It’s bad when national media outlets show bias, but I honestly think it’s worse when your local media shows bias. Last night on Twitter I came across a tweet about thousands at a pro-Walker rally, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said only hundreds were there.

This may not seem like a big deal, but the Associated Press picked it up and didn’t bother to check the facts. Other media outlets reported the original AP article. The MacIver Institute took a screen shot and posted it to their Facebook account:

I looked all over the Associated Press website and couldn’t find their articles. Not shocked at all, but luckily other local outlets used the numerous AP articles on their site. The first one appeared on their ABC website. This article is interesting because it glosses over the pro-Walker protestors, but goes into detail about the anti-Walker protestors. No bias here, right? The AP did post another article that was picked up by Madison.com. This one did get into more detail about the rally and the supporters, including those who spoke. The only article I could find that is any good is from Wauwatosa Patch. The writer, Jim Price, uses accurate numbers. He mentions the organizers were expecting 1,000 people, but 3,000 attended.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone say over 1,000 I picture 1,200, maybe even 1,500. I definitely don’t picture 3,000! It doesn’t change the perspective much by updating the articles to say over 1,000 when they will be specific about the number of counter protestors. Matt Batzel, from the original tweet, told me this is unfair because it appears the pro-Walker protestors only outnumbered the anti-Walker protestors 10 to 1.

The local TV stations also repeated the numbers like TMJ-4 and WSAW. Now, the TMJ-4 article says thousands now, but if you look under the by line it will say it was updated. The video of the actual news broadcast shows they changed their mind. The broadcaster says hundreds instead of thousands. Luckily, the MacIver Institute also posted a video on YouTube.

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From Media Trackers:

The national liberal blog Daily Kos – aided by a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – is raising misleading questions regarding the April 5 Supreme Court election because election results on the website of the Waukesha County clerk for past elections showed more votes than ballots cast.

However, the blog and the newspaper that reported on its propaganda failed to tell readers that the reason for the gap was widely known at the time it occurred – and had nothing to do with failings by Kathy Nickolas or nefariousness that would call the races into question.

Indeed, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel itself reported on the reasoning back in 2006 (two communities’ decisions to use new voting machines that year caused them to not electronically report all votes, although they were counted). Although some were unhappy with slow returns as a result, the election results weren’t questioned, and did get completely reported to the state, meaning the Daily Kos’ “big gap” is a complete non-story, and the Journal Sentinel, missed basic journalism 101 (looking up its own archives) by covering it as such.

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Late last week, using the hard work of others documenting the shameful behavior of pro-union activists in Wisconsin, I gathered an exhaustive list that closes the case for anyone doubting that an intense campaign of intimidation, violence, and harassment is taking place against anyone who dares disagree with Big Labor. Businesses have been threatened with boycotts, legislators have received death threats, vandalism is appearing — and as I mentioned in my article, chances were better than not that I missed some incidents. Well, it turns out that I did. Over at  National Review Online, Deroy Murdock came up with his own list of death threats aimed at pro-Walker supporters that includes a bomb threat and a vile, homophobic email sent to a capitol staffer.

This campaign — coordinated or not — is beyond anything I’ve seen in this country in my lifetime, and it’s only getting worse. And yet, the very same mainstream media that found a week’s worth of stories regarding a crosshairs map the Tucson shooter never saw, the same mainstream media that waged a relentless and dishonest campaign against the Tea Party — refuses to give what’s happening in Wisconsin at the hands of bullying Leftists the kind of attention it demands. This isn’t even about the media playing fair (a waste of breath), this is about calling for civility before someone gets hurt.

Other than some smaller, alt-weekly publications, the only newspaper in Milwaukee is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It’s a daily publication that’s read throughout the state and when I lived in Milwaukee it was breathtakingly biased, going so far as to move its editorials in favor of gun control to the front page on the same day important gun control votes were taking place. Obviously the paper has only gotten worse over the past two decades, and its editors even more belligerent and arrogant.

Posting at Charlie Sykes’ WTMJ blog, George Mitchell tells the incredible story of his back and forth with Journal-Sentinel managing editor George Stanley:

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Time was when newspapers were as stalwart in defending the First Amendment rights of others as they were for themselves.  But increasingly, some media organizations are using their constitutionally protected platforms to intimidate others into surrendering their rights.

Specifically, we’re talking about the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances,” which is part of the First Amendment, along with freedom of religion, speech, the press, and assembly.  In contemporary parlance, redress of grievances translates into lobbying, which has become something of a dirty word.  In practice, it covers everything from writing your congressman on an issue or seeking a service academy appointment for your kid, to organized meetings between government officials and industry representatives.

Most news organizations understand and respect this precept, and it’s reflected in their coverage of events that involve the matter.  This February 25 article from the financial news organization Marketwatch illustrates how reporting of this nature should be handled – flatly and factually: (more…)

We already know true journalism is dead, with but a few courageous reporters carrying the last beacons of light in the apocalyptic landscape of the Fourth Estate.   In recent years, however, newspaper editorial boards have vastly overstepped their boundaries in commentary on issues of which they know nothing.  We really should change the name of the Opinion Editorial to Informed Opinion Editorial.  After all, do we really want the Village Idiot telling us what he thinks?

Specifically, I refer to an irresponsible screed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in which they call on the FDA to ban bisphenol-A (BPA), a common building block of in plastics found in great abundance in our everyday products.

It’s bad enough that any outside entity should try to exert influence over the FDA’s decision-making process.  Thankfully, the FDA ignored the Journal Sentinel, and just announced that it considers BPA to be safe, while reasonably calling for continued studies.

This doesn’t change the importance of rags like the Journal Sentinel from meddling in something they know nothing about, and hoping to influence an independent body. The ramifications of the Journal Sentinel’s behavior go deeper than the message it’s sending.  By attempting to pressure a body charged with protecting the public, it sets a dangerous precedent that affects each and every one of us. (more…)