I pride myself as a Milwaukeean. I take even more pride as a Wisconsinite. But I take shame in my government. And, albeit, I am a subscriber, I take shame in my state’s largest media outlet in Journal Communications and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Tonight was the last straw for me in a line of things that have been coming through the news organization’s written and spoken word. The article I will reference can be cited HERE.
Governor Walker has his own “Walk-O-Meter” to keep track of campaign promises and their progress throughout his first term. Well, I think we can all agree his largest and most intense promise he made was 250,000 jobs. Though his numbers are debatable depending on the database we look at, the Journal claims he has brought the state 89,000 jobs. These are raw numbers and don’t count on the claims of potential jobs we could’ve had with initiatives he turned down. I mean, hey, high speed rail would’ve brought thousands of jobs but that never happened. Then we lost Talgo, and all of the jobs that came with it. Wisconsin ranks near the lowest in job growth and isn’t getting any better.
But this isn’t even the only thing that gets me. The Journal has claimed they will no longer make recommendations in terms of elections. You can read more about that in this article. But yet, they use their Politifact as an outlet to make commentary and recommendations of different a different kind.
Many of the people who come to Blogging Blue, I’m sure, have read Politifact at one point or another. We may have even touted some of their findings on our facebook pages or blogs. But we have to face a truth that is staring at us like a raccoon you found digging through your garbage: it’s a narrow minded scope of snippets people say or email chains that we might get in our inboxes.
The fact that Journal Communications continues to put effort into this page, allows readers to be subjected to their words and the fact that we heed and project them, at times, is even worse.
Remember, Truth in the time of universal deceit is a revolutionary act. Take those words from George Orwell to heart, Journal Comm. You may also take my 6 dollars per month that you normally would get, and subtract that from your profits from next month.
That is all! Have a wonderful weekend.
Dustin, any idea on why the JS filed with the John Doe to get Walker’s county emails released?
http://www.jsonline.com/news/journal-sentinel-files-motion-asking-john-doe-judge-to-release-sealed-county-records-b99101296z1-224297371.html?ipad=y
Look at Walkers head in relation to the position on the meter. It shows it as about 2/3 completed. Subtle, but a misrepresentation of reality. When my computer meter bar is only 1/3 complete, the completion bar doesn’t show as 2/3 complete. The 89,000 job number is wrong anyways.
Since JRN Chair Steve Smith (and his predecessors) let Charlie Sykes use their “50,000 watt blow torch,” WTMJ radio, to bludgeon the Journal Sentinel the last 20 years, as the “liberal media,” it’s taken a toll.
A lot of their straddles reflect the many wingnut subscribers/advertisers who keep them afloat.
A counter weight, however, has been their courageous coverage of bad law enforcement. Their defense of the Bill of Rights for the poor and the unions is a cornerstone imho of any hopes we have of getting our state back.
FWIW, the JS Newsroom reporters belong to Local 51. They have been forced to make major wage and benefit concessions.
Every outlet has to appear fair and balanced. The problem is that throughout my lifetime I have never seen fair and balanced reporting through Wisconsin media sources.
We just don’t demand anything from our news anymore other than sensationalism. If we cared so much, we would all cancel our subscriptions. Then maybe they’d get the message.
John Stewart had it right when he appeared on Crossfire.
The JS’ News room editors and the Editorial board endorsed Walker in 2010.
They also quit following up on Dave Umhoefer’s Pulitzer winning reporting on Walker’s “buy back,” pension scandal, which was separate from Ament’s “lump sum” pension scandal.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29528144.html
They failed to mention that under Walker’s leadership as County Exec, the Milwaukee Public Museum blew their $6 million dollar endowment. http://county.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cntyAudit/report_0511a.pdf
They did mention Meg Kissinger’s Pulitzer quality reporting (Abandoning Our Mentally Ill, and a couple years later, Patients in Peril http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/101910648.html) on Walker’s mismanagement of the mentally ill, but Walker was able to deflect it.
From the right Mark Neumann hammered Walker in the GOP primary.
“Neumann accuses Walker of working part time so he can campaign”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/93965284.html
What troubled me in 2010 and the Recall was that Democrats failed to use the front-page of the JS to inform voters about what a disaster Walker is. He’s an actor. He watches his poll number and sticks to talking points.
I’m not asking for a response, but I just don’t want folks to forget that Walker’s only track record is omitting his union-busting agenda from his 2010 campaign.
See this “FALSE” Politifact rating from February 2011:
“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he campaigned on his budget repair plan, including curtailing collective bargaining”
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/22/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-he-campaigned-his-/
IMHO, the folks in the JS Newsroom have figured out that they’re a retail business. Their income depends on subscriptions and ad revenue. They have a vested interest in seeing a booming economy in Southeastern Wisconsin. Unfortunately, they helped elect a guy who refused $800 million for High Speed Rail. http://www.wisconsingazette.com/editorial/scott-walkers-massive-economic-failure.html
There’s a lot more of this stuff. I’m clueless about why Dems didn’t use it.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/22/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-he-campaigned-his-/
I remain hopeful that the JS Newsroom editors will continue to pivot to policies which encourage growth and family supporting wages.