Jesse Jackson and the Chicago Sun-Times

Jesse Jackson and the Chicago Sun-Times 
How the newspaper compromises its ethics and violates journalism principles

The Chicago Sun-Times in is trouble. The only thing keeping them alive is their investment in smaller newspapers. They just bought up the Chicago Reader. But it is like a pyramid scheme. Every knew acquisition brings in some financial reprieve and cash flow until they need to find something else.

Each small newspaper is like a new credit card bringing in fresh revenue.

A consequence of the Chicago Reader purchase is the compromising of the Reader's once fierce independence and ability to criticize other news media, especially the Chicago Sun-Times which was a frequent target.

But now, the Chicago Reader is hammering the Chicago Tribune. And the Chicago Sun-Times is free to act as irresponsible and as unethical as it has been since the felony conviction of its former boss, Conrad Black.
The latest ethical lapse is int he strange story of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who took a leave-of-absence from public life (not his congressional salary of healthcare benefits, mind you) claiming he was suffering from some form of exhaustion.

The truth is that the same week that he announced the sudden physical problems, his closest fundraiser, Raghuveer Nayak, was arrested recently on unrelated fraud charges. But Nayak played a prominent role during the trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, reportedly having promised to raise a $1 million for Blagojevich is Blagojevich would appoint Jackson to the vacated seat of then US Senator Barack Obama. Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years for trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder, and apparently the highest bidder was Nayak on behalf of Congressman Jackson. Now that Nayak is facing charges, there is the theory that he will turn state's evidence and testify against Jackson regarding to money offered to Blagojevich.

It's a complicated mess, one that the Chicago Sun-Times is very knowledgeable about. But the Sun-Times isn't writing much about it at all.

Instead, the Chicago Sun-Times is giving Jackson a pass. Why? Well, Jackson's father, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. Yes he is a columnist there. And sure enough, Rev. Jackson hasn't been writing any columns urging his son to come clean about what the real cause of his mysterious disappearance from public life is.

In fact, none of the Sun-Times big gun columnists have been writing about Jackson in a critical manner. Just reporting the news. Vanilla. Bland. No controversy.

The newspaper played up a claim by Congressman Jackson's aid, Frank Watkins, that the congressman is worse than we all thought. Well, by "we" he means himself and his besieged staff. He doesn't mean the public because no one in the public believes he is really sick at all. Everyone believes Congressman Jackson is suffering anxiety over the fear that with Nayak's arrest on unrelated corruption charges, it may result in the Feds taking a closer look at his role with Blagojevich and trying to become a US Senator, for a measly $1 million bucks.

Instead of seeing columns by Carol Marin and Mark Brown or Steve Huntley, the newspaper ran an obscure column by Phil Kadner, a longtime editor at one of the Sun-Times community newspaper properties, the Southtown/Star newspapers. Kadner rightly demanded that Jackson owes the public an explanation.

Well, the Southtown doesn't circulate int he heart of the Sun-Times base, in the inner city of Chicagow here the population is predominantly African American. It circulates in the nearly all-White Southwest Suburbs.

Nice compromise to keep the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson happy. Whip up anger among Whites, play down the controversy among blacks. That eases the pressure of Congressman Jackson and undermines the critical speculation of what has been happening to him.

The public is not stupid. They know. The Chicago Sun-Times isn't writing as an ethical, moral journalism venture but rather as a cigar smoking, clout-heavy political lobbying organization for its business interests, and for the interests of its friends, like Rev. Jackson.