A spokesman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party has threatened to sic union bullies on an independent news organization whose reporting he thinks is "biased."
Graeme Zeilinski was upset that a WisconsinReporter.com reporter noted in an interview with the Heritage Foundation think thank that Wisconsin had, according to U.S. Department of Labor data, created nearly half of all the new jobs created across the country in June.
In an email titled "What Happens Next," Zeilinski warned WisconsinReporter.com that:
“What happens next is that I contact the publishers and editors of the papers that publish you as ‘unbiased,’ and let them know our deep concern about the obvious bias that permeates your entire operation,” Zielinski states in his email.
“Then, we let our activists know which papers publish you, and they write the publisher and editor. Then, we contact the Capitol press pool and let them know about our concerns about your credentialing. And we continue on until you actually admit to the truth of your operation.”
Of course, Democratic Party "activists" in Wisconsin consist primarily of public employee union members who earlier this year repeatedly jammed the state capitol with screaming protestors in an effort to intimidate legislators into not approving collective bargaining and compensation reforms sought by Gov. Scott Walker.
Zeilinski's email could easily be read as a threat to organize union demonstrators against Wisconsin newspapers that publish reporting provided to them by WisconsinReporter.com's staff. And his vow to go after WisconsinReporter.com's capitol media credentials is an obvious effort to silence a news organization with which he disagrees.
When WisconsinReporter.com asked Beth Bennett, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspapers Association, for comment on Zeilinski's threats, she characterized them as "out there" and unlike anything she's seen previously during her career in Wisconsin government and media.
“To have a party official put something in writing like that is pretty out there,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of emotions. Politics are bubbling to the surface in a way we don’t normally see with editorial products, but this is uncharted territory.”
WisconsinReporter.com is an independent news organization associated with the Franklin Center for Government and Public Intergrity, a non-profit foundation devoted to encouraging quality news reporting on state government and politics.
“Wisconsin Reporter’s content is trusted by tens of thousands of individuals in Wisconsin who get our stories, whether through our newspaper partners, our website, or they read it on Facebook or Twitter,” said Jason Stverak, Franklin's president.
“The people of Wisconsin have come to rely on Wisconsin Reporter for trustworthy and credible content so they know what’s going on, not only in Madison but across the state,” Stverak said.
Stverak's group has helped organize reporting groups like WisconsinReporter.com in 40 states across the country in the past two years. It is an example of a growing trend in the journalism world of independent journalism being backed by non-profit foundations.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I am a member of an advisory board of mainstream media journalists who assist Stverak and other Franklin officials in their work.
