Now how do I know Paddy Mac admires Jay Bullock? Because Paddy Mac himself said so in an email he sent out yesterday! See, Paddy Mac sent out an email with a “sneak preview” of his latest article on JSOnline, and in addition to sending it to the usual band of conservatives folks, he sent it to Jay along with the following message:
Here’s an early look at my column in Friday’s Journal Sentinel. You’re seeing it because I send a heads-up to a select group of talkers and bloggers whose work I admire. You’re among them.
After Paddy Mac let his conservative pals and Jay know just how much he admired them, Paddy Mac went on to include the text of his latest article in its entirety in his email, which might not be a problem, except for one little thing. According to the American Society of Newspaper Editors web site, under the heading “Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Ethics Policy“:
Pre-publication review. Avoid any agreement that a subject may clear a story for publication. Do not submit an article, in either draft or final form, to anyone outside the newsroom prior to publication. Unless you have approval from the editor or managing editor, avoid even disclosing to people outside the Journal Sentinel when an article will be published, especially stories of a sensitive or financial nature.
Maybe I’m wrong, but wouldn’t submitting your latest article to your conservative pals before it’s actually published be in direct contradiction of the policy I just quoted? What’s more, it’s not an isolated incident, because as Jay has reported, Paddy Mac emailed Jay today’s column last night.
I think this may be a little bit of much ado about nothing…
First, the ethics agreement refers to articles, not columns. Second, depending on what time in the evening Pat e-mailed his column, it likely had already been typeset for print and probably even already published online. JSonline producers often have Editorial Board content — columns, editorials, etc. — posted by around 7 p.m. the evening before they’re in the paper.
Newswatch and JSonline both tend to disclose, on a daily basis, what will be published in the next day’s paper. So, perhaps it’s time for that policy to be updated…
And as a side note, the Newspaper Guild doesn’t officially recognize the ethics policy.
Sonya
Letters editor, MJS Editorial Board
First VP, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild Local 51
Because nobody really knows what to expect from P-Mac.
Sonya, if you don’t see anything wrong with Paddy Mac sending out his columns to his conservative friends in advance of those same columns being posted online or in print, then so be it, but it sounds more than a little shady to me.
This is just a cover-up. Apparently Paddy Mac was recently busted by the editors for sending many of his columns to Charlie Sykes for editing to ensure they properly addressed all the relevant talking points. Paddy Mac should be retired or sent back to the page layout team.