There has already been some really bad reporting on the Archer Avenue traffic safety project in Brighton Park. Looking at you, CBS Chicago's Jermont Terry.
But NBC Chicago's ridiculously one-sided coverage of the dueling rallies for and against the initiative last Monday, December 22, gives CBS a run for its money.
"[There's a fight going on in] Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood over these bike lanes," said the newscaster. "This small group of protesters, including the Grinch, apparently gathered along Archer Avenue, where the City is planning to install those lanes. The project reduces this part of Archer from four lanes down to two. These residents say that that will cause major traffic and parking problems. 12th Ward Alderman Julia Ramirez says she's working with City departments to address how to move forward with the project that best reflects the needs of our community."
While I attended the previous three dueling demonstrations, I missed last week's event. But I immediately pointed out on social media that while the opponents were, in fact, "a small group of protestors," about half a dozen in the NBC report, video posted on Facebook showed that there eventually was a much larger group of Safe Streets boosters standing next to them that day.
I later heard that the NBC crew showed up at 4 p.m. and left before 9-to-5 workers were able to show up for the competing rally. Still, that didn't excuse the TV station for not researching the issue with as much as a Google search. That would have revealed that pro-Safe Streets folks outnumbered the opponents at the previous two rallies.
Moreover, the NBC report says, “The project reduces this part of Archer down from four lanes [for drivers] down to two,” when in reality it’s a "four-to-three conversion," a type of project endorsed by AARP because it improves safety for all road users, especially seniors. That is, a new turn lane on Archer will mean that motorists will have access to three lanes, not counting parking lanes, rather than two. The new layout, which is still a construction site, with eventually make the corridor safer and more efficient for people on foot, bikes, e-scooters, and buses, and in motor vehicles.
And, of course, NBC didn't mention that the opposition has been co-organized by ex-school board candidate Eva Villalobos. Her unsuccessful campaign last year got more than $50,000 from Urban Center, a pro-charter school lobbying group founded by ex-CPS chief / perennial candidate Paul Vallas and run by disgraced ex-UNO charter schools CEO Juan Rangel. UC has promoted at least one of the Archer demonstrations with mass texts and press releases to TV stations. A video of a pro-charter school rally event even appears on the Archer opponents' website, ThrivingChicago.com.
The NBC report came out last Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, local Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th), with whom Streetsblog Chicago has no formal connections, other than support for the Archer project, reached out to me. She shared screenshots that indicate she provided NBC staffers with information about these first two points, and yet the network did not include it in its report. Here's what Ramirez sent me, shared with her permission.
So while NBC wound up attributing a statement to Ramirez in its TV report, the station failed to mention her comments from this exchange. That is, 1. Project supporters have been attending the Monday rallies and 2. It wouldn't be accurate to say that, "The project reduces this part of Archer from four lanes down to two," which the newscaster did anyway.
Immediately after Ramirez sent the info Wednesday morning, I reached out to NBC Chicago Assignment Desk Editor LiLi Jarvenpa, the person who wrote the first screenshot-ed email, and cc-ed the NBC Assignment Desk email to share what I knew.
"This morning, Ald. Ramirez... shared these screenshots with me that indicate Ms. Jarvenpa and other NBC staffers had knowledge of these two points, and yet NBC did not include them in the report. Hopefully, this was due to NBC not reading the alder’s message before the report came out. If not, it indicates that NBC chose to disregard this information, which indicates an inherent bias against this project. Either way, it may be appropriate for NBC to run an update... Why didn’t NBC incorporate these statements into your report?"
I followed up on my request for comment this morning, but no one from NBC responded by press time.
"NBC is minimizing the scope of this project by calling it 'two lanes being converted to one,'" Ramirez told me today. In reality, it's a four-to-three conversion" street redesign, an approach endorsed by AARP because it makes conditions safer for seniors. The Archer plan includes turn lanes for motorists; bus boarding islands for transit riders; new Walk signals, marked crosswalks, islands, and sidewalk extensions for pedestrians; and protected lanes for people on bikes and e-scooters.
"And [NBC] is not giving the full scope of this situation, because they didn't mention that supporters of the project have also been holding rallies," Ramirez added.
Hopefully, Jarvenpa, and other NBC staffers will learn a lesson from this experience and take steps to avoid one-sided and inaccurate reporting on important traffic safety issues in the future. If not, Streetsblog Chicago will be sure to publicly call them out for that again.
Watch the NBC Chicago report here.
Read CDOT's FAQ about the Archer / Kedzie traffic safety projects here.
Materials about Archer Avenue can be found here.
Materials about Kedzie Avenue can be found here.
Read Streetsblog Chicago's writeup of Round 1 here.
Check out our article about Round 2 here.
Read SBC's coverage of Round 3 here.
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