Sunday, March 29, 2015

Why Isn't Wisconsin Reporter Reporting The News?

Media Matters called out the propagandist group Wisconsin Reporter for not reporting on Scott Walker's latest scandal:
Mired in conflicts of interest, Watchdog.org's Wisconsin Reporter has remained silent as new information emerges concerning Governor Scott Walker's (R-WI) role in a potential pay-to-play scandal. The site, which echoed defendants calling the investigation a "witch hunt," has previously defended Walker from the allegations of campaign finance violations in over 150 articles.

The Wisconsin Reporter has been a staunch defender of Walker against allegations of wrongdoing stemming from the "John Doe" investigations, the protected state probes into Walker's campaign practices and possible illegal campaign coordination. Since January 1 of this year, the Reporter has published 19 articles either defending Walker or denouncing the validity of the investigations.The Reporter's website includes a special series on the "John Doe" investigations titled "Wisconsin's Secret War," which currently has 186 total entries.

But the Wisconsin Reporter has been silent as evidence reportedly leaked from the very investigation it has covered so heavily revealed potential instances of pay-to-play between a local business man and the Walker administration.

At issue is over $1.5 million in donations made in 2012 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCG), a group that defended the Governor during his 2012 recall election and is directed by Walker's campaign advisor, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reported on March 23. The donations were made by hardware store franchise owner John Menard Jr. According to Isikoff, in the years after Walker survived that recall election, Menard's business has benefited from "up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs."

Before the evidence of Menard's donation to WCG became public, the Reporter defended Eric O'Keefe, director of the WCG, against allegations that he and the WCG improperly coordinated with Walker. In multiple articles the Reporter gave O'Keefe and the WCG a platform to deny wrongdoing and undermine the investigation by calling it a "witch hunt." While prosecutors have not commented on the case to the site, O'Keefe told the Reporter, "From its inception, this was a scam, a political pursuit." In an attempt to undermine the case, the Reporter highlighted the growing cost of the investigation, questioned the independence of the chief justice hearing the case, and promoted counter investigations into the prosecution.

The Reporter has not yet mentioned Menard's donation and subsequent tax breaks, a major development in the story that made national headlines. Their silence on the story highlights the conflicts of interest that surround the outlet's reporting on Walker and the "John Doe" investigations.
Long time readers of Cog Dis won't be surprised by Wisconsin Reporter's lack of reporting. After all, they are Walker supporters:
So now, thanks to Kittle's intemperance, we have learned that Wisconsin Reporter is just a small part of a larger right wing echo chamber, all of which is headed up by the Koch-funded Franklin Center for Public and Government Integrity. On top of that, this echo chamber is tied in with and, at least partially, controlled by two people with direct ties to Walker's campaign.

Instead of calling themselves investigative reporters, Wisconsin Reporter, and Walker's campaign, should be investigated by the authorities for their questionable campaign-related contributions and activities, since Walker never claimed their work as an in-kind contribution.

And there is no way that any established, serious news source should be allowing them to put up their political propaganda as anything but that, with a warning that any resemblance between their spin narratives and a credible news source is purely coincidental.

10 comments:

  1. They're not just Walker supporters. They're owned by the same Koch/Bradley benefactors, and both are up to their necks with the John Doe pay-to-play.

    Some dimwit on Twitter today was claiming that voter fraud existed because of something she read on Watchdog.org. Apparently the bubble-worlders still aren't aware of the puppet strings. Suckers

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    1. So then why did DAN BICE and JASON STEIN republich, word-for-word, malicious lies about Mary Burke being fired from TREK days before the election!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

      Unfortunately, the rest of the media is no more honest than WR and the fake Koch circle jerk of nooooooze sites.

      Because Wisconsin's "watchdog" reporter, BICE reprinted Koch brothers likes immediately before the November election, every other media outlet reprinted this propaganda, but now citing it to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

      Delete
  2. Does the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute play into the circles with the Wisconsin Reporter?
    Does Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce also fit into the circles?
    Does the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation become part of this circle?
    How about Citizens for Responsible Government, or it's offshoot, Northern Citizens for Responsible Government?
    How many faceless led groups are there out there?

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  3. Capper, thanks. AFAIK, the billionaire Menard was buying protection from prosecution for the damage they do the environment.

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  4. How much moola frmom Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for Responsible Government (sic) went to buy elections for the Republican Supreme Court judges who will vote whether to put a knife into the back of John Doe II?

    Can these judges then be prosecuted?

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    Replies
    1. If the Wisconsin justices backed by Club For Growth don't step aside, the Federal government must step in and take this over.

      Delete
    2. Agree 100%, and I wonder if the feds are already involved, but we just haven't had that part come out yet. On the flip side, maybe the justices punt on anything relating to John Doe precisely because it would drag them down as well.

      We know the Distorter is kicking and screaming because it'll reveal their money train, maybe the "WMC 4" doesn't want the same to happen to them.

      Delete
  5. WR is a well known propaganda outlet for the moneyed interests.
    Most recently they have been trying to portray poor little Ms. Rindfleisch as a victim of malicious prosecution. Too bad she had cut a plea deal on the same charges in the caucus scandal turning evidence on her old boss then or they might even be able to convince a few outside of the robot crowd.

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  6. Blatant propaganda flacks are presented as equivalent to honest news media for the same reason that blatantly lying-through-their-teeth crooked politicians and their spokesmen are presented as equivalent to honorable statesmen, truthful scientists, and other honest sources, "evenhandedly" by Fair and Balanced™ programs with the motto "We Report; You Decide."   After all, they've only loaded one half of the scales with bu11****....

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  7. The Feds aren't going to get dirty in this mess. Walker is going to win in 2016, and continue running his political empire without a single disruption. Walker is golden; no one will ever catch him. Walker may be the most talented Grifter thst America has ever known. Nixon had Watergate. Walker escaped his Watergate, and turned his criminal acts into a "partisan witch hunt". Wisconsinites bought it, and the rest of America will buy it too. The Walker political machine is so big, the Feds have no power.

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