Congratulations to the Orland Park Prairie

It started out as Jack Ryan's vengeance against the news media and in a way, he got it. Three years later, the Orland Park Prairie is one of the most successful and best community newspapers in the suburban Chicagoland region.

In a way, Ryan's troubles brought great things for Chicagoland and America, if you think about it. When he withdrew from the race for the U.S. Senate in 2004, because of salacious rumors surrounding his divorce from Hollywood actress and wife Jeri Ryan, Jack Ryan actually opened the door to the creation of a great community newspaper. He also paved the way for the rise of Barack Obama to become our nation's president.

Ryan always blamed the news media for his troubles, although he should have blamed his consultants who told him to mislead the media about the troubles detailed in his sealed divorce records. The Republican Chicago Tribune pounced on Ryan, a Republican himself, hammering him for "misleading the public" into believing he wanted the divorce papers permanently sealed to protect his children. When the documents were released, the facts showed otherwise, exposing Ryan's candidacy to such an avalanche of criticism, he could not sustain his Senate candidacy.

(I met Ryan during a fundraiser organized for him during the senate race by a close friend, Mike Searle.)

When Ryan stepped aside, the Republicans couldn't find concensus to back Jim Oberweis, the arrogant blow-hard who makes a great banana split but a lousy candidacy. Oberweis can't seem to control his ego or bring himself down to Earth to be close enough to voters. Instead, Illinois Republicans backed Alan Keyes, one of the most obnoxious candidates to ever run for Illinois public office. Keyes lost in a landslide to Obama, who became the U.S. Senator and parlayed his appearance before the Democratic Convention to position himself as the underdog in a battle to fight U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton for the presidency.

You know the rest.

Yet Ryan's experience pushed him to design a newspaper that would be different than most, one that he told many local mayors would focus not on the mud and yellow journalism that often sells papers ("if it bleeds it leads" is the motto of most Front Page Era journalism) but rather to focus on the "good news" that often gets shunned aside or is totally ignored by not only the major metropolitan newspapers but also the so-called "community newspapers.

The one major competitor is the troubled SouthtownStar. The former Southtown Economist that later became the Daily Southtown was gobbled up by the Sun-Times years ago and drained of much of its talent. Many of its best reporters and writers were pushed into retirement, leaving a handful of overworked journalists. It's two major columnists are driven more by meanness and personal agendas than journalism, and readers see it. They love to dish it out but they just can't seem to take it. The SouthtownStar is a great newspaper, a place where I cut my own teeth in journalism winning several awards including one of three Lisagors before moving on to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Chicago Tribune saw the advertising obese Orland Park Prairie and launched their own weekly tabloid, the well-written Trib Local. But the Trib Local doesn't focus on specific communities but rather on regional community news, diluting its strengths. It can't give enough focused concentration the way the Orland Park Prairie and its sister publications can.

Heather Warthen, the editor of the Orland Park Prairie, is a talented writer who snoops out the best local stories. Her writing is refreshing, entertaining and complete. She doesn't play politics and covers everyone. And that's refreshing, making it the best read newspaper in Orland Park.

Pick up your copy of the Orland Park Prairie, the flagship of a growing cookie-cutter chain of community newspapers making their way out into the growing Western suburbs. On its three year anniversary, the Orland Prairie is succeeding where others have failed.

Congratulations.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Obama rose on the ashes of Jack Ryan's political career

A look back at recent history. How luck and chance plays a major role in individual's careers:

The rise of Barack Obama to become the Democratic candidate for United States President has a direct local angle that today touches on the Orland Park area that goes far beyond his political upbringing on Chicago's South Side. It has a lot to do with an individual who today plays an enormous role in forging the public opinions of the people of Orland Park through his weekly newspaper, the Orland Park Prairie. And it all happened in a very short period of time.

By all measures, Jack Ryan should have won the November 2004 election for the U.S. Senate to succeed retiring Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

In March 2004, Ryan won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Barack Obama, an Illinois State Senator with a controversial career -- he won his state senate seat by successfully removing his more popular rival, incumbent Alice Palmer from the ballot -- won the Democratic primary, defeating State Comptroller Dan Hynes, the son of 19th Ward Chicago powerhouse Tom Hynes.

Ryan, Harvard LAW graduate and MBA who went into medical mal-pacrtice and a partnership at the prestigious Goldmann Sachs investment firm, used his money and his political clout with the backing of the then ruling Republican National organization, to position himself for a sure win in the fall election. But three months later, Ryan was forced to resign when details of his messy divorce from Hollywood actress Jeri Ryan splashed across the front pages of newspapers across the country. The role the media played inf orcing the disclosure of the details of his divorce, and the impact of the hugely negative media coverage is believed to be one reason why Ryan expanded from law and finance to include launching a new community newspaper that he promised area politicians would not focus on controversial issues and instead would focus on positive community news.

Ironically, it was the persistance of the news media that sunk Ryan's candidacy. (Ryan had argued he would not release details of his divorce saying it would injure his son, Alex. But later, when the details were released, the focus was not on Alex but rather on the sensational side of a collapsing relationship with his ex-wife.) Had they not sued, Ryan might still be in politics and not newspaper publishing.

It took Ryan several more weeks to formally withdraw and by the end of July. With only 86 days left to the November election, the Illinois GOP could not find a credible replacement. They reached out to many high profile name candidates, including former Chicago Bear's Coach Mike Ditka, whos aid no. And they settled on the bombastic Alan Keyes, a carpertbagger who had not lived in Illinois at all, but who had a strong Republican dimplomatic career.

Keyes had no chance, and Obama easily defeated him.

Obama's mentor is Illinois Senate President Emil Jones who helped him organize the support to run for the U.S. Senate seat when no one else at the time thought it possible for a Democrat to win. That summer, to strengthen his candidacy as Ryan's was embroiled in controversy and was characterized in negative media headlines that focused on the sex scandal involving his ex-wife, Obama was invited to give the keynote speech at the July 2004 Democratic Primary convention where John Kerry won the party's nomination for president.

The point is, Barack Obama is now the Democratic candidate for president in a large part because of Jack Ryan's personal political tragedy; and the Orland Park Prairie was created, also, in a large part because of Ryan's experience with the biased and negative mainstream mainly downtown news media (print, radio and TV) ... in a way, supporters of Obama should thank Ryan and Orland Park residents should thank him too. The OPP is a great Good News community newspaper. We don't have enough of them. (Does every paper have to expose government corruption, waste and mismanagement?)

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com