Monthly Archives: March 2022

Poynter is offering an intensive two-day workshop in St. Petersburg, Florida, focused on understanding the causes and consequences of local jail incarceration and explore ways that communities are addressing the issue.

The deadline to apply is April 22.

• Deeply report stories about your local jail, including who’s in jail and why
• Explore efforts nationwide to reform policing and justice systems
• Generate solid story ideas based on new data and trends in local jails
• Understand the effects of your reporting on formerly incarcerated people
• Consider new and diverse sources for your reporting
• Surface meaningful solutions in your community

Learn more and register here.

Award-winning Twin Cities TV journalist Boyd Huppert is talking about how he’s dealing with his cancer diagnosis.

You can read the article here.

Award-winning journalist Symone Woolridge is joining the TMJ4’s news anchor team.

A native of Evanston, Illinois, Woolridge joins the station after anchoring and reporting in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to that, she worked for a news station in Tupelo, Mississippi where she was a reporter and the station’s first weekend morning anchor. Woolridge also worked as an associate producer and multimedia journalist in Carterville, Ill. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

In her most recent role at WREG-TV in Memphis, Woolridge was the station’s first breaking news anchor for the weekday morning show. She covered everything from crime to severe storms. She also had her own weekly segment called “Bright Spot,” which highlighted positive news happening in the area. Woolridge said she finds it extremely rewarding to recognize and highlight people doing positive things and succeeding, especially in underserved communities.

“I love to connect with those around me and shine light on giving hearts,” Symone said. I know TMJ4 does the same and I’m so looking forward to being part of the team.”

Growing up near the Milwaukee area, Symone said she feels at home in the Midwest and is excited to be back.

“My family still lives in Illinois and after pursuing my career hours away from them, I now get to continue doing what I love with them right here with me as they watch and support me from a front row seat. This move means a lot to them and to me. It’s certainly a full circle moment. I’m back near where I started and who I started with,” she said.

In addition to being a self-proclaimed “newsy,” Woolridge is a sports fan, dog lover and foodie.

A free session from Poynter is aimed at educating journalists about how immigration is related to the U.S. economic recovery.

• Outline the historic role of immigrant workers in service industry jobs as well as in skilled and technical jobs
• Discuss the role of immigrant labor in the U.S. pre- and post-pandemic
• Clarify which industries rely heavily on immigrant workers to remain economically viable
• Generate story ideas about the impact of immigration on the economy that you can work on right away and over the long term
• Utilize expert sources for your reporting

Learn more and register here.

Nominations are being sought for the annual Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog Award, recognizing an individual’s extraordinary contributions to open government or investigative journalism in Wisconsin.

The award is presented jointly by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and University of Madison-Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Letters of nomination are accepted from journalists, news organizations and other individuals and organizations involved in open government and investigative journalism issues. Self-nominations also are welcomed.

Nominations should summarize the individual’s extraordinary contributions to open government or investigative journalism in Wisconsin and provide examples of why those efforts matter. The award may recognize an individual’s achievements over an extended period of time, or within a single year, at the discretion of the selection committee. 

Nomination letters should be no more than two pages, single-spaced. Nominations may include a resume and/or a link to clips or a professional website for the nominee. Nominations that did not succeed in previous years are automatically in the running for this year.

Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of The Capital Times and a founder of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, was named the inaugural winner in 2011 and serves on the award selection committee. The late Dick Wheeler, founder of the Wheeler Report and an advocate for public access to the workings of state government, was honored in 2012. In 2013, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, the chief author of Wisconsin’s Open Records Law and a strong advocate of the Open Meetings Law, received the award.

The 2014 recipient was Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Dave Umhoefer, a Pulitzer Prize winner. In 2015, Journal Sentinel investigative health reporter Meg Kissinger received the honor for tirelessly exposing flaws in the mental health system. In 2016, attorney Robert J. Dreps was honored for being a champion of open government and representing news organizations in groundbreaking cases for three decades. The 2017 recipient was Gilman Halsted, a retired Wisconsin Public Radio reporter who produced award-winning examinations of the state’s criminal justice system. In 2018, the award was given to Raquel Rutledge, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at the Journal Sentinel. The 2019 recipient was Jessica Arp, the former assistant news director and chief political reporter for News 3 Now and Channel3000.com.

The 2020 recipient was selected and will be honored at this year’s event, along with the 2022 recipient, because the 2020 and 2021 events were canceled because of COVID-19 concerns.

Nominations should be sent by March 21 to Andy Hall, the Center’s executive director, at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org or WCIJ, Fifth Floor, Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706.

The recipient will be honored at the Wisconsin Watchdog Awards reception and dinner, which begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 21 at the Madison Club, 5 E. Wilson St. in Madison. Tickets are $75. To sign up, click here.

If conditions of the pandemic warrant, measures may be put in place to protect the health of guests.

Sponsorship packages are available for the event. Contact Jay Burseth, the Center’s development director, at jburseth@wisconsinwatch.org for more information. 

Proceeds benefit the Center and Wisconsin Watch, its award-winning news outlet, the participation of young journalists in the event and an online investigative reporting workshop at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s annual convention on May 5 and 6. Signup details will be announced soon.

For the sixteenth consecutive year, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is presenting its Openness Awards, or Opees, to recognize outstanding efforts to protect the state’s tradition of open government, as well as some of the threats to it.

The awards, part of the observance of national Sunshine Week (sunshineweek.org), March 13-19, are given in six categories and will be presented at the Wisconsin Watchdog Awards reception and dinner in Madison on April 21. (For details, see wisconsinwatch.org)

The winners are:

Citizen Openness Award (“Copee”): Christine Brennan. In looking into a controversial Fond du Lac park redevelopment, Brennan asked to see the records of communications between public officials and project backers. Her experience helped raise public awareness of abusive location fee costs and led to better methods for archiving records in Fond du Lac. And the released records spurred a backlash against the project and the city council members who supported it.

Political Openness Award (“Popee”): Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office. While state district attorneys have statutory authority to bring open records and open meeting enforcement actions, they seldom do. But Eric Sparr, the deputy district attorney of Winnebago County, and his boss, District Attorney Christian Gossett, cut against the grain when they charged Town of Omro officials on eight counts for open records violations.

Popee Honorable mention: Tony Evers. Wisconsin’s governor this year vetoed a bill that unanimously passed both houses of the Legislature to create a new legislative human resources office with built-in secrecy provisions. He also proposed in his budget to raise the threshold for when records custodians can tack on location costs from $50 to $100.

Media Openness Award (“Mopee”): Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner. Reporter Holmes used the state’s open records law to unearth often shocking information on the city’s police department, which deemed Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride a “target” and maintained a watchlist of protesters and that included Holmes himself. Exposing such abuses serves the highest purpose of our open records law.

Open Records Scoop of the Year (“Scoopee”): The  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reporters including John Diedrich, Raquel Rutledge and Daphne Chen used city inspection reports and other records to produce a series of stories, “Wires and Fires,” that exposed how dangerous electrical wiring has for years been causing fires and claiming victims in Milwaukee rental units. It spurred city officials to seek ways to prevent these fires from occurring.

Whistleblower of the Year: Douglas Oitzinger. This alderperson in the city of Marinette stood up to his fellow city council members in favor of transparency when he filed suit in December alleging that they had improperly gone into closed session to discuss water supply options. “This is about open government,” he told the local paper. “That’s all it’s about.”

No Friend of Openness (“Nopee”): Michael Gableman and Robin Vos. The former state Supreme Court justice and state Assembly Speaker seem not to want the public to know details of a  $676,000 probe into the 2020 election. A judge found that their “denials, delays, and refusals” violate the records law, amid speculation that some records are being destroyed — along with the state’s tradition of open government.

Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a group dedicated to open government. Bill Lueders is the group’s president.

WISN 12 News will host its Commitment 2022 coverage series of debates. The first one will be the Milwaukee Mayoral Debate on Friday, March 18, from 7 p.m. – 8 pm. Adrienne Pedersen, WISN 12 News anchor and host of WISN’s award-winning public affairs program Upfront, will moderate the debate in the WISN 12 News studio. The live event will feature Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson and former Alderman Bob Donovan, who are the two candidates for Milwaukee Mayor.

“Milwaukee will be electing a new mayor for the first time in more than seventeen years. This is a significant election with Milwaukee facing a number of many key issues over the next several years,” said Jan Wade, president and general manager of WISN 12. “Through WISN 12’s Commitment 2022 coverage, voters will gain deeper insight into where the candidates stand on the many important issues that will affect our community.”

The debate will be broadcast on WISN 12 and livestreamed on the free WISN 12 News App. It will cover a wide range of pressing issues that affecting the Milwaukee area. The candidates will have an opportunity to address their positions on a number of topics such as crime, public safety, education, policing, and more.

“This debate is a perfect example of the important local coverage that viewers rely on from WISN 12 News,” Pedersen said. “It’s our responsibility to help voters make an informed decision before they head to the polls in April.”

Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media is launching two company-wide efforts designed to better attract and grow high-quality journalists and station leaders.

Journalism 365 is a comprehensive development program for early-stage journalists to get on-the-job training and personal development experiences that set them up for a long and successful career. Selected participants will spend one year in a company newsroom working through a dedicated month-by-month curriculum designed by newsroom and company leaders.

Journalism 365 participants will earn $5,250 in the first year to pay back student loans. That annual bonus is available for two additional years should the participant stay with the company in any role. In total, these journalists can earn $15,750 on top of a competitive wage and benefit package. Those without student loans are still eligible for the J365 program bonuses.

“Throughout our history, the company success has been rooted in the quality of our people,” said MMM executive vice president and chief operating officer Brian Burns. “These investments are unique in our industry and are intended to send a strong message – Morgan Murphy Media is committed to your growth.”

Under a second new program, called Grow with MMM, the company is setting aside a new investment fund for current team members who desire additional training and personal development programs. This fund will be open to everyone in the company across all departments. MMM is also creating a dedicated website to showcase all training opportunities available both inside and outside the company allowing anyone to apply in a matter of minutes.

These programs continue recent company efforts to evolve newsroom workflows to create more flexibility for journalists.

“The fight for talent is immense right now,” said Colin Benedict, MMM VP of News. “Many journalists want flexibility, help with student loans and a clear development path and we are providing all three.”

The Journalism 365 program will be available to multimedia journalists (MMJs) at KOAM in the Joplin, Missouri/Pittsburg, Kansas market. The news content producer program will be housed at WKBT in the La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wisconsin market.

Both programs are part of a broader, multi-year company investment in developing talent at all levels of the business.

“We are closely focused on our team members growth and success,” said Kate Doty, director of talent and team development for MMM. “These programs are core building blocks for us to develop the next generation of journalists and leaders.”

Each newsroom will have a dedicated program leader for the J365 program. Participants will also have access to mentorship across the entire company. Those interested can contact Doty directly or apply online at morganmurphymedia.com.