Democrat Governor Candidate In Wisconsin Expels Reporter Critical Of Him From Event
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think politicians should get to pick and choose which reporters cover them and which reporters do not:
When the Reagan administration barred critical news media from White House press conferences, liberals quite rightly protested. So where is liberal outrage now that gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett has blocked a reporter from his public events?
Four male Barrett campaign staffers escorted Wisconsin Reporter’s Dustin Hurst from a Chippewa Falls rally for Barrett, the Democrat hoping to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday’s Wisconsin recall vote.
Hurst is the Wisconsin Reporter journalist who caught on tape the arrest of a pro-Walker protester at a June 1 Barrett rally featuring former President Bill Clinton.
But limiting Hurst’s access to the Barrett campaign was more likely a reprisal for Hurst’s reports (here and here), earlier that day, revealing that Barrett, Milwaukee’s mayor, hired a convicted felon to work in his administration. That poor hiring decision wouldn’t be newsworthy except for the fact that Barrett has accused his Republican rival of employing a staffer charged — not yet convicted, mind you — of committing a felony.
The Barrett campaign and Wisconsin Democrats would no doubt argue that this reporter is biased, but that’s a subjective opinion. A lot of reporters and commentators produce work that is critical of politicians, and politicians almost always claim that work critical of them is biased or inaccurate.
If every reporter ever accused of bias were barred from covering political campaigns there would be nobody left to cover the campaigns.
Which is probably how politicians like Tom Barrett would like it.
Tags: scott walker, tom barrett, wisconsin
