Badger BloggerCovering Wisconsin the way the media won't. |  |
Badger BloggerCovering Wisconsin the way the media won't. | |
It takes quite an event to make my jaw drop. Tonight, it happened for the first time in years.
I Hope Bruce Murphy, and the “dark-suits” at Milwaukee Magazine are willing to go toe-to-toe with the Journal/Sentinel Editorial Board. In an editorial posted online today, and I believe, part of their print edition tomorrow, they spout off in an “original opinion” about MMSD; how the “deep tunnel works, despite the talk-radio rhetoric”… and I’m thinking, as I read, “OK, where do they credit Bruce Murphy and Milwaukee Magazine, for his Endgame in the September issue”… Well, I have news for you. They don’t.
Yes, it is almost the same opinion. Yes, it comes to the same conclusion. Yes, it features many of the same quotations. The only thing the J/S editorial is missing, by comparison to Murphy’s piece, and in its reference to “talk radio” and its supposed misrepresentations of the deep tunnel, is the little picture of Charles J. Sykes being shot out of a cannon. It is, by and large, the exact article written by Bruce Murphy in September’s Milwaukee Magazine.
Except there is no “credit to”, no “hat tip”, no “thanks for the idea”, no “as mentioned in an article by…” - Nothing. Not a gosh-darned word about the FACT that this story was printed WEEKS ago in a totally different Milwaukee publication, almost verbatim. Perhaps the J/S figured that by beating the September issue of Milwaukee Magazine to the newsstand, they’d be able to convince many readers that these “original” thoughts were theirs, and theirs alone. I am guessing the sensibilities of the handful of Milwaukee’s subscribers will attempt to convince their neighbors otherwise.
There are many good folks at the J/S, doing good work, and serving their readers. Messrs Borowski, Nunnally, Umhoeffer, et al… you can’t honestly tell me you are proud of your editorial board when they display the lack of creativity that they have in this instance.
Were I Mr. Murphy, I’d be punching holes in my drywall this evening. This is precisely why the J/S is facing decreasing credibility as a news source.
I would personally suggest you buy a September 2007 issue of Milwaukee Magazine; compare the Bruce Murphy Endgame article to this tripe written by the J/S Editorial Board, and tell me whether the term “plagiarism” is too strong a word to describe this.
Perhaps if you’re the only daily newspaper in Milwaukee, you are conditioned to believe you can get away with something this brazen. It’s not like you’re fabricating your circulation numbers to your advertisers, right? Now that would be an actionable offense.
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August 26th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Welcome to the club Bruce. We all arrive at “rock bottom” at our own time and our own pace.
Bruce my friend, indulge me if you would?? You said you lost ALL respect for the Urinals editorial board?? How much did you have? And why?? About 10 years ago, there was a meter reader who was accosted at 61st and Lloyd. He said he had no money and ran. The perp, shot at him. The Urinal described the perp as follows.., his clothes, car, missing hub cap, make/model year, color of vehicle and direction it fled……… Well my Dad lived on 62nd and North, at the time, and I’m very familiar with the neighborhood. I called the “local” (now Metro) section Editor. (I call it the MURDER SECTION) and mentioned that I’d read the piece, and that my Father lived 2 blocks away. I was polite and to the point. I told the EDITOR, that I’d like to help if possible, but the RACE of the perpetrator had been “omitted” for some reason.
He told me that I was racist. Right out of the cannon. No pause, no discussion. He knee jerked and called me racist.
Bruce, I learned an extremely valuable lesson that day.
Liberals, believe that YOU and I cannot be trusted with the facts. Well, we cannot be trusted with facts that might lead YOU and I, to conclusions that they disapprove of.
Look at “crappers” posts here. If you don’t pander to blacks,…well, well, well, then you hate them.
If you knew the perp was black, you might come to a conclusion that Liberals don’t approve of.
Liberals PROFILE all whites as racist…E.G. affirmative action. Think about it. By the very virtue of your RACE, you are either a VICTIM or VICTIMIZER.
Sorry to bloviate off subject, BUT, Liberals don’t hold GOVERNMENT responsible for the LIBERAL POLICIES that have failed and cost BILLIONS, if not TRILLIONS.
They care, you don’t care. END OF STORY.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:11 am
I can relate to the story you tell. Even here in Madison, the media (when looking for a suspect) still reports race. We all know the J/S stopped doing this years ago.
I don’t know if you are a Milwaukee Magazine subscriber, Mickey, but if you are, read that Endgame on the last page of the September issue and compare it to this opinion that the J/S Editorial Board would like readers to believe they just “came up with, out of the blue”, and tell me whether I’m being overly critical here.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Bruce, I could tell you more stories, even a conversation with Martin Kaiser that I had. But my point here is that, The Urinal, is a COMPLETELY BIASED, RAG. It isn’t merely my anecdote. The Urinal is just another example of the LEFTIST nature of most of the media, most of the graduates of Journalism schools, mass media schools, broadcast media majors, and the Woodstock come of aged Urinalists that dominate the Media and the University tenured lecturers/professors. Just as FORTUNE 500 corps and Executive board rooms are dominated by Capitalist conservatives for the most part, Universities and Newspapers were bastians for do-gooder-idealistic-liberals.
My problem with the LEFTIST, beard growing, tofu eating, Free-Tibet, Birkenstock wearing, Free-love, hippy, counter-culture crowd, is …..THEIR DEPENDENCE on GOVERNMENT for THEIRS, and their CONSTITUENTS very existance. Their quest to mandate GOVERNMENT regulation of YOUR LIFE, vis a vis, their IDEOLOGICAL NIRVANA.
Everything will be made better for THEIR CONSTITUENT DEPENDANT ON GOVERNMENT under class, by YOU PAYING TAXES.
It doesn’t work, it hasn’t worked, it will not work.
They HATE success, and screeeeeech endlessly about TAX CUTS for “the RICH”.
They are either dumber than a box of Tampons, or dishonest.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Well, that may or may not all be true… but I just find it amusing that these people would think that in this late summer period, in which no one pays attention to any news, their blatant plagiarism with no credit to Mr. Murphy - or his publication (which printed almost the exact story in its September issue, sent to subscribers weeks ago) - would go unnoticed. They are either far more arrogant than any of us would have ever presumed, or just very convinced that their readers would be so dumb and unenlightened, they’d never know the difference.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Well Bruce, I guess I went on a rant and didn’t give your point the credence it deserves. Bruce Murphy has worked for both publications more than once. Murphy isn’t a lib hack, but he certainly isn’t a conservative. He’s a pretty good writer, more left than right, but his skills are in his prose. He is very smart, and he is pretty well hooked up in Milwaukee political/administrative circles. I did happen to hear about his column in M-M, Sykes, Belling or Weber probably. Bruce Murphy is neither a liberal nor conserative ideologue. The Urinal simply doesn’t abide those whom they cannot “rubber stamp” in their ideological mold. It really is that abject. Bruce isn’t a yes man. I agree with you in the position that the Urinals’ conclusions and printed story are a mirror of Bruces work. I do not, HOWEVER, find the Urinals version plagarism.
Bruce, it’s the ideology. The Urinal found the same story that Bruce wrote, because, the Urinal once EMPLOYED Bruce Murphy because of the MATCH.
The Urinals story is GENERIC. Almost all of the Editorial value of the Urinal is COMPLETELY pre-destined, pre-ordained.
On any given subject, YOU and I can easily guess what GENE KANE will write. This is pretty much the same in my view.
August 26th, 2007 at 2:12 am
I am surprised that people around here still took the Journal Editorial Board seriously.
August 26th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Mickey, the deep tunnel was “completed”, according to MMSD, in 1993. That has given the J/S 14 years to have done a story offering anything other than criticism and skepticism toward the deep tunnel’s effectiveness. I can’t find any evidence that such an article has ever been written.
Yet they pull this idea out of “thin air” to run an opinion, defending the deep tunnel - almost the instant one of their former employees’ publication, offering the exact same opinion, goes on sale to the general public. If it’s not outright plagiarism, then it’s cheap and arrogant at the same time.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I think that’s what happens when you share sheets.
And about their apparent common opinion…come on, millions of gallons of poop can’t be wrong.
“despite the talk radio rhetoric”….
August 26th, 2007 at 8:48 am
And speaking of millions of gallons of poop:
http://www.mmsd.com/news/detail.cfm?id=114
(Stumbling upon this video MAY be a sign that your life has hit rock bottom)
August 26th, 2007 at 10:27 am
mickey, just for kicks, I went back through the last 10 days’ worth of JSonline “Daywatch” features looking for descriptions of suspects. What I found was that in every case in which a suspect was described in detail (i.e., more than “a suspect,” “a man,” or “wearing a mask”), the race of the suspect was included. Every time. Examples:
8/15: “Police seek south side bank robber”: Witnesses described him as a Hispanic male, about 20 to 23 years old, 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-8-inches and with a slim build. He had short dark hair, a slight mustache and a goatee. He wore a long-sleeve, light blue button-down shirt with the word “refugee” on the left breast pocket and other words below it. He also wore baggy blue jeans with the front washed out, and dark shoes.
8/17: “Suspect in fatal crash remains at large” includes a photo of the suspect, clearly showing a Hispanic male, and lists the Hispanic-sounding names he goes by.
8/18: “2 more bank robberies, 5 for the week”: The Park Bank branch at 7540 W. Capitol Drive was robbed about 1 p.m. Friday by a man implying he had a bomb. He is described as a black male in his late 40s to early 50s, 180 pounds, dark complexion, pock-marked face, short hair, wearing a black baseball cap with mesh on the sides and the word “Paris” on front, wire rimmed aviator sunglasses, and a light green button down dress shirt with matching tie, green dress pants and black shoes.
The Chase Bank branch at 3605 S. 27th St. was hit about 3:27 p.m. Friday by a man claiming he had a gun. He is described as a black male in his 20s, 5-feet-11-inches, 185 pounds, medium build with short black hair and slight facial hair and wearing a white T-shirt and light colored pants. [. . .]
The Associated Bank robber is described as a black male in his late 20s to early 30s, 6-feet to 6-feet-2-inches tall, 200 to 225 pounds, medium to heavy build. He was wearing a gray do rag with dreadlocks in the back, a gray T-shirt and faded blue jeans.
The Lincoln State suspect was described as a Hispanic male, in his mid-20s, 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-8-inches tall, with a slim build. He had short, dark hair, a slight mustache and a goatee. He wore a long-sleeved, light blue button-down shirt with the word “refugee” on the left breast pocket and other words below it. He also wore baggy blue jeans with the front washed out and dark shoes.
“2 overnight homicides investigated”: The suspect in the latest shooting is described as a black male, 18-22 years old, 5-feet-8-inches, 150 pounds, with a chrome revolver. He fled on a bicycle.
8/24: “Police seek sexual assault suspect”: Investigators released a composite sketch today and said the man is described as an African American male, about 20 to 25 years of age, 5-feet-5-inches to 5-feet-7-inches with a stocky build.
Look, mickey, I lay into the JS as much as anybody (though often it’s because I think they show a conservative bias in their news reporting-I think you all are right that the ed board generally leans liberal, but the ed board doesn’t control 90% of what appears in the pages of the paper). But it’s important to lay into them for legitimate reasons. It seems to me that they are reporting the race of suspects when they offer descriptions of those suspects. Perhaps this is a change in policy from whatever conversation you may have had with someone once, mickey, but what you seem to believe about the paper is not true now.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:53 am
And so far this morning:
“Police seeking man who robbed Walgreens”: Milwaukee police are seeking a man who robbed a northwest side Walgreens and who they also believe tried to rob a nearby McDonald’s about 15 minutes earlier. A black man, 6 feet tall and 140 pounds and in his early 20s, robbed the Walgreens in the 6400 block of N. 76th St. about 6:45 a.m. Saturday, police said.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Yes Jay, the paper (not just the JS) are again reporting the race of suspects being sought, but over the past year or so, there have been several instances when they did not report the race and they took a lot of heat because of it.
For example, when the 6 year old was molested in a Racine school last year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel refused to publish his race. Both Peter and I got into an exchange with the Racine editor of the MJS over this case, when the pervert was arrested, he matched the suspect description that they refused to report, to a tee.
Then there was the case of several violent muggings in Madison last spring, in all of their coverage, the Madison newspapers never mentioned that in every one of the related cases, the suspect was black.
And this spring, there were a bunch of robberies around UWM, and the paper refused to print the one common identifying characteristic in all of the robberies, the suspect was always identified as black, and that prompted this comment from the police spokesperson.
Hopefully the media will continue to give full descriptions when the public is asked to help identify someone, but if they falter again, we will put the heat on them once again.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
[…] Since Bruce won’t toot his own horn, I’ll do it for him. Last weeks post he made calling into question the Journal Sentinel editorial about the “Deep Tunnel” that was almost identical to what Bruce Murphy wrote in Milwaukee Magazine a few days earlier, in the latest edition of Milwaukee Magazine, Badger Blogger gets a mention. [link] […]