Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Is Steve Schultze A Walker Plant Or Just A Bad Reporter?

In this morning's paper, Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel again proves that he is not a good reporter.

The topic of his article was the actions of the County Board's Finance and Audit Committee from yesterday. His title was "Panel strays from Walker parks plan." Just the title alone feeds into the garbage editorial the paper also put forth, but does not reflect reality. Of course, I would have written it as "Panel corrects Walker parks plan," but that would have been just as biased, in the other direction. A much more objective title would have been "Panel disagrees with Walker parks plan," or "Panel changes park plans."

But that is by far not the most egregious part.

Schultze, as his norm, goes on to make a number of inaccurate statements in his report.

In the original article, Schultze claimed that an amendment to remove the proposal for parking meters along the lakefront won (it has since been corrected in the online version). The error was so grievous that Supervisor Gerry Broderick felt compelled to issue a press release to correct the matter:
Monday afternoon, the County Board’s Finance & Audit Committee denied an amendment proposed by Supervisor Gerry Broderick to remove parking meters for Lincoln Memorial Drive from the 2010 County Budget.

This morning, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel inaccurately reported that the proposed parking meters were defeated. In fact, the Committee voted 4-3 to deny an amendment that would have removed the parking meters from the budget.

“The installation of parking meters would severely restrict public access to this beautiful natural resource,” said Supervisor Broderick, Chairman of the Parks, Energy & Environment Committee. “I encourage all County residents to contact their County Supervisor and the County Executive. Tell them to oppose the installation of parking meters on Lincoln Memorial Drive and Veterans Park.”
Then on Facebook, Supervisor Peggy West points out another inaccuracy by Schultze. Schultze correctly points out that the panel restored funding for the community centers, but claimed that it added $1.1 million to the budget. Supervisor West remarked:
Steve Schultze strikes again, the total for both King & Kosciuszko Community Centers is $804,000. IDK where this guys drifts off to during our meetings but I mean this stuff is in writing! So the only conclusion I can come to is that he was trying to lie on purpose? I don't know what the problem is....
Of course, this is not the first time or the second time that I have called Schultze's reporting into question.

And then the paper wonders why their circulation keeps dropping and they don't hold anyone's respect. It really is their own fault too. They had their chance.

For an accurate accounting of what happened on Monday, please read the Board's Budget Blast.

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