Saw this story first at the Political Environment about Gov. Scott Walker's news secretary asking a Northwoods TV station to pull an article they wrote about Walker speaking at (campaign stop?) a manufacturing plant in Merrill.
The Political Environment Excerpt:
Bad enough that Scott Walker tried to slip away from his 250,000 new jobs promise, but how about this effort by his news secretary to get a TV station to delete the story from its news feed?
According to the TV station: Walker's press secretary, Tom Evenson, called Newswatch 12 on Tuesday, and asked if we could be persuaded to take Monday's story off our website.
The story Walker wanted pulled from Newswatch 12 WJFW can be seen here.
If you thought Scott Walker's attempts to manipulate the media as exposed by the recent O'Donnell email exchanges were just minor aberrations, think again. Walker and his henchmen are apparently fully engaged in media manipulation at all times, not just during the heat or closing of an election campaign.
Another example is an excerpt from a Channel 3000 article I had posted on the blog in late 2010.
Channel 3000 Excerpt:
One forecast shows that even if Walker does nothing the state will add 190,000 jobs over the next four years. Another forecast shows there will be nearly 290,000 new jobs.
Channel 3000 pulled that article a long time ago. Try the (excerpt) link. The page is blank with several commenters asking what happened to the article. I even ran keywords in their search engine, "no results found." Surprisingly, TMJ4 and several others still have articles posted substantiating those job forecasts.
We've now got to consider how widespread this problem really is. How many media outlets are out there that, from fear of losing access or a future interview, never report on politically motivated requests from public officials. But also to thank news organizations like WJFW for having the courage to publish correspondence relevant to a story.
Also, more flashback on Walker's jobs rhetoric:
"I want my cabinet secretaries to have branded across their heads, `250,000 jobs,"' Walker said at a recent meeting of the Dairy Business Association. "I want them to know their job is on the line because my job is on the line to create 250,000 jobs in the private sector."
Scott Walker didn't just promise to create any old 250,000 jobs, he promised to create them "in the private sector."
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