In The Interest Of Full Disclosure

It's funny how some things work.

Like how every time there is a negative story about Scott Walker, Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel just happens to come up with a story to take the heat off of Walker.

For example, when I broke the story about how Walker sent out a fundraising email telling people to forgo buying Christmas presents for their children and sending him the money instead, Bice came out a few days later - just as my story was getting international attention - to say that Walker threw an aide under the campaign bus for some tweets she sent three years ago, before she was even working for Walker.

Bice's willingness to go along unquestioningly with this damage control story served it's purpose - it effectively distracted people from Walker's misstep.

More recently, a story appeared in Milwaukee Magazine which reported on the many blunders and corporate kowtowing of Walker's DNR Secretary Kathy Stepp.  This, of course, served as an embarrassment to Walker.

So here comes Bice to the rescue, by practicing some McCarthyism and pointing out that the freelance write who penned the article had signed a recall petition. The horror of it all!

Yet among all the topics covered in the the 5,600-word story, Ginsberg-Schutz makes no mention of the fact that she herself had signed the Walker recall petition in late 2011. Walker fended off an effort to remove him from office in a June 2012 election.

Asked why she omitted this detail, the writer -- who dubs herself an "independent journalist" -- referred questions to Kurt Chandler, editor of Milwaukee Magazine.

Bice went on to badger Milwaukee Magazine editor Kurt Chandler, who, to his credit, stuck to his guns and squashed Bice's attempts at getting a gotcha moment:

Chandler raised a number of questions when asked about disclosing the recall signature.

For instance, he asked, should a political writer disclose how he has voted when covering a political contest? Must a reporter make public that she has had an abortion when writing about women's health? And what are the disclosure rules for a Mormon reporting on gay rights issues?

"Reporters are citizens as well as journalists," Chandler wrote. "I don’t believe a reporter’s credibility is compromised by his or her political or moral views. My role as a magazine editor is to weed out bias without tamping down tone, voice, style and, yes, even point of view (which is much different than bias) – ingredients of a well-written and well-balanced story."

Bice ended his article by pointing out that no MJS reporters signed the recall petitions, claiming it was a violation of the "paper's ethics policy."

That surprised the hell out of me. I wasn't aware that the paper even had an ethics policy. I mean, come on, this is the paper owned by Journal Communications which teamed up with the Koch-funded Wisconsin Club for Growth to produce White Wisconsin.

But it also surprised me that Bice would add that since he is guilty himself of not practicing full disclosure.

If full disclosure was truly such a big issue, Bice would have included in his article - and every article he wrote defending Walker - that Steve Smith, CEO and Chairman of the Board for Journal Communications, which owns the paper, is also a member of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).  He would also disclose that not only did MMAC strongly support Walker directly with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations, but was so zealous in their donations that they broke campaign finance laws by donating more than the allowed amount.

But full disclosure at the paper has never been their strong suit, making Bice's article not only ironic, but rather hypocritical.

And for the purpose of full disclosure - and to head off the McCarthyites - I not only proudly signed the recall petition, I collected signatures for it as well.  So there!

PolitiFarce Part IV: Politi-Make-Up-Your-Own-Facts Wisconsin

In this morning's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, their Politifarce takes on a claim made by the head of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.  Actually, it's not even a claim, but a phrase taken from a larger sentence:

An April 27 Journal Sentinel story about the association’s warning was picked up by other media outlets, including some that took it another step -- saying unions were behind the sticker threat. A day later, Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO responded with a statement that said in part:

"We have no knowledge beyond un-evidenced assertions made to the media by the Wisconsin Grocers Association of any such campaign, but let's be crystal clear -- there are not, nor have there ever been, any boycotts encouraged by our organizations."

The second part of that statement caught our attention.

Well, now we have our first problem when they are admitting they are cherry-picking and taking Neuenfeldt's comments out of context.

They then start going through example after example, examining each one and explaining away that these weren't boycotts, as the definitions provided in their article would have them.

Then they get to the one they were saving up for what they were hoping was their coup de grace, which would justify their giving Neuenfeldt's partial statement a "barely true" rating. This would be when the Wisconsin's chapter of the AFL-CIO pulled their money out of M&I Bank:

What about the actions of the state AFL-CIO itself?

At a May 5 news conference outside an M&I Bank branch on Milwaukee’s west side, the group said it withdrew $105,000 from the bank and closed its account as part of what it called the "Move Your Money" campaign.

The group withdrew its money to protest M&I executives’ contributions to Walker and to underscore the threat to Wisconsin jobs that could come from the upcoming sale of M&I to the Bank of Montreal. M&I is listed among dozens of businesses on the "Boycott Scott Walker Contributors" page on Facebook.

Sounds like the state AFL-CIO wants you to take your business elsewhere. Isn’t that a boycott?

Whoa! Talk about misleading statements!

First of all, they apparently don't understand Facebook works or are being purposefully misleading.  If one goes to the Facebook page in question, one can see it was not set up or administered by the AFL-CIO, but by community activists who are private citizens.

And about the reason why the AFL-CIO took their money out of M&I.  While it is true that the union is not happy with their contributions to Walker or their selling out to another bank, that is again cherry-picking and taking information out of context.

These crack reporters could have simply cracked open their own newspaper to find out the first thing listed was not the support of Walker or the sale, but the fact the M&I took more than $1.7 billion in TARP funding, but has only paid a comparatively puny $25 million back.  They did, however, find some way to give their exiting top executives more than $71 million in golden parachutes.

In fact, their own reporting doesn't indicate that the move had anything to do with their support of Walker.  Nor do they indicate that there was any kind of order or expectation for others to follow suit.  As a matter of fact, I was at the Labor Council meeting the night before this happened. They announced they were going to do this, but did not encourage anyone else to do the same.

Now, I'm sure the bank's support of Walker had something to do with it, but it can in no honest way be construed as being the only, or even the main, reason the AFL-CIO pulled out their money.  It would be more apt to describe it as the proverbial last straw.

Yet they found a way to rate the cherry-picked partial sentence as "barely true." (Is that anything like being a little bit pregnant?)  That is quite the feat in mental logistics to come to that conclusion despite the findings of their own research and of their own paper's previous reporting.

So why did they go through all of the mental contortions and leaps of illogic to come to such a blatantly biased opinion, er, decision?

Well, there are three obvious reasons that I can immediately think of off the top of my head:

1. The paper itself endorses Walker. They endorsed him during the campaign and have treated him with kid gloves for nine long years now.  They're just continuing to protect their golden boy.
2. Journal Communications is anti-union.  Their TV station has been having a long term problem with its union.  The paper has been feuding with its unions for years now, laying people off in droves and generally screwing over their employees while Steve Smith, CEO of Journal Communications, keeps getting richer.
3. M&I is a big advertiser with Journal Communications. You can't listen to WTMJ and make it through an hour without hearing the "M&I Wealth Management" shtick.  Their ads are all over their web page and in their paper.  With the paper hurting in sales, Sykes sinking in the ratings and people moving away from their news shows, they can't afford to tick off or even lose such a huge money ticket like M&I or their successor.

Given that they would go to such extremes to protect their self-interest or the interest of a favored advertiser or politician, instead of, you know, practicing ethical and responsible journalism, is just one more reason for me not to rely on them as a reliable resource, or at least not as responsible as those that are actually reporting what is going on, especially when it comes to anything political.  

It's All The Unions' Fault! Part II - The MJS Edition

As part of an ongoing series, let's take another look at the anti-union hypocrisy.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been backing Scott Walker's assault on the working class since day one.  They are constantly parroting the false meme that "we all have to share in the pain" and call for public sector workers to basically pay twice for their benefits.  The other subsidiaries of Journal Communications have suffered similar fates.

Indeed, one could even say that MJS has led by example by laying off or forcing out many of its staff, including key reporters, columnists and editorial staff (but keeping the calumnist) and forcing the remaining staff to take considerable pay cuts.  (As one might expect, there has been a significant drop in quality of their product because of their choice, but that is another subject altogether.)

But not everyone at the daily paper has been sharing the pain. Not by a long shot.

Steven Smith, CEO and president of Journal Communications isn't quite sharing, either in the pain or in the ill-gotten loot he has amassed:

Steven J. Smith, the chairman, chief executive and president of Journal Communications Inc., received total compensation of more than $2 million last year, according to a regulatory document filed Thursday.

Smith received a salary of $752,000, bonus of $97,760, stock awards valued at $452,500, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $391,040, change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings of $312,211 and other compensation of $13,442 for a total of $2,018,953, the company's proxy statement shows.

That's up 39.7% from 2009, when Smith made $1,445,492. The biggest increase in overall pay for Smith came in the non-equity incentive plan compensation category, which was zero in 2009.

It should be noted that Smith is good buds with Scott Walker and was very supportive of first his campaign and now his attempts to tear the state apart and selling it off to the lowest bidder.

Just why should we listen to a hypocrite like Smith? And is it November yet?

Bad Is The New Good

The Business Journal is reporting that Gannett Co. Inc., the company that owns many of the papers and other media in up state Wisconsin and other places, "sees signs of a rebound" in the economy.

However, the article goes on with this:

Gannett, which has cut jobs, reduced some pay and furloughed many employees to counter falling advertising revenue this year, sees modest payroll reductions next year.

Gannett’s operating assumptions for 2010 say its broadcast division head count “will be down slightly” in 2010. Its digital division will see a head count down in “low-single digits,” a reference to percentage decline. At its publishing division, Gannett sees a work force reduction in the high-single digits, though it says much of that will be carryover from actions taken this year.

Gannett has already announced that most employees at its community newspaper division will be required to take one week furloughs in the first quarter. The latest round of furloughs also include corporate and some digital employees.

“Many of the changes we made throughout the year were necessary in this economic environment, but they also represent necessary permanent changes,” CEO Craig Dubow said at Wednesday’s UBS conference. “Today, we stand as a stronger and better positioned company.”

I hardly think that those being laid off, furloughed or otherwise negatively impacted would really call this much of a rebound. Unless, of course, one compares Gannett to Journal Communications which is actively hemorrhaging employees, much to the detriment of their product.

Has Journal Communications Spread Itself Too Thin?

I saw this interesting story at WSAW-TV's website:

Local mom creates own newspaper:

A mother of four is doing what she can to help the newspaper industry stay alive.

Her paper, "The Clintonville Chronicle" hit stands this past Tuesday, and sold out in a couple of days.

"They need to know what's going on in the community, their tax dollars especially. They need to know what's going on and what decisions are being made on their behalf," said Owner and Publisher Tricia Rose.

Tricia says after leaving a rival newspaper in town, she dreamed of opening her own, even though larger papers across the country are struggling.

"Tight knit communities want to know whats going on down the street and they came up to us and said we want this and I just said lets do it," said Co-owner Greg Rose.

Tricia financed the business by herself this spring and hired three people to help her create her weekly paper, covering the Clintonville, Bear Creek and Embarrass areas.

Owners of local businesses who are helping sell the newspaper say they had a hard time keeping the "Chronicle" stocked.

To give the gentle reader a little insight into this story, and as to why it is interesting to me, I will give you a brief history of the newspapers in Waupaca County.

As long as I can remember, going back to when I was a boy, almost every town up north had it's own weekly newspaper. There was the Iola Herald and Waupaca County Post. Manawa, Fremont, Weyawega, Clintonville, and New London each had their own paper as well. As far as news goes, they weren't much. Mostly local news, such as a business expanding, or the local philanthropist donating a large check to this or that organization, or who won the blue ribbon for the best dill pickles at the county fair.

Then about a year and a half ago, things changed, and not necessarily for the better. The local papers were all bought out by Journal Communications, Inc. This brought on a series of changes in itself. One was that they stopped carrying as many folksy stories and more news type stories. They also changed some of the cosmetics of the paper, making it bigger but the type smaller.

Then earlier this year, they combined the papers for the east side of the county into one paper, and the papers from the west side into another. Even though each paper kept the same name, the banner was the only thing different from one town's paper to the next. Now there was even less local news, maybe two sheets per town, instead of a whole paper.

Just a few weeks ago, they dropped the pretense of having different papers and have changed the names to Waupaca County East and Waupaca County West. Outside of the name change, the papers still give only the smallest of tastes of local news before moving on to the next community.

Which brings us back to the story at the top of this post. People in the community were not satisfied with the lack of coverage of what was happening in their town or in neighboring communities. They took it upon themselves to start their own paper, and it appears to be a raging success.

That made me think about what is going on here in Milwaukee. As most people are aware, the newspaper business across the country is really suffering. Even the biggest papers are laying off staff in record numbers. There is a growing number of cities whose newspapers have gone strictly online and have ceased all "dead tree" publications.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is no different. They too have sent many good reporters and columnists packing. They have cut back on the coverage and even on sections, such as on Mondays, when they no longer have an editorial of their own and have combined the national and the local sections into one.

Oh sure, they still can come out with great pieces, like the ones the last couple of mornings highlighting the fraud that can occur in child care subsidies. They still have some crack reporters, like Dan Bice and Crocker Stephenson, who do a good job covering local issues. However, they also have clung onto some lesser performing reporters and journalists, like Steve Schultze and Patrick McIlheran.

No matter what, there has been a definite drop in quality and quantity of local news reporting. I have been hearing an increasingly frequent rumor and/or speculation that MJS will soon be going strictly online in the relatively near future. The recent actions of MJS only seems to make these rumors and speculations seem all the more likely.

I don't believe it would be so far fetched to think that some local people could form their own paper. Oh, I know that there already is one local weekly not affiliated the Journal Communications, the Shepherd Express. While I enjoy reading the Shepherd every week, I don't read it for news, per se. Although the Shepherd will occasionally break a story, their articles seem to be as much opinion pieces as actual news stories.

There are people that don't own computers and/or aren't very computer savvy. They would prefer to hold and read a newspaper at their table as they eat their breakfast or have a cup of coffee. Or maybe they don't care about what is happening in countries they've never heard of or can't find on a globe. Likewise, there are many people that don't want a spin to the stories, either to left like the Shepherd, or to the right, like the Journal Sentinel.

But then there are bonafide reporters and former reporters, like Michael Horne of Milwaukee World and Gretchen Schuldt of Milwaukee Rising and CASH, both of whom have been known to break stories and tell a compelling account of some event or another. I could rattle off a half dozen names easily of other bloggers that would make fine reporters as well.

What would happen if they pooled together and found a way to start publishing their own newspaper, focusing on the local issues? While they might not become super wealthy, I believe they could make a go of it quite easily. I think that a paper, even a small one, that focused on mostly, if not exclusively, on local and state issues, would readily find a niche in the Milwaukee market.

Like the ancient Roman Empire, I wonder if Journal Communications has spread itself too thin. When the economy crashed, they suddenly found itself unable to continue to dominate like it used to, and is now becoming vulnerable, not only on the fringes, like Waupaca County, but also in its own backyard, to smaller groups that can take advantage of their thinning media empire.

Does Walker Even Have A Chance Upstate?

Today I received this week's edition of the Iola Herald (which is really just another title now for the Waupaca Post, which is owned by Journal Communications, Inc.)

In the paper, they have an article about the Klement's Racing Sausages, who had made an appearance and helped with some fund raising up there.

Since the website WapaucaNOW.com didn't think it was worthy of putting online, I will have to transcribe it here:

Hot dogs invade Iola!

by Randy Rosenberger

IOLA - While making our way to the local IGA Foodliner in the bustling little community of Iola, we came upon an unusual sight o Saturday, July 11. No, not a classic or vintage auto, though we did feast our eyes on some real beauties, but a group of large sausages - a bunch of hot dogs!

On closer inspection of the surrounding scene, we found that our own Iola Living Assistance was hosting a brat fry at the IGA brat stand.

While observing these famous Klements' characters, we were amused at their antics in trying to attract customers to support the sponsors of the even, Iola Living Assistance. Great job, guys, for hosting such an amusing event amide the hustle and bustle of the Iola Old Car Show, where thousands of people were on hand to enjoy all that Iola has to offer to its guests and visitors.

Above the article is a picture, taken by Mr. Rosenberger, of the Klements brat, hot dog and polish sausage with a caption that read: "The Klements hot dogs helped attract customers to a local brat fry on July 11."

Now, I think everyone would admit that the Klements' racing sausages are famous statewide, if not throughout the Midwest. But if Mr. Rosenberger, the editor, and all the other people involved didn't catch on to the fact that the sausages are more than just mere hot dogs, what chance does a wiener like Scott Walker have in distinguishing himself in the outer parts of the state?

Through The Looking Glass, or Looking Deeper Into Scott Walker's Campaign Finance Report

Last week, I discovered some oddities about Scott Walker's recently released campaign financial report. I wasn't the only one, as one of the oddities, his campaign manager apparently not getting paid by the campaign, was covered by Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin.

As bad as those things seemed though, they weren't nearly all there was as far as peculiarities go.

As Rob at Walker's Point blogsite points out, (plus being kind enough to download the entire report onto Scribs), one peculiarity is the fact that the Journal Broadcast Group is listed on page 460 as giving an expense refund of nearly $15,000 to the campaign. What makes it so odd is that in the report there is no listing of having paid the Journal Broadcast Group anything. Nor is there anything listed in the previous report.

I find it extremely hard to believe that the JBG held on to $15,000 for over a year without paying it back, or the campaign had not asked for it in that long. Especially considering that Walker is a distant third in the money race.

So where did that money come from? When and for what purpose did the campaign supposedly give it to JBG? Or is it something altogether different?

But there's more, gentle reader. With Walker, there always seems to be more.

As I was looking at the JBG mystery, I came across another peculiarity.

Michael Grebe, who Walker proudly announced earlier this year as his campaign chairman, gave Walker's campaign $5,000 on June 29, 2009 (page 381 on Walker' report for those that are following). Interestingly, on the very next day, June 30, is when it was reported that Walker named Grebe his campaign chair.

This is where it gets really odd. And very, very convoluted.

Grebe is the CEO of the Bradley Foundation. He is also on the advisory committee for the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce and a Co-Chair of the Milwaukee 7.

Interestingly, Steven Smith is on the MMAC board as well as a member of the Milwaukee 7 board. Steven Smith is also the Chairman/CEO of Journal Communications (h/t to Tom Foley). Journal Communications is the parent company for Journal Broadcasting Group.

Also worth noting at this point is the fact that Scott Walker is also part of the MMAC and Milwaukee 7.

So, thus far, we know that Walker, Smith and Grebe already have tight relationships, and all three serve on at least two boards together. Grebe gives Walker a huge contribution, and is suddenly the campaign chair. On top of that, Smith, head of the largest paper in southeast Wisconsin, has one of his subsidiary groups give Walker's campaign an inexplicable campaign expense refund.

But there is still more.

As mentioned before, Grebe is the top banana at the Bradley Foundation. Also working at the Bradley Foundation is Janet Riordan, serving as their Director of Community Programs. Riordan is also Charlie Sykes' current wife.

It was recently reported on a different story, that Sykes, through his wife and other connections, is also pretty tight with Grebe and the Bradley foundation:

McBride, who had a talk show on WTMJ-AM (620), suggested that the chief could count on Sykes. Journal Communications owns both WTMJ and the Journal Sentinel.

"Sykes will probably never turn on you, not with his wife’s job, and not with the other ties he has to Bradley," she wrote. "If I was a betting person, I’d say that Sykes came up with the idea to bring (George) Kelling here in the first place."

Sykes’ wife, Janet Riordan, works for the conservative Bradley Foundation. That group paid Kelling and another consultant to oversee the search for a new MPD chief two years ago. Sykes did not return a message Friday.

Well, that certainly explains why Sykes has been repeatedly bemoaning the fact that Mark Neumann has entered the gubernatorial race, and has kept whining that Neumann should have ran against U.S. Senator Feingold again.

And Smith's role at Journal Communications would only emphasize Sykes' push for Walker, not to mention the excessively favorable reporting and editorials coming from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

It is also rather frightening to consider how much of the TV stations, radio stations and newspapers that Journal Communications own in this state. Will Neumann or Doyle or any of Walker's critics get any fair coverage? It seems unlikely.

Now, for all I know, all of this, including that mysterious expense refund, might be logically explained. However, the deeper one looks at what is going on behind the scenes, it seems more like a machination so devilish that Niccolo Machiavelli would be jealous. At the very best, it is a perfect example of how bad the "old boys network" can get.

Addendum: A follow up.

The Day The News Died

Anyone who has read my stuff for a while knows that I have a castle up north. It is a beautiful area and I often find refuge there when the city, the blogging and the everyday hassles of life get to be too burdensome. The peacefulness and beauty goes a long way to recharge my mental batteries.

I also got a kick out of the small town newspapers up there, the Waupaca County Post and the Iola Herald. The crime reports would involve a couple of drunk drivers, someone's shed getting broken into, and complaints that the neighbor's cow hate their petunias.

Then disaster struck. Journal Communications Inc. bought out the Iola Herald. For those that live in a cave, Journal Communications Inc. is the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (motto: All the right wing propaganda fit to print).

My small town paper turned into a branch of the ever declining MJS. The paper then combined with the Manawa Advocate and turned into a right wing propaganda rag.

So what happens next? You guessed it. From the Waupaca County Post (sorry no link):

Journal Community Publishing Group Inc., a Journal Communications company based in Waupaca, has purchased the Waupaca County Post, and six other publications owned by Waupaca Publishing Company.

The two companies expect the sale to close on October 6.

Sigh. And I had just renewed my subscription.