly what is happening in the landfill," no other strong rationale was presented as to why L & L may be a serious problem.

I am also surprised that the Herald did not contact other communities where landfills have been closed -- specifically Highland Park and Northbrook. Landfills were closed in those communities and became recreational, commercial and residential developments.

It's also surprising that more was not said about the emails Stone had, but opted not to share. Maybe it was because the contents of those email diluted her argument.

As for the infamous Shaw report -- it's still a mystery to me what the issue is -- the report, like all reports done for the village, are available to the public. The report has never been hidden, nor has anyone been denied access to the report.

Village Board President Elliott Hartstein recommended that not only Shaw Report be available via the village's web site, but the updated information as well.

If this is such a hot issue and major problem, then all sides need to be presented -- weather by the media or, and especially, Stone.