Wisconsin Reporter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wisconsin Reporter
Type	Non Profit
Foundation date	January 2011
Headquarters	Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Website	wisconsinreporter.com
Alexa rank	6,927,704 (February 2013)^[1]
Type of site	News & Investigative Journalism
Available in	English
Current status	Active

Wisconsin Reporter began operations in January 2011 and is an affiliate of Watchdog.org, a project of the non-profit news organization, Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.^[2] Wisconsin Reporter is an online only publication focused on state and local government, and declares its mission is to serve as a government watchdog. Currently, over a dozen news reporting organizations in Wisconsin utilize Wisconsin Reporter articles for their publications and broadcasts. The publication also provides local coverage in the cities of Beloit, Chippewa, La Crosse, Kenosha, Eau Claire, Wausau and Stevens Point.^[3]

Personnel

M.D. Kittle, Bureau Chief^[4]^[5]

Kirsten Adshead, Investigative Reporter^[4]

Alissa Smith, Reporter^[4]

Funding

As of 2011, Wisconsin Reporter was funded by the libertarian Sam Adams Alliance and the conservative Bradley Foundation.^[6]

Wisconsin recall elections

On August 9, 2011, the state of Wisconsin held the first^[7] of two recall elections of six Republican and two Democrat incumbent state legislators. The election gained national attention^[8] and Wisconsin Reporter's coverage was utilized by national news organizations.^[9]^[10]

Governor Walker poll

On February 21, 2011, Wisconsin Reporter, sponsored a poll^[11]^[12] to determine public opinion about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's^[13] $137 million budget repair bill, which included legislation requiring union workers to contribute more to their health care and pensions, as well as take aware their collective bargaining rights. When the results were released on February 24, 2011, it revealed that Wisconsin residents were evenly split on their support for the governor’s proposal and the union workers protesting the legislation.^[14]^[15]^[16] Controversy^[17] erupted over a finding that 71% of the public supported legislation requiring union workers to pay 5.8% of their salary toward the cost of their pensions plans and double their contributions for health care premiums to 12.6%. The results of this poll, especially the majority of Wisconsinites agreeing with legislation requiring workers to increase their contributions, came under great scrutiny by pro-union bloggers and political pundits.

Wisconsin Reporter and their sponsoring organization^[18] is criticized by some media outlets and left-leaning political operatives as ideologically motivated. These groups contend that the poll was unreliable because Franklin Center was founded by Jason Stervak, a former Republican operative, and that the group has ties to openly pro-Walker organizations.^[19]

Wisconsin Democratic Party controversy

On August 5, 2011, Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski^[20] sent an email^[21] to Wisconsin Reporter, to express his disapproval of an article published by the organization. The controversy began when Zielinski was quoted^[22] in an article saying that Wisconsin’s neighbor to the south, Illinois, was outpacing Wisconsin’s economy. He referred to Gov. Scott Walker’s claim in a recent interview^[23] with the Heritage Foundation of economic victory as “right-wing fantasy, a total lie.” Wisconsin Reporter included in the article U.S. Department of Labor statistics showing Wisconsin’s economy creating 9,500 jobs in June, and Illinois lost 18,900 jobs the same month.

In the email, which was sent directly to Bureau Chief Matt Kittle, Zielinski said^[24] the publication is a “shill for the Republican Party and isn’t balanced in its news coverage.” Zielinski's email contained language that Wisconsin Reporter perceived^[25] as threatening.

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. 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. What is the truth of the operation?

The Wisconsin Reporter parent organization, Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity responded^[26] to the email with a statement condemning Zielinski's comments and demanded^[27] an apology from the Wisconsin Democratic Party for what was called "baseless threats."

Zielinski made good on his threat during an October 18, 2011 meeting^[28] in Madison, sponsored by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.^[29] At the training session, Wisconsin Reporter journalist Kirsten Adshead^[30] was asked to leave by an organizer who cited the organizations desire to keep the information out of the media. Adshead agreed to leave the meeting but asked to speak to the individual making the request. According to the Wisconsin Reporter article she was placed on the phone with Zielinski.^[30]

Zielinski called the reporter unprofessional, accused her of sneaking into a party function and then threatened to discuss the incident Wednesday with the statehouse press corps, of which Wisconsin Reporter is a member. “Get out,” Zielinski shouted. “Don’t come to our party functions anymore.” He then hung up the phone.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.