I wrote yesterday about a new group of sham news sites, and mentioned the Wisconsin Reporter as among them. (If I had a dime for every time that website misspelled something, and later claimed the misspelling was just a typo, I’d have…lot and lots of dimes.)
That’s not their big problem, of course: the big problem is that it’s a political website pretending to offer original, conventional reporting. Actually, the site is a collection of political talking points dressed as news. There’s an embarrassing and ignorant boosterism to it all. Consider this tweet from the site’s Twitter account, while reviewing early returns of the Wirch-Steitz recall race:
Now 17% of SD 22 polls reporting and Steitz isn’t just hanging around, he’s building a commanding lead – 55% to 45% over entrenched Wirch.
As widely expected, Wirch won in a landslide; when all votes were counted, he defeated Steitz 58%-42%.
Wisconsin Reporter tweeted on a ‘commanding lead’ after only 17% of the votes were in, and before (as was evident) Wirch’s large base of Kenosha had reported any votes. There are people, having arrived in the state only a day or two before, who would have had better sense.
This tweet isn’t sound analysis, it’s silly, incredible cheerleading. I’m not bothered by the political leanings of a website, if it provides sound, reliable analysis. I’ve no reason to think Wisconsin Reporter understands, let alone offers, that analysis.
Nonetheless, the Franklin Center’s free to spend a lot of money in Wisconsin for a lot of nothing. They’re foolish, though, to think serious men and women will rely on the object of their patronage.