Pressroom Buzz

Monday, Jan. 11, was a red-letter day for the Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover – the group organizing opposition to handing control of the Milwaukee Public Schools over to the Milwaukee mayor.

Why red letter? The Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice actually wrote about the group in his column. “Until Bice mentioned the coalition today, it has never seen print before in the Journal Sentinel," member Charlie Dee told Pressroom. And that, Dee claims, is “the exception that proves the rule” – namely, the complete absence from the newspaper's pages of any reference to the 28-member coalition representing groups such as the NAACP, MICAH (Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope) and Rethinking Schools.

Dee, an officer with the teachers union at Milwaukee Area Technical College (another member of the anti-takeover coalition), contends the virtual absence of any reference to the organization amounts to one-sided reporting on the subject. After a coalition rally at City Hall went uncovered in the paper back in November, Dee complained in an e-mail to the Journal Sentinel's deputy managing editor for local news, Thomas Koetting: “Yesterday, 250 citizens gathered at City Hall at a press conference and rally to oppose the mayor’s attempted takeover of the MPS, in an event organized by the Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover. You did not report on this event, continuing a pattern of ignoring a significant force in the community that opposes a political move that your editorial board supports. Twenty eight organizations are part of this coalition. Can you really justify that this as responsible, rather than advocacy, journalism?”

Koetting replied that the newspaper was never notified of the rally and apologized, but on the larger point he was unmoved: “We’ve covered all sides of this issue extensively, and will continue to do so,” he told Dee in an e-mail Dee sent us. “The notion that we’re ignoring a significant body of opinion is nonsense, and I find it especially silly coming from someone who has been quoted giving his opinion in the newspaper” — a reference to a story quoting Dee on the subject. Koetting also rejected Dee's accusation that the news pages are being influenced by the editorial page’s support for more mayoral control.

At the time of that early November exchange Dee reviewed the outcome of five press releases about statements or events sponsored by the coalition. Three were ignored completely, two wound up in blog entries at the paper’s online site only. A sixth contact with the paper, an e-mail announcing new coalition members, brought no response, Dee says.

The plan for mayoral control of MPS is a controversial one, and Pressroom isn't passing judgment for or against the idea. Our concern is strictly media coverage of the topic. We decided to take a look for ourselves at recent stories in the JS, first collecting stories going back to early August by searching "MPS takeover," then reviewing the paper's current online list of education stories, which goes back to

Stories that focused on legislation mostly focused on the legislators who were for or against the idea, and we found both points of view represented. Meanwhile, a few stories focused largely on anti-takeover groups or meetings but didn't tend to name organizations. The most skeptical commentary on the proposal probably comes from columnist Eugene Kane. While not flatly opposing the plan, Kane effectively reflects the inner-city criticism of it.

Two polls, however, produced a striking contrast in coverage. One, by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, found majority support in the county (though not in the state) for a takeover. The other, from the Public Policy Forum, found majority opposition among city and suburban residents.

But the PPF poll generated a follow-up story in which an aide to Mayor Tom Barrett sought to challenge its findings. Again, Kane emerged as a takeover skeptic. We found no comparable deconstruction of the WPRI-pro-takeover poll.

As Pressroom noted a few weeks ago on Facebook, we found it puzzling that a story covering legislative action non-action on the takeover proposal omitted the fact that the same day Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton publicly broke with pro-takeover Gov. Jim Doyle to oppose the plan. It is also at least curious that a search of the NAACP on the paper's Web site turns up a number of news stories to a so-far-unsuccessful effort by some 20 members of the NAACP's local chapter to get its president suspended, but the only reference to the organization's opposition to the mayoral plan is an opinion piece.

Still, we don't think the real problem is an outright blackout on Dee's group. With admittedly shameful exceptions, newsrooms rarely work that way, despite widespread suspicions.

Instead, it's that coverage – print coverage especially – still tends to gravitate toward official sources, like those pro and con legislators. Meanwhile, grassroots groups get written off as special-interest loudmouths. (TV, by contrast, is often quicker to give them attention because emotional protest rallies make for good visuals and sound bites.)

Coming from the mayor and the governor, the takeover plan is easily linked in print to official sources. But given the deadlock in Madison over the idea, the grassroots opposition group may have a lot more clout than shows up in the daily coverage.

Is there, perhaps, a story there?

Update: This column originally referred to Dee as "spokesman" for the Coalition. He says he's not its official spokesman; they are Bob Peterson from Rethinking Schools and Wendell Harris from the NAACP.

OTHER BUZZ:

Via PaidContent: Might the for-profit newspaper business start soliciting donations like a non-profit? The Miami Herald is already doing that, and a Colorado digital media expert suggests other ways newspapers could join the NPR crowd.