[Vermont is pathetic. Not only does the government give money directly to the media platforms that are supposed to report on the state government and keep them honest, but the amount of the bribes is pathetically low.]
Roper: VT politicians funneling taxpayer dollars to the media that covers them is bad
Feb 17 2026
Sixteen Vermont media outlets got money from the government (and a matching amount from the Vermont Community Foundation): The Montpelier Bridge ($10,000), Vermont Independent (not anymore!) Media including The Commons and Deerfield Valley News ($10,000), Waterbury Roundabout ($10,000), White River Valley Herald ($10,000), Addison County (not anymore!) Independent ($5000), Barton Chronicle ($5000), Caledonian-Record ($5000), Chester Telegraph ($5000), Hardwick Gazette ($5000), Hinesburg Record ($5000), Journal-Opinion ($5000), Northstar Monthly ($5000), Valley News ($5000), Valley Reporter ($5000), Vermont Community Newspaper Group ($5000), and Radio Vermont Group ($5000).
And that last one was a gut punch that proves the point I’m making here.
As any reader of Behind the Lines who gets to the bottom of these articles knows, I host the Tuesday edition of Radio Vermont Group’s Vermont Viewpoint on WDEV. And I’ve got to confess, seeing that $5000 number next to my employer’s name gave me a very uncomfortable pause before calling out this terrible, awful, no-good program. Terrible, awful and no good precisely because of that pause it produced.
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If this miniscule amount of money gave me in my situation a queasy hesitation, how is it going to impact a reporter or editor whose full-time job – and financial security — is linked to one of these outlets? Are they going to be less likely to criticize the voting record of Senator Perchlik, or the policy initiatives of Secretary Copeland Hanzas? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that of the sixteen checks handed out, five went to outlets based in Perchlik’s Washington County Senate District: The Bridge (Montpelier), Waterbury Roundabout (Waterbury), Valley Reporter (Waitsfield), Vermont Community Newspaper Group (Stowe), and, sigh, Radio Vermont Group (Waterbury). And two more are neighbors that distribute to towns in his district: White River Valley Herald, and Hardwick Gazette. All tallied, that’s $45,000 of the $100,000 given out to what we can all start referring to now as “Perchlik’s Papers” — in an election year, coincidentally!
And, worth noting, Secretary Copeland Hanzas’ Bradford hometown paper, the Journal-Opinion, got $5k, her office overseeing the grant process, which, also worth noting, is not at all transparent. The awards were determined by an “independent panel” kept anonymous to ensure politics didn’t creep into the selection process. Uh huh…. Sounds kind of like the opposite of that; covering up the politics that did go into it. All we know about the panel is that it was convened by Paul Heintz, former editor at VT Digger and former PR flack for U.S. Senator (then Representative) Peter Welch. So, we can all be sure the process was legit. (Eyeroll.)
Anyhow…. It’s true that there is a dearth of traditional reporting on state and local news, and one can question whether or not $5000 and $10,000 bribes out of the state treasury could make it any more biased toward Left wing politicians and their policies than it already is. But the answer to this problem is not politicians tossing sacks of money to the people who are supposed to be holding those same politicians accountable. No reporting is better than Pravda-VT dispensing state sanctioned propaganda on behalf of the people writing them checks. Perchlik and Copeland Hanzas have done more harm than good. We may have too little reporting taking place, but they just severely undermined the credibility of what’s left.
https://vermontdailychronicle.com/roper-vt-politicians-funneling-taxpayer-dollars-to-the-media-that-covers-them-is-bad/