It was supposed to be innovative, reader-centered journalism. Instead, the suburban weeklies owned by Journal Communications have spawned some messy food fights between dueling blogs.
It was back in 2006 that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s parent company tightened control over its chain of Community Newspapers Inc. weeklies. The company cut the number of papers nearly in half and wiped out distinctive newspaper identities like the Oak Creek Pictorial and New Berlin Citizen– replacing them with cookie-cutter tabloids called NOW that are inserted free in your Journal Sentinel.
The tabloids are supplemented by MyCommunityNOW.com– Web sites for each respective suburb. The sites mostly feature reader-generated stories and press releases, as well as blogs by local residents. The dominance of press releases over independently reported news stories is troubling, but even worse are some of the blogs.
Perhaps no one exemplifies the sort of juvenile name calling that goes on better than Kevin Fischer, a longtime Republican operative who works as a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin). Fischer is a Franklin blogger who has accused the city’s school board and administration of being “unethical” and has engaged in a running battle with blogger Greg Kowalski, a college student who is on the Franklin Environmental Commission. Fischer called Kowalski “cheesecake breath” in a comment on Kowalski’s blog in January, and barred Kowalski from commenting on Fischer’s blog.
The NewBerlinNOW.com site features a similar war pitting blogger and ex-school board member Linda Richter against blogger Matt Thomas, current vice president of the board and a leader of its conservative majority. Talk about getting personal: Richter publicized the bankruptcy records of Thomas on her blog to undermine his claim as a champion of fiscal sobriety.
To try to impose some decorum last fall, CNI circulated among the bloggers a list of journalistic rules barring obscenities, libel and hate speech. But while the letter of the rules is being followed, the spirit falls short.
Mark Maley, the CNI executive who oversees the NOWWeb sites, doesn’t see a serious problem. “Even with these skirmishes, nobody’s been sued,” he says. “It’s basically been a handful of people tossing mud. There’s been some online behavior that I’m not thrilled about, but the vast, vast majority is pretty positive stuff.” Even some of the people involved in the verbal duels have also engaged in enterprising work, like airing details of community development projects or conducting open-records requests for officials’ e-mails.
Yet as a coherent source of information – or even reasoned analysis – the blogs largely fail. One anonymous commenter pronounced them “a trashy, useless and inflammatory method of modern communication.” A former blogger who quit in disgust wrote, “We don’t need a dogfight … we want debate.” And New Berlin Mayor Jack Chiovaterosays his administration has opted not to post press releases online because of the blogs. “They’re negative and filled with wrong information,” he says. “If we post our information on there, people won’t know if it’s true or not.”
But bad journalism might be what the readers want. “I’m not crazy about it,” Maley says. “But the FranklinNOWsite has rapidly become our No. 2 Web site rather than 6 or 7.”
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Speaking of opinions, you can expect those of Shepherd Expressowner, publisher and editor Lou Fortisto be prominent in his weekly’s endorsements for the spring election. But will they make any difference?
Fortis says the Shepherd’sendorsements are meant to be a counterweight to those of the Journal Sentineland calls the daily “out of touch.” The weekly’s endorsements are often predictable, given its liberal point of view, and most observers assume Fortis simply picks who he wants. Former staffer Doug Hissom, who was fired after years of work that included writing many of the endorsement editorials, said it was Fortis who made the picks. “He wants to fashion himself a kingmaker,” Hissom says.
Not so, Fortis insists. Staff may be involved in making choices, he says, and “In some very close races, we consult with a number of very experienced and knowledgeable people who will assist us in making the decision.” Hissom scoffs at that, saying Fortis simply calls “his pals.”
Retiring Milwaukee County Supervisor Roger Quindelsays Shepherd endorsements carry no weight in the Northwest city area he represents, but Milwaukee’s Downtown Ald. Bob Baumannsays that “for anyone running on the East Side, the Southeast Side or in the Downtown area, the Shepherdis politically relevant – no question about it.”
Some, though, say its influence might be waning. Ald. Mike D’Amatohas been endorsed by the Shepherd in the past, but more recently was targeted for attacks because he favored the controversial Downer Avenue development plan. “You would think the one place the Shepherd endorsement is valuable is the East Side,” says D’Amato. “I can say it absolutely is not. It may be a negative because the paper has lost so much credibility over the last couple years.”
