Latest news with #JohnDiedrich
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Borowski: We use and fight for open records. When we do, we're fighting for you as well
Years ago, I attended a conference on investigative reporting and a particular way of thinking about reporting stuck with me: Operate with the conviction that every piece of information you may need for a story is written down somewhere. And: You are entitled to it. Not just you, as a journalist, you as a citizen. Think about it. Every ticket written, every bill passed, every judgement filed, every contract signed, every bonus paid, every campaign contribution received, every dinner bought, every report filed – about inmates being punished, potholes being filled, travel being taken, taxes raised. That's nothing to be alarmed about. Quite the opposite: It's something to be celebrated. That's what news organizations do each year, as they mark Sunshine Week, which begins Sunday. The week recognizes a bedrock aspect of our Constitution, the First Amendment, and two things that give it real teeth – open meetings laws and open records laws (often given the shorthand of FOIA, for the federal Freedom of Information Act). Now, in practice, these laws carry some exceptions. We understand that. But the spirit is clear: Information about what government is doing should be available to the maximum extent possible, to be used by the people that government serves. That's all of us. At the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, we use these laws all the time in pursuit of stories that serve our readers and our communities. This ranges from exposing gaps in Milwaukee County's 'Brady List' of police officers found to be untruthful to gathering data from 72 Wisconsin counties to understand the real picture of gun deaths in the state. We've also used public records to expose problems at the Milwaukee Housing Authority, in state prisons, Milwaukee Public Schools, even how the chair of the Milwaukee County Board expensed roller blades and a MAC membership. Nowhere in those laws does it say this information is available to journalists. All of that same information is available to anyone. It's why you can search court cases online, and check campaign contributions and read the same information elected officials do before they vote on bills and measures. If you want to see what you're paying in property taxes, compared to your neighbor, you can. If you want to see how many times cars have been ticketed for speeding on your street, you can. That's why I'm especially proud of an initiative launched by our staff. To help bring more awareness to public records, Journal Sentinel staffers have been offering public records training sessions to resident-led groups across the city. For instance, on a recent Saturday, reporters Ashley Luthern and John Diedrich – members of our investigative team – joined a dozen residents at Amani United's regular meeting to talk about public records. In an interactive presentation, the two walked through what a public record is — and is not — and where residents can find data, information and other records. They gave practical examples: How to request a police report, where to look up property inspection records and how to find the latest on licensing of new businesses in the area. Our reporters will be back with Amani United next month for a second session to give hands-on help to residents who want to find specific pieces of information or file their own records requests. If you would like reporters to join your neighborhood meeting to talk public records, let us know – you can email Ashley, our deputy investigations editor, at That's one thing we can do. What can you do? First, you can support independent journalism. It can cost a lot of money to obtain records – from police body cam footage to databases to stacks of documents. Often, those holding the records will drive the costs as high as possible, causing some to abandon the effort. There are many ways through the Local Media Foundation, a nonprofit group, that you can make a difference for our newsroom – including a donation that will advance our work. Second, push back when a public official wants to give you less information, or create new barriers to getting information it should provide readily. We've seen that most recently at the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office, which suddenly is refusing to provide basic information to the public in a timely manner on deaths it investigates: homicides, fatal crashes, drug overdoses, weather-related deaths. This includes such key information as when and where an incident occurred. Under the recently-retired Karen Domagalski, the office had set a gold-standard for openness. No longer. Combine the new hurdles with the Milwaukee Police Department's refusal in its news releases about incidents to even give the gender of a victim, and it means you know much less about the public safety picture in our community. Now, as a newsroom, we can push back – and we will. And we will keep seeking the same information from alternate sources, from family members and others, in order to cover such a vital topic with depth and context. We will not be deterred. But something important is lost when information becomes less available. And if it is harder for us to get it, that means it is harder for you as well. So, if you have a question someone is refusing to answer, or the answers you're getting don't make sense, tell us about it. You can leave us a news tip at or by emailing wisconsininvestigates@ or by calling 414-319-9061. Remember those two principles from the start of this piece? What you want to know is almost certainly written down somewhere. And: With few exceptions, you're entitled to see it. Here's a third: If someone says you can't, keep trying. Because chances are there is something to see. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Mary Spicuzza and Wisconsin public records legal expert Tom Kamenick will be answering questions about open records requests on Reddit at Monday at noon. Greg Borowski is executive editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @GregJBorowski and reach him via Connect with the Journal Sentinel Support our reporting on the environment, underserved communities and other areas: Send a news tip: Reach the newsroom: jsmetro@ or 414-224-2318 Subscribe and support independent journalism: This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Borowski: We fight for open records. When we do, we're figting for you
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Yahoo
Get to know award-winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter John Diedrich
John Diedrich started at the bottom of this business. The ground floor anyway. As a college student, Diedrich drove newspaper trucks, delivering the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel across Wisconsin 35 years ago. The job plunged him into journalism, leaving the inky stains of the news on his hands with every shift. A Milwaukee-area native, Diedrich somewhat randomly enrolled in a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee his freshman year and said he was soon enamored by pace and variety of the job, and most of all by the chance to share people's stories. So, let's get to know Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich: I get the opportunity to delve deeply into subjects, spending months to document how people are being harmed, who or what is responsible and how it might be fixed. My days vary. On some, I go through tips from readers like you and call back folks. Other days, I work with government employees to get data or craft the top of a story. On the best days, I am out talking to people, like Fiesha Parker, whose son was accidentally shot; like Chuck Lovelace, a Park Falls gun store owner helping fellow veterans struggling with mental health; and like David Tate, whose sister, Tiffany, suffered a stroke next door to Froedtert Hospital but because of a little-known policy was turned away and died. The Journal Sentinel is a special news organization because of its commitment to investigative journalism. It has been so since I came back to Milwaukee in 2004 and the commitment remains. I feel blessed to be able to work here and do what I do. I wrote a bit for my high school newpaper (Wauwatosa East '88). Results were iffy. My first reporting job was at the Oak Creek Pictorial, as a part-timer while in college. I still have the printout of an article from my editor, Lorraine, marked generously with her red grease pencil. Then I did internships at the Journal and the Sentinel (pre-1995 merger) and then it was off to my first full-time reporting job at the Kenosha News. I had written about guns for years but I tried a different approach when I was awarded the O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. I spent almost all my time talking to gun owners about why they owned firearms and their ideas to prevent the misuse of them. I found that suicides account for 71 of 100 gun deaths each year in Wisconsin and there were grassroots as well as government-led efforts to reduce them that hadn't gotten much attention. We changed that. This year, I continued the project, now focusing on accidental shootings of children. I found that parents in these incidents are often charged with felony child neglect in Milwaukee County, while in other counties they are more often charged with misdemeanors or not at all. The response has been powerful and positive. I often started interviews by asking people about when they first shot and why they own a gun today. Those stories were always rich and made it into the articles. I have received many positive comments from gun owners and in fact I have been invited to speak to people like Cam Edwards, who has a podcast on gun issues. Boy, that's a tough one. The stories all have had deeply powerful moments, when I could sense what I think of as the spirit of truth guiding the interviews and pointing me to where the reporting should go. This story comes to mind. I was sitting with an Army sergeant in Fallujah, Iraq, on May 1, 2003. That day then-President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" regarding the war in Iraq. With a grimy face fresh off a harrowing patrol, this sergeant looked at me and said, "I don't know what they are selling back home but this thing is far from over." I felt the responsibility then and now, to carry such messages to those in power. I have to be careful not to disclose too much to protect my source. But I once got a report leaked to me about government malfeasance by having it left in a plastic grocery bag, hanging on the handle of my front door at night. It felt like something out of the Watergate stories. I enjoy reading, composting, backyard fires, riding my mountain bike, being active in our church and checking out new restaurants with my wife, Raquel. We have two grown sons and two dogs, Easy and Fern. John Diedrich is an investigative reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at jdiedrich@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Q&A: Investigative reporter John Diedrich, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
