Local news organizations drawn in to Tiffany Henyard drama
NBC 5 joins WGN News, and Fox 32 in documenting Dolton’s chaos as media tries to navigate choppy waters on covering her
As you know, there is never a shortage of political scandals to cover in Illinois. From Operation Silver Shovel to Blago, the non-stop corruption has kept journalists busy and fascinated observers.
And in the Year Of Our Lord 2024, the hits keep coming.
Last week, NBC 5 (NBC-owned WMAQ-TV) became the latest local station to take a deep dive into the south suburban mess created by Dolton mayor and Thorton Township president Tiffany Henyard. Titled Super Mayor: The Cost Of Chaos in Dolton, the station’s Regina Waldroup spent a year attending board meetings, speaking to residents, and gathering information. The results are a cesspool of corruption, dysfunction, and greed, with all the political trademark trimmings Chicago area residents know all too well. The fifty-minute documentary was released on YouTube on December 15 and as of this writing has racked up nearly 500,000 views.
Heynard was elected mayor of the struggling south suburban village in 2021, the youngest in history at age 37. But a lot has gone wrong since and not surprisingly, reflects a culture Chicago has been long known for worldwide.
The story features an unlikely media star in Andrew Holmes, who regularly appears at crime scenes throughout the Chicago area. Henyard’s then-assistant Fenia Dukes has filed suit against Holmes and the Village of Dolton, alleging he sexually assaulted her during a taxpayer-funded trip to Las Vegas. Police investigated, but recently closed the investigation without pressing charges. The documentary also features investigations into Henyard’s spending, including for a cancer charity and village finances.
In recent months, Dolton and Thornton Township meetings have become chaotic, taking a page out of Council Wars, the nickname comedian Aaron Freeman gave the Chicago City Council in the 1980s when factions of Mayor Harold Washington and 10th Ward Alderman Ed Vrdolyak regularly clashed. Meetings have often been canceled, and residents have regularly been locked out. Last week, Henyard was ousted from the ballot in Thornton Township in a hastily arranged caucus by political rival and state senator Naploeton Harris.
Super Mayor is the latest documentary from a Chicago news operation covering Tiffany Heynard. Seven months ago, Fox 32 (Fox-owned WFLD) released a half-hour documentary on the Fox Local portal called Drama In Dolton about Henyard’s misdeeds and federal investigations, racking up 1.6 million views on YouTube to date. Meanwhile, Nexstar’s WGN-TV has been airing numerous investigative reports on Heynard’s activities and sued Dolton in June for refusing to release records on her spending and perks.
The drama has extended to the media itself. Using language associated with President-elect Donald Trump, Heynard slammed coverage of her administration as “fake news”.
During a press conference two weeks ago, Henyard refused to discuss a matter with the rest of the local media, saying she reserved it for ABC 7 (Disney-owned WLS-TV) in a soundbite that actually ran on WGN during its 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts, inadvertently promoting a rival station on-air (it isn’t known why WGN didn’t edit the part out.) On Tuesday, a managing editor for the Lansing Journal (that’s south suburban Lansing, located in Thornton Township), a reporter for a Harvey news website, and a person from a YouTube Channel were all asked to leave before a press conference began with a representative for Heynard stating she would only talk to television stations.
Don’t know what to make of this. If there’s any reason why trust in the media and politics is at an all-time low, this is the reason why. What garbage.
— T Dog Media (@tdogmedia) December 6, 2024
Oh and Andrew Holmes is there too, the Chicago media’s “Golden Boy”. @WGNNews @ABC7Chicago pic.twitter.com/lQUQO5u3FV
Their treatment rankled ABC 7 reporter Evelyn Holmes (no relation to Andrew Holmes), who said the non-traditional media should stay in the room and briefly exited before returning after speaking with Henyard on the phone, saying she would grant her an interview because “she asked” as the hearings continued with other media, according to the Lansing Journal. On Wednesday however, ABC 7 had another exclusive interview with Heynard, asking her about the locked Thornton Township offices after its insurance lapsed due to trustees skipping meetings as a form of protest against her and to avoid a quorum where Heynard would pass legislation the board would be against.
Confused? You’re not alone. But one has to wonder what was said between Ms. Holmes and Heynard, which wasn’t revealed. Is Henyard picking news outlets based on her perception she would receive better news coverage? It’s a question that isn’t unusual these days, given that Trump often seeks interviews with news outlets perceived as friendly to him, notably Fox News, NewsMax, and Sinclair.
This comes as trust in the media has dropped to an all-time low of 31 percent, according to a recent study. Incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has suggested that he will prioritize “public interest” obligations when he assumes office next month. Carr said he would look into an FCC complaint filed by conservative groups over accusations against CBS’ 60 Minutes’ for allegedly editing a Kamala Harris interview in her favor and would factor in the agency’s approval of Skydance’s purchase of CBS parent Paramount Global since the network has 28 local station licenses to transfer, including CBS Chicago (WBBM-TV). Harris lost to Trump in last month’s presidential election.
As cord-cutting continues to impact local stations nationwide, streaming portals are giving news organizations a new way to produce more in-depth pieces and investigative content that otherwise wouldn’t air on a traditional newscast to reach younger viewers who traditionally tune out local newscasts for one reason or another. NBC 5 has aired other documentaries exclusive to their streaming channel and on-demand portal, including one on Emmitt Till. You can say stations are meeting the “public interest” Carr is talking about.
Drama In Dolton and Super Mayor is available on various platforms, including the aforementioned YouTube and NBC 5’s and Fox 32’s streaming and on-demand portals.