United Auto Workers members who belong to
Local 72 in Kenosha and are on "job bank" status were recently
given an assignment by the local’s bosses. They manufactured a bunch
of "Doyle/Lawton" signs. The job bank was set up by car
companies and the UAW to employ workers who aren’t needed at the
factory. It’s an alternative to layoffs. The contract says the job
bank workers are to help out at nonprofit agencies or do other
productive work. Instead, in Kenosha they’ve been assigned to campaign
for the Democratic candidate for governor even if they don’t
personally support him.
Neither the Kenosha daily newspaper nor the radio station down there
has reported on this. It’s another example of the mainstream media
selectively killing certain news stories while hyping others. While this
happens all the time, it is especially apparent close to elections.
***
Milwaukee Magazine’s Bruce Murphy recently broke a bombshell. A
dorm being built for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been
exempted from laws governing public building projects. By having a
private foundation build the dorm, no public bids were solicited. It
turns out the contractor, architect and engineering firm who got the
no-bid deals are all contributors to Gov. Doyle.
It gets better. Since the project is on former federal parkland, a
land swap needs to be approved by the Doyle-controlled Department of
Natural Resources. But construction is already under way even though the
DNR still hasn’t given its approval. Evidently, UW-Milwaukee has been
told that such approval will be forthcoming. Who could have told them
that?
Murphy’s story has been cited repeatedly on my talk show and one
hosted by a competitor. The Associated Press picked up on it and sent
out a statewide dispatch. But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has refused
to report on it. A single story has appeared in the newspaper you are
now reading. The obvious implication that Doyle may have steered
contracts to his contributors is one the editors of the Milwaukee paper
apparently need to keep from their readers. This isn’t journalism but
is really anti-journalism. It is a deliberate suppression of certain
stories.
***
The election that may determine which party controls the Wisconsin
Senate is the race in the West Allis/Wauwatosa area involving Republican
incumbent Tom Reynolds and Democrat challenger Jim Sullivan. The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Spivak and Bice column has run nearly two
dozen pieces the last four years attacking Reynolds but not a single one
critical of Sullivan. No other columnist for the paper has criticized
Sullivan - for anything!
The paper hasn’t even reported that a series of ads that falsely
accused Reynolds of using campaign money for his business are being
funded by the state road builders organization. That group has vowed
revenge on Reynolds for leading the fight to repeal the state’s
automatic gas tax increases. I guess that’s not "news."
***
The following item is particularly amazing. The Democrat opponent to
Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is actually pocketing some of
his campaign contributions. He’s even giving some of his campaign
money to his baby sitter! (When Milwaukee Alderman Jeff Pawlinski was
caught doing this, he was sent to federal prison.) While the Milwaukee
paper reported this a grand total of once, it still hasn’t been
mentioned in this paper. (Again, until now.) Why not? It’s not
relevant? You think the editors ignoring this one might not be
Sensenbrenner fans?
***
The mainstream media gets livid when I point out stuff like this.
They preferred the bad old days when they were the only game in town.
They remain the most powerful information source but are no longer a
monopoly. When their bias is exposed and their credibility damaged, they
seethe at guys like me who blow the whistle on their antics.
Twenty years ago, Dan Rather might have succeeded in finishing off
President Bush with his story hyping those forged documents about Bush’s
National Guard service. Instead, the story backfired and Rather’s
career ended in disgrace. Likewise, as Internet bloggers and
conservative radio hosts provide an alternative to the liberal dreck
that masquerades as "news," the circulation of daily papers
and the ratings of TV newscasts plummet.
***
Every now and then, conservatives like me are given forums in the
mainstream media like the column you are now reading. That’s a start
but the media will only fully heal itself when it stops the charade of
pretending to be fair and objective and just admit its blatant
liberalism and overt suppression of certain stories.
(Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show and a
Sunday television show. His column runs Wednesdays in The Freeman.)
