Bias in Wisconsin

Daily Caller:

A Gannett Media executive was red-faced this weekend after nine of her employees were caught doing exactly what their paper had exposed 29 circuit judges for doing: trying to bring down Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The Post-Crescent newspaper in Wisconsin posted a story earlier this month revealing that about 12 percent of Wisconsin’s county-level judiciary had signed a petition to recall the governor. That’s a problem because the trial-level judges are supposed to remain above the political fray.

Genia Lovett, the president and publisher of The Post-Crescent newspaper, called the story “watchdog journalism” at its finest.

But just days after the big article, Lovett admitted in an open letter that 25 supposedly unbiased Gannett Wisconsin Media employees, including nine at the Post-Crescent, also had signed recall petitions. Gannett Wisconsin Media owns the Post-Crescent newspaper.

“It was wrong, and those who signed were in breach of Gannett’s Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms,” Lovett wrote. “The principle at stake is our core belief that journalists must make every effort to avoid behavior that could raise doubts about their journalistic neutrality.”

Lovett, who is also a vice president for Gannett Wisconsin, consoled herself by noting that, while the news was “disheartening,” the investigative reporters who originally broke the story had nothing to do with the petitions.

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That is an interesting though not surprising oops.  We know the media is a left wing tool, but in this case the offending reporters are undergoing remedial ethics training.  They will have to be more careful in hiding their bias in the future.  The judges are another matter.  At a minimum they should be removed from hearing any matters that might impact the recall.  In some cases that is too late because judges who signed the petition have already ruled against Gov. Walker in ways that help the union thugs.