Charlie Sykes did what any former Milwaukee Journal print reporter would do by extending his congratulations after the announcement that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dave Umhoefer had won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.
But then Charlie couldn't resist telling the paper how to do its job to win more prizes.
No one in that newsroom would take one nanosecond's advice from Sykes, who regularly uses the paper as a punching bag.
As the kids would say these days, LOL.
Sykes' posting is below:
CONGRATULATIONS
By Charlie Sykes
Story Created: Apr 8, 2008
Story Updated: Apr 8, 2008
... to the JS and reporter David Umhoefer for winning a Pulitzer Prize for committing a flagrant act of journalism. This is an extraordinary achievement for all involved and a reminder of the unique value of good hard-headed newspaper journalism.
Now that they've gotten a taste of the rewards of tough investigative journalism, how about turning Umhoefer and his colleagues loose on state government? The casinos? The technical schools? The vast wasteland of MPS?
There's more gold in them thar hills.
How embarrassed does the Journal Sentinel have to be? Endorse Scott Walker last week, win a Pulitzer for exposing his mismanagement this week. Really not their best moment.
ReplyDeleteActually, i disagree.
ReplyDeleteThe editorial side and the news side are different operations.
The paper and the reporter are being awarded for exceptional performance, and it's more than likely that the news side will continue its pension and county reporting - - regardless of the endorsement.
I have no expectation that the newsroom follows the editorial board. However, I do expect that the editorial board reads the news they put in the paper. The Pulitzer was based on stories exposing activities that went on under Scott Walker. After he came in and "cleaned up the mess." The editorial board knows this full well, but in their blind drive to keep suburban readers, they thought they needed to endorse Walker to balance out their easy decision to endorse Butler. Don't want the conservatives screaming liberal media bias (never seems to work when dems scream conservative bias...).
ReplyDeleteTo endorse a candidate and then have your very own paper win a Pulitzer for work you as an editorial board obviously deliberately overlooked in your endorsement process does not look good for the paper as a whole.
I hope that the work will continue. Maybe this will give the JS the fortitude that they have lacked in terms of exposing Walker's pitiful record (and the screams of liberal bias that will accompany any additional stories).