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Join TSPR for a weekly conversation about media issues. News Director Rich Egger and expert panelists discuss what’s in the news about the news business.

Political mailers that look like newspapers

Illinois Public Radio reported that residents will continue to see political mailers that look like newspapers, thanks to a new deal between conservative activist Dan Proft and the nation’s largest newspaper owner.

Gannett – owners of USA Today and more than a dozen newspapers across Illinois – has inked a new printing deal with Proft’s Local Government Information Services (LGIS).

The move comes shortly after Paddock Publications, the Daily Herald’s parent company, dropped LGIS following complaints from Governor J.B. Pritzker.

Proft’s group has nearly a dozen physical papers, including the Chicago City Wire and North Cook News. LGIS also includes dozens of online brands, which publish some local information based largely on aggregated data.

Detractors say the Proft papers are deceptive because they don’t disclose their agenda and are run by a political operative.

Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues.  This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier, the students at student radio station The Dog, and the WIU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; Rajvee Subramanian, a former teacher in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.