A simple Google or Wikipedia search will uncover a number of controversies that Statehouse News operatives has been at the center of mainly regarding misuse of their credentials as members of the press or use of the organization's nonprofit status. U.S. tax law forbids nonprofits from engaging in partisan political work.
One may also find out about this group by visiting the Wisconsin Reporter Twitter page at www.twitter.com/wisconsinreport, or their homepage at www.wisconsinreporter.com. Do not expect to find anything on either page related to the recent prosecutions of Republican Governor Scott Walker's former aides Kelly Rindfleisch or Tim Russell, both of whom are involved in a wide-ranging John Doe investigation. You'd think this would be relevant 'state' news, but it apparently isn't.
A Media Matters expose on the Franklin Center is very telling. Apparently the group is heavily staffed by veterans from conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party. The expose states, in part:
At least three staffers at the organization previously worked for Americans for Prosperity, "the most prominent political group backed by the Koch brothers." Erik Telford, the Franklin Center's vice president of strategic initiatives & outreach, previously served as director of marketing and online strategy for Americans for Prosperity; Mary Ellen Beatty, Franklin Center director of citizen outreach, oversaw communications for Americans for Prosperity's 32 state chapters; and Alicia Barnaby, Coalitions Coordinator, was previously AfP's Development Associate for Corporate Relations. The Franklin Center's director of development, Matt Hauck, has been an associate at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.So why are they getting away with this? I have no idea. It seems odd that they haven't run into problems with tax officials.
During the recent election, Wisconsin Reporter was directly arguing with people the organization's 'journalists' believed were liberal. I have a blog and twitter that both include the word liberal and I was called out by the organization several times, among others, in ways that I would say are inappropriate for a news organization, especially one that is supposed to adhere to the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Take a look at this exchange:
Jeff Simpson 
Wisconsin Reporter 
Proud Liberal Or this earlier exchange:
Here again is an exchange that ocurred during one of the Vice Presidential debates:
Note that Wisconsin Reporter's comment about Biden interrupting Ryan is ridiculous.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Wisconsin Reporter is a false front media organization. They are not even really trying to hide their support for right-wing candidates.
The 'liberal' Capital Times has taken Wisconsin Reporter and other conservative news organizations to task as well in this recent article. I say 'liberal' because the Cap Times does occasionally take a liberal position - but the point is they can because they're a company. Wisconsin Reporter shouldn't be taking sides because they are a nonprofit. I, on the other hand, am neither - I am just a regular citizen. I can pretty much say whatever I want. I get no money for it, nor any tax breaks for writing on this blog.
I work in the nonprofit sphere and it is one of my pet-peeves that some organizations use the tax status irresponsibly. I do think that these Statehouse News outlets are a great case in point. If they want to masquerade as proper journalists, why not become companies and live off of advertising or whatever other business model they want to. But to pretend to be honest and a real nonprofit is shady and a discredit to both real nonprofits and real journalists.
Links:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/11/how-a-right-wing-group-is-infiltrating-state-ne/187059
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/politiscope/conservative-groups-create-own-news-outlets-to-counter-alleged-liberal/article_e5c01972-38cf-11e2-ad6a-0019bb2963f4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Center_for_Government_and_Public_Integrity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statehouse_News_Online
No comments:
Post a Comment