Here’s my coverage of the paper that, well, supposedly covers Whitewater.  First, though, a trenchant observation from the Phantom Stranger, received over the weekend.  Always my pleasure to hear from him, and here’s what he had to say about recent issues of the Whitewater Register:

…and to make matters worse, their news is two weeks old…I mean, the Wisconsin slogan story as a headline on the March 26 edition (story happened March 16); and the March 14 candidates forum is the most recent story on the website — 2 weeks later, still—!!!

He’s right.  Until today, March 30th — two weeks’ time later — the candidates forum still led Whitewater news stories at mywalworthcounty.com. 

The banner headline of the Register‘s March 26th issue, entitled, “Wisconsin is the Place to ‘Live Like you Mean It’ refers to a new state slogan covered elsewhere far earlier.  The story, from correspondent Amber Benson, oddly acknowledges that the slogan was unveiled on March 16th.  The slogan is not, itself, a Whitewater story, and deserves less coverage in a paper that proudly places Whitewater in its title.     

Inside, on page 2, the Register acknowledges reporting that Associated Press reporter Ryan Foley, a prominent reporter, has written about others who have used this slogan already.  Foley’s reporting, entitled, “Originality rules in Wisconsin? Not in new slogan,” deserves more than an inside-the-paper mention. 

(See, at Forbes.com, Foley’s fine reporting: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/23/ap6201724.html.)   

The Register‘s headline story is neither timely, nor unique to our city, nor curious about how a slogan that so many others have used before would be launched as though it were fresh.  That’s the kind of curiosity that makes for good reporting.  Curiosity about those in power, how politicians and bureaucrats present themselves, and what lies behind their statements. 

One notes, too, how variable the number of pages in the front section of the Register can be — in the March 26th issue 14 pages, in others, as few as 10.  That’s a big shift in potential ad space, or copy space.  Most papers try, even in this recession, to keep page space more fixed, issue to issue.  It’s not a good sign for the Register.   

Another more telling sign, at the my.walworthcounty.com website:  when I clicked on “Whitewater news” on that page, I found that the ‘site sponsor’ was…wait for it, Whitewater…myracinecounty.com.  

Too funny – not even a fine out-of-town sponsor connection, like Madison, Cambridge, or Williams Bay.  Instead, a sponsor connected to a different kind of place, Racine County.    

The March 19th issue of the Register reveals both the dependency of the paper as part of a chain, and how poor writing leads to bias or uninformed reporting.

Supreme Court Race. Consider the above-the-fold story on our Supreme Court race, “Judging the Judges.” The story describes a forum before the Milwaukee Press Club at which both Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates spoke.

(Quick note: I am an Abrahamson supporter; Koschnick made a mess of judicial administration in Jefferson County, is running a political rather than judicial race, and has the lesser support among associations of lawyers in the state.)

Look, though, how staff writer Andrew C. Westbrook describes the positions of the candidates — in just under two dozen paragraphs, Westbrook typically leads with Koschnick’s contentions, and leaves Abrahamson in the position of replying to him. Westbrook adopts this technique throughout the article – first Koschnick’s position, and only afterward Abrahamson’s reply. (Thus, Koschnick on judicial activism, on criminal defense rulings, on political contributions, on the supposed anti-police tendency of the sitting Chief Justice of our court, and only after Koschnick’s charge does Westbrook recount Abrahamson’s reply.)

Why does Westbrook write this way? Perhaps, it’s merely a technique, and these accusation-and-reply exchanges never took place. If so, then Westbrook’s distorted the nature of the forum, for a rhetorical device, and a biased one at that.

Alternatively — and those who have followed the campaign know full well — this is how Koschnick presents himself, more politician than judicial candidate. (Judge Gableman became Justice Gabelman this way, just last year.)

Westbrook owes it to his readers to explain this manner — that Koschnick attacks by nature — calling into question his judicial temperament. His manner, and Gabelman’s, is a significant departure from the dispassion one hopes for in a judge, on any court. Westbrook’s story is ultimately uninformative, and reporting that relied on academics in law (or political science) would have offered readers some valuable background.

It’s not as though there was not room in the paper for more detail, and real reporting — the story continues inside, on page 5. There was plenty of room for more.

Westbrook covers this race like it’s a town council contest; it’s not. We’re supposed to be — but are less so each day — a non-partisan, good government state. One hopes for more from a front page, banner story.

(Is not, by the way, Westbrook an editor elsewhere in the Southern Lakes chain? The chain uses, I think, editors at one paper as staff writers, elsewhere. It’s a possible sign of how feeble this chain has become, that it must scrimp at every opportunity.)

Federal Funds for Whitewater. Also above the fold is a story entitled, “City Officials Optimistic about Federal Funding.” One learns that there may be a few possible sources for federal funding, including Milwaukee Street, and a technology park.

(On a technology park — all the funding in the world doesn’t change the sad truth that this town lacks the culture for a thriving technology park, and all the money in the world won’t make tender plants grown among our two or three hundred weeds. Brunner sees this as a ‘tremendous marriage,’ but Whitewater needs more than a Dolly Levi in the Municipal Building.)

Here’s how Editor Schwenke tells the tale:

After instituting a hiring freeze on full-and part-time City of Whitewater job positions earlier this month due to state and general economic concerns, City Manager Kevin Brunner announced the city could likely receive grants for various major development and reconstruction projects in the city.

Quick replies:

1. Does Schwenke think that his readers have short-term memory failure? Only two weeks’ time earlier, Schwenke reported — accurately — that City Manager Kevin Brunner went to council for cover support and approval for a several months’ hiring freeze. (Brunner feared ‘polarizing’ others over a hiring freeze of city workers.) See my earlier post, “Register Watch™ for the March 5th Issue: Hiring Freeze” for more details.

Writing that this was Brunner’s action — as one normally defines the term among the clear, resolute, firm — is risible. Brunner sought cover then, on an obvious mater; he shouldn’t be credited with action now, two weeks’ time later.

2. Imagine being optimistic about federal funding — Why does the city need this federal funding, after all? Because without it, our fiscal condition is dire, not merely for 2009, but beyond. That’s why some of the projects about which Schwenke writes in the story are pushed out so far — 2013 might as well be 2023 — it’s a budgetary device to say some day, some how…

If we are optimistic about federal funding — the tax receipts (or interest bearing debt) from others in America to pay our way — it is because we have failed to budget for ourselves properly. We seek now the last resort of every local official who cannot pay his own way — money from the state, or federal government. State funds are unavailable — Wisconsin’s struggling — and so our City Manager turns his gaze toward … Washington. They’ve billions in deficit spending ready for distribution; Brunner may yet find a place at the trough.

Schwenke’s article asks not a single question, though, about why federal money might be necessary for us, or whether it’s a good idea. It’s so much easier to write his way, but after decades of similar writing, we find ourselves in a situation where we need others so far away, and no one bothers to write about what this may mean.

Here’s an assessment of the March 12th issue of the Whitewater Register, my Register Watch™ feature.  For those new to the website (welcome, by the way), the feature started because Whitewater’s weekly newspaper has played a longtime role publishing poorly written, dull stories that coddle local politicians and supposedly important Whitewater residents. 

In fact, the Register’s part of an out-of-town chain, offers few local stories, runs ads mostly for out-of-town businesses, and is in a multi-year circulation decline.   

If the Register were not part of a chain, I doubt it would still be publishing; even as part of the Southern Lakes chain, the print edition of the paper may not last much longer.  MyWalworthCounty.com’s the long-in-coming website of the newspaper chain, and that website may be a futile effort to boost circulation for newsprint links in the chain, or perhaps to offer Southern Lakes a publishing platform when many of the local papers fold.  

I don’t know if the Register will fold, but it seems increasingly likely.  Two years ago, or even a year ago, I talked with many people in town who told me that Hell would freeze before the Register would fold.  I’m not so sure anymore.  

(One sign of the Register’s increasing irrelevance is the interest that Whitewater politicians have directed elsewhere.  One follows this interest:   where they turn their attention, I’ll turn mine.)    

The Register’s March 12th issue has an above-the-fold story on civil rights activist Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of several black students escorted under federal force into Central High in Little Rock.  Brown-Trickey recently spoke on our campus, and her story is both inspiring and, coming as an address on campus, a local one, too.  More of these stories, and the sensibility underlying them, might have made a difference, these last few years.

This could have been a feisty, plucky weekly newspaper, and through that course, might have survived, independent and proud.  Inquisitive stories on political issues, and watching City Hall the Municipal Building closely might have assured an everlasting future. Some feelings might have been bruised, but every reporter who wrote those inquisitive stories on budgets, politicians, and policies would have slept for being true to a free press’s scrutiny of municipal affairs.  

Look, though, at how much white space the Register’s front page has — even with a bold type headline for the story, there are large amounts of white around the headline (and too much around the paper’s bold banner).   To see how anemic the paper’s Whitewater coverage has become, one need only look to page 10, where an East Troy story greets Whitewater residents: “Chamber, WCEDA and Village team up for small business loan workshop.”  It’s the Whitewater Register, but a story about the East Troy Area Chamber of Commerce. 

I wish the best to each and every resident of East Troy; that the Whitewater paper carries the story tells all one need know about our local press.