A Scandal in Chicago That Justifies Investigative Journalism

[Commentary] Who says the modern American newspaper doesn't matter? For the last few years, newspapers have been smacked around for lacking relevance, but the industry has finally found a compelling spokesman: Gov Rod R. Blagojevich (D-IL). According to the criminal complaint that the United States attorney filed, Governor Blagojevich, while allegedly trying to set a price for a United States Senate seat, also spent a significant amount of time going after the press, especially The Chicago Tribune, whose editorial page had been calling for his impeachment. The governor said he would withhold financial assistance from the Tribune Company in its effort to sell Wrigley Field unless the newspaper got rid of the editorial writers. "Our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support," he told his chief of staff, John Harris. In a city and state where corruption is knit into the political fabric, a solvent daily paper would seem to be a civic necessity. But if another governor goes bad in Illinois what if the local paper were too diminished to do the job?