Today's Opinions

Once upon a time, organizations like the Illinois High School Association would bend over backwards to get favorable coverage from the press. Treat the media right, and your activities will be covered well, was the thinking.

Not anymore.

This past weekend, at the state individual wrestling championships in Champaign, the IHSA made it eminently clear that it dislikes the media and that it doesnt really care if the states elite athletes get any coverage in their hometown newspapers.

Except for major issues such as bond issues, we receive very little feedback from people in the community on those everyday issues that are covered in the pages of our newspaper. Thats likely to change through a new feature offered on our Web site.

As you may know, our parent company, Landmark Community Newspapers, has provided a new Web site format for us and other LCNI newspapers. The work to improve our Web sites is ongoing.

As the student athletes in our coverage area advance to state competition, we strive to provide the best possible upclose coverage. Unfortunately, the very organization that sponsors those competitions is hampering us from doing that.

The individual state wrestling tournament this weekend is the first time that we will be faced with sitting alongside fans, away from the wrestling matches, as we attempt to cover that event.