BizTimes Milwaukee editor Steve Jagler wasn’t happy with a line in Pressroom’s column in May’s Milwaukee Magazine (now on newsstands) describing BTM‘s daily e-mail news blasts.
Here’s what we said, contrasting BTM‘s daily digest with the one that the rival Business Journal sends out every afternoon: “But while the Business Journal tends to rewrite them into terse, wire-service style, BizTimes often publishes press releases nearly verbatim.”
Jagler took offense and let us know. In an e-mail to Milwaukee Magazine editor Bruce Murphy, which was copied to me, he wrote:
“The notion that all we do here is cut and paste press releases is absurd. And it is factually incorrect. It totally does not account for all of the exclusive, breaking news that we deliver EVERY single week of the year.
“While some people are content to scrape the headlines from other news organizations’ web sites, we aspire to cover the news first-hand with exclusive, enterprise reporting. And we do!
“The saddest thing is I even gave Erik specific examples of the news stories we recently broke on line … including the story that Wisconsin will get $810 million to build high-speed rail to connect Milwaukee and Madison (which was repeated as “breaking news” live on Channel 12).”
As Murphy told Jagler in response, an earlier draft of the story did include a line about both business papers breaking their share of stories. Which they do. Business Journal editor Mark Kass offered examples of his own publication’s enterprise when he was interviewed as well.
In the end, that line was dropped for space. And other praiseworthy and blameworthy points about both publications wound up unreported in a column that had to focus on one angle — the current fortunes of the two publications in today’s economy — and that was half as long as usual because we covered two separate topics in 800 words.
But nowhere did the column accuse BTM of only cutting and pasting press releases. The passage in question refers specifically to the daily e-mail feeds from the two publications, and we stand by our description of the stark contrast in the way they handle their copy. Readers who wish to can make comparisons for themselves. Yes, BTM is first on some items. Yes, some of those do involve enterprise. But yes, an awful lot do read too much like press releases that presumably generated them.
To be fair, with a much leaner staff than its weekly rival, BTM probably does manage to successfully punch above its weight more than the May column gave it credit for.
But that said, Jagler himself also deserves kudos for one regular BTM feature: the regular “BizBlog” item that is part of the daily feed — a mix of commentary from politicians and business people along with Jagler’s own regular musings.
Much of it is standard op-ed stuff, but I’ve long felt that Jagler’s contributions are particularly thoughtful and well-reported. Back during Mercury Marine’s standoff with union workers who initially rejected some steep concessions the company demanded to stay in Fond du Lac, Jagler’s column plumbed the thinking of the union members who rejected the deal with impressive subtlety and nuance.
He’s also been very sharp in analyzing the divergence of opinion among business leaders on issues including climate change and transportation.
Pressroom didn’t get a vote, but when Jagler’s work won first place among online media for Best Blog in the 2009 Milwaukee Press Club contest, we weren’t surprised.
So herewith, our belated congratulations.
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Readers, what’s your perception of the Business Journal and BizTimes Milwaukee? Comment below, or write Pressroom at pressroom@milwaukeemagazine.com.
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