Latest news with #SatyaRhodes-Conway
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsinites celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility with proposed legislation, flag raising
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway alongside other Wisconsinites at a city celebration for Transgender Day of Visibility. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner. Wisconsin Democrats and city of Madison leaders recognized transgender visibility day in Wisconsin Monday, introducing legislation that would provide protections for people and raising the transgender pride flag. This year's International Transgender Day of Visibility comes amid a political environment in which trans people have been targeted by new proposed federal and state restrictions. Wisconsin Republican lawmakers spent significant time in March on a slate of bills focused on transgender kids and would have limited their ability to play sports, access gender affirming medical care and change their names and pronouns in school. The bills are among more than 800 anti-trans bills that have been introduced nationwide this year. Participants in the Madison celebrations said the point of the day was not to focus on the negative and harmful actions being taken, however, but to focus instead on the positive experiences of being transgender. Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove), co-chair of the Transgender Parent and Nonbinary Advocacy Caucus, said during a press conference that the purpose of the day is to 'elevate the voices of our trans and non-binary communities, emphasize the joy of living life as your authentic self and to visualize the world in which all our trans and non-binary children, co-workers, neighbors, parents and elected officials throughout Wisconsin and the world are loved, accepted and safe.' Democrats holding the press conference proposed a handful of bills. One would extend Wisconsin's nondiscrimination laws to include transgender and nonbinary people by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression. Another bill would create an exception to current law for those seeking a name change for gender identity reasons. Under the current state statute people seeking a name change petition must publish notice of their petition in a local newspaper, including in the area where the petition will be heard, once per week for three consecutive weeks before they may petition the court. A third bill would declare March 31, 2025 as Transgender Day of Visibility in Wisconsin and recognizes the achievements of several transgender people and organizations who have made contributions to Wisconsin. In addition to the bills, Gov. Tony Evers, who has committed to vetoing any anti-trans legislation that makes it to his desk, signed a proclamation declaring Monday Transgender Day of Visibility. Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) said the bills are important because lawmakers need to send a positive message to young Wisconsinites who may be paying attention. He said that when he was young he remembers feeling discouraged as a gay teen when the state passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. 'Thirteen-year-olds across Wisconsin are listening to political actions and messages that are being sent out of the Capitol,' Phelps said, adding that children should know there are elected officials and allies and leaders who are fighting for transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive people of all ages across Wisconsin. 'That's the message that we want people to take out of the Capitol and into their communities and to see [protections] passed in the state law as well,' Phelps said. When asked about plans to discuss the legislation with Republicans and the potential for garnering support across the aisle to pass any of the bills, the lawmakers sounded doubtful. Republicans hold majorities in the Assembly and Senate and support from them would be necessary for any of the Democratic legislation to be taken up. 'I don't think they will sign on to this legislation. I certainly wish that they would take a look at it and hear our voices here today and see the love and support of so many community members,' Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) said. Clancy called it a 'valid question' that Democrats get every time they hold a press conference. 'Will Republicans sign on to this? And every time the answer is somewhat the same…,' Clancy said. 'Republicans, two weeks ago, sat on the floor of the Assembly just feet from here for hours. They said that trans people should not exist, should not have basic rights. They have had the opportunity to weigh in on this, and I would welcome any of them moving across the aisle, breaking ranks from their, frankly, hateful leadership and joining in on these things.' The city of Madison also recognized Transgender Visibility Day by raising the transgender pride flag outside of the city municipal building. Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway said the city was raising the flag to celebrate trans people, because the city respects individual rights and 'rejects hate.' 'The safety and the livelihoods of trans people are being threatened, and the issue of the fact of trans people is being used to divide our country in a hateful and really disappointing way, but here in Madison, we refuse to go backwards, and we refuse to let hate divide.' Asked about communicating the message of acceptance to those who disagree, Rhodes-Conway said that she thinks it's important people recognize that diversity makes the Madison community stronger and invited people to 'learn about the things that maybe make them nervous or scared and to be a part of the incredible diversity.' Rhodes-Conway also urged people to educate themselves. 'Folks can educate themselves and each other and a lot of the fear and resistance comes from lack of knowing, and so I just encourage people — there's a lot of resources,' Rhodes-Conway said. 'Please don't ask the trans people in your lives to educate you. There's a lot of resources out there and our libraries, our fantastic resources, and people can educate themselves about the history.' Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, the first out transgender member of the Madison Common Council, said that transgender people are all 'part of an unbroken legacy of resilience' and 'authenticity.' Martinez-Rutherford said that she never expected to feel 'so much love and community' when first elected in 2023 and never expected when she first started transitioning in 2007 to be in a position to advocate for people. 'We raise the transgender flag today for it to be a symbol that Madison is welcoming and that you belong here,' Martinez-Rutherford said. 'Let it be a beacon of hope, a reminder that we will not be erased.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Chicago Tribune
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Wisconsin clerk who failed to count almost 200 ballots is suspended
The mayor of Wisconsin's capital city said Wednesday that she has placed the municipal clerk on leave as investigators work to determine how she failed to count almost 200 absentee ballots in the November election. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement that the city has launched an investigation and that she needed to suspend City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl to maintain public confidence in the clerk's office. The mayor added that the city will spare no expense to ensure every vote is counted heading into the swing state's spring election. The state Elections Commission also is investigating whether Witzel-Behl violated any state laws or abused her discretion. The uncounted ballots did not change the results of any races but four Madison voters whose ballots weren't counted filed claims last week for $175,000 each from the city and Dane County, the first step toward initiating a lawsuit. The mayor's spokesperson, Dylan Brogan, said Witzel-Behl will continue to be paid during her suspension. She makes $152,300 annually. No listing for her personal contact information could be immediately found. The suspension comes with the state's April 1 general election just weeks away. The highest-profile race is between conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford for an open state Supreme Court seat. The outcome will determine the ideological balance of the court as it ponders cases involving abortion, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Early voting begins next week. Rhodes-Conway said in her statement that she has appointed City Attorney Michael Haas as interim city clerk and that she expects he will ensure the election runs smoothly in Madison. Haas has previously worked as administrator and attorney for the state elections commission. Aides for Democratic and Republican legislative leaders didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday inquiring about whether Witzel-Behl's suspension has affected their confidence in how the city will conduct the spring election. According to commission investigators, Wiztel-Behl's office discovered 67 unprocessed absentee ballots in a courier bag that had been placed in a security cart. The discovery came on Nov. 12, seven days after the election, while county workers were conducting the official count of election results. Witzel-Behl said she told two employees to notify the elections commission, but neither did. A third city worker visited the Dane County Clerk's Office to inform officials there, but that employee said the county didn't want the ballots for the count, known as a canvass. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell has said he knew nothing of the uncounted ballots until they were reported in the media. Witzel-Behl's office found another 125 uncounted absentee ballots in a sealed courier bag in a supply tote on Dec. 2. According to commission investigators, Witzel-Behl said she didn't inform county canvassers because the canvass was finished. She added that based on the county's response to the Nov. 12 discovery she didn't think the county would be interested. The commission wasn't notified of either discovery until Dec. 18. Witzel-Behl told investigators that the employees she asked to notify the commission waited until reconciliation was completed. That's a routine process in which poll workers and elections officials ensure an election's accuracy, including checking the number of ballots issued at the polls against the number of voters. She couldn't explain why she didn't contact county officials or the elections commission herself, according to the investigators. On Wednesday afternoon the elections commission unanimously approved sending a memo to clerks around the state outlining best practices for ensuring all ballots get counted in the spring election. The recommendations include documenting election day incidents; making sure all materials are returned from polling sites; checking voting equipment ballot bins for anything that might have been missed; and immediately reporting any mistakes to county officials and the commission. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs noted that all the recommendations are already part of the panel's election day manuals but said the guidelines put them all in one place. Originally Published: March 12, 2025 at 5:58 PM CDT
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin clerk who failed to count almost 200 ballots is suspended
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The mayor of Wisconsin's capital city said Wednesday she has placed the municipal clerk on leave as investigators work to determine how she failed to count almost 200 absentee ballots in the November election. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement that the city has launched an investigation and that she needed to suspend City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl to maintain public confidence in the clerk's office. The mayor added that the city will spare no expense to ensure every vote is counted heading into the swing state's spring election. The state Elections Commission also is investigating whether Witzel-Behl violated any state laws or abused her discretion. The uncounted ballots did not change the results of any races but four Madison voters whose ballots weren't counted filed claims last week for $175,000 each from the city and Dane County, the first step toward initiating a lawsuit. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The mayor's spokesperson, Dylan Brogan, said Witzel-Behl will continue to be paid during her suspension. She makes $152,300 annually. No listing for her personal contact information could be immediately found. The suspension comes with the state's April 1 general election just weeks away. The highest-profile race is between conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford for an open state Supreme Court seat. The outcome will determine the ideological balance of the court as it ponders cases involving abortion, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Early voting begins next week. Rhodes-Conway said in her statement that she has appointed City Attorney Michael Haas as interim city clerk and that she expects he will ensure the election runs smoothly in Madison. Haas has previously worked as administrator and attorney for the state elections commission. Aides for Democratic and Republican legislative leaders didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday inquiring about whether Witzel-Behl's suspension has affected their confidence in how the city will conduct the spring election. According to commission investigators, Wiztel-Behl's office discovered 67 unprocessed absentee ballots in a courier bag that had been placed in a security cart. The discovery came on Nov. 12, seven days after the election, while county workers were conducting the official count of election results. Witzel-Behl said she told two employees to notify the elections commission, but neither did. A third city worker visited the Dane County Clerk's Office to inform officials there, but that employee said the county didn't want the ballots for the count, known as a canvass. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell has said he knew nothing of the uncounted ballots until they were reported in the media. Witzel-Behl's office found another 125 uncounted absentee ballots in a sealed courier bag in a supply tote on Dec. 2. According to commission investigators, Witzel-Behl said she didn't inform county canvassers because the canvass was finished. She added that based on the county's response to the Nov. 12 discovery she didn't think the county would be interested. The commission wasn't notified of either discovery until Dec. 18. Witzel-Behl told investigators that the employees she asked to notify the commission waited until reconciliation was completed. That's a routine process in which poll workers and elections officials ensure an election's accuracy, including checking the number of ballots issued at the polls against the number of voters. She couldn't explain why she didn't contact county officials or the elections commission herself, according to the investigators. The elections commission was expected to approve guidelines during a late-afternoon meeting Wednesday to help clerks around the state ensure they count every ballot in the spring election. The recommendations include thoroughly documenting any incidents on election day; making sure all materials are returned from the polling sites; checking voting equipment's ballot bins for anything that might have been missed; and immediately reporting any mistakes to county officials and the commission.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Now Is the Time to Stand Up for Press Freedom
LAST THURSDAY NIGHT, I GAVE AN AWARD to Satya Rhodes-Conway. She's the mayor of the liberal bastion of Madison, Wisconsin, where I live. It was received on her behalf by Dylan Brogan, the city's spokesperson, who, as I explained to an audience of several dozen people in a hotel conference room in downtown Madison, had told me he had come to listen and not speak. That's partly because it was not the kind of award that a person might brag about. Rather, it was the 'Nopee,' which stands for No Friend of Openness. It's one of six Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, that the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council has given out annually since 2007. The council, for which I have served as president since 2004, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, all-volunteer group that seeks to protect Wisconsin's tradition of transparent government. Similar organizations operate in other states. The Wisconsin Newspaper Association, a trade group representing the state's newspapers, hosted the event, which included a sitdown meal and two other presentations dealing with open-government issues in Wisconsin. The five awards besides the Nopee are the Popee (Public Openness Advocate), the Copee (Citizen Openness Advocate), the Mopee (Media Openness Advocate), the Scoopee (Open Records Scoop of the Year), and the Whoopee (Whistleblower of the year). One by one, I went through this list of winners. The Popee went to the Milwaukee Police Department for helping a UW-Milwaukee journalism class obtain records of old missing-persons cases. The Copee went to American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group that fought for years to get records from a disastrously failed Trump-instigated probe into alleged fraud in the 2020 election. The probe was conducted by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was recently charged by the state's Office of Lawyer Regulation with ten counts of alleged misconduct, several dealing with his disregard for the state's transparency laws. The Whoopee winner was Todd Heath, a Wisconsin man who has fought since 2008 to blow the whistle on a telecommunications company he says has been overcharging schools and libraries millions of dollars for internet access and other services. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that his case can proceed. The Wisconsin Examiner news outlet won the Mopee for successfully suing over high costs and long delays in obtaining public records. And Milwaukee television station TMJ4 clinched the Scoopee for uncovering serious problems with the county district attorney's office's list of law-enforcement officers with credibility problems. The winners all came to the podium and made remarks. Next came the Nopee, our award for the mayor. Bear with me—this may seem like a story about a local politician, but it's really about our need for a nationwide defense of the press. Share The Bulwark ON DECEMBER 17, THE DAY AFTER a mass shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison claimed the lives of three people—a student, a teacher, and the student shooter, who took her own life—and injured several others, two critically, a press conference was held. At one point, Mayor Rhodes-Conway, frustrated by questions for which she had no answers or patience, delivered a tongue-lashing to the press. This is what she had to say: It is absolutely none of y'all's business who was harmed in this incident. Please have some human decency and respect for the people who lost loved ones, or were injured themselves, or whose children were injured. Just have some human decency, folks. Leave them alone. Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal. Don't feed off their pain. An AP story that included these words appeared in papers across the country, and the mayor's office, I'm told, received tremendous positive attention. The media, meanwhile, became the recipients of fresh scorn. One reader of the AP story, in which I was also quoted (arguing that the authorities were being too tight-lipped), sent me an email that piggybacked off of the mayor's remarks. He accused the press of being 'vultures' who 'pound on the doors of the home[s] and ring the phones of the victim's families,' all in order to 'sensationalize the stories increasing their personal importance in driving up readership of the papers and viewership of the TV news to satisfy the public's unquenchable appetite for unnecessary personal details of the gore.' Of course, that is not what reporters do. As I was quoted saying in a fine column on this brouhaha by Judith Davidoff, the editor of the local paper Isthmus, 'Reporters seek information on victims not to exploit them but to honor their memory as unique human beings.' Davidoff also quoted from an open letter to the mayor from Vincent Filak, a professor of journalism at UW-Oshkosh, who explained the process of reaching out to crime victims and their families, based on his two decades of experience as a reporter, editor, and newsroom adviser. In some cases, people decline or even express anger, in which case 'I'd apologize and back away,' Filak wrote. But often, the people contacted welcomed the opportunity: 'All they want to do is talk about how great their kid was, or how amazing their parent was or whatever stories make them feel less hurt.' Support our independent political and cultural journalism by signing up for a free or paid Bulwark subscription. At the Opee Awards event, I challenged Rhodes-Conway's harsh suggestion that reporters were lacking 'human decency' and trying to 'feed off' the suffering of others: 'The fact is, the media whose job it is to cover such horrible stories are hurting, too. Their compassion for victims and their families is just as real as the mayor's.' I suggested that the reason she did not apologize when her remarks drew criticism is because she liked the attention her media-bashing brought. And since spokesperson Brogan was not there to speak, I used the time allocated to reflect on why the Opee judges, myself included, felt that Rhodes-Conway deserved negative recognition over other contenders. (Other candidates for this year's Nopee included a state representative who forced a small news outlet to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses and nearly go out of business defending itself against his specious defamation lawsuit, which was eventually thrown out of court.) Here's how I put it: I think it's because the press is tired of getting kicked around. We're tired of being used by politicians seeking to score cheap political points. Tired of being called the enemy of the people, or derided for an alleged lack of fairness or accuracy, often by people who have absolutely no regard for either. There's not a reporter I know who is not more conscientious about getting things right than most politicians. Over the years, I think our default position, as journalists, has been to take it on the chin. To absorb the attacks, put our heads down, and keep doing our jobs. And I think it's time for that to end. I for one am never going to let someone put the press down for no good reason without pushing back. I am not going to allow other journalists to be disparaged because it's fashionable to do so. It's true that those of us in the press sometimes offend people in power, and make a nuisance of ourselves by demanding openness and accountability. But we are not the enemy of the people. We are not the enemy of the police. We are not even the enemy of Mayor Rhodes-Conway. We are professionals who deserve to be treated with respect. And it's time that we started insisting on it. MAKING THESE REMARKS, LET'S BE CLEAR, required absolutely no courage. This was, after all, a roomful of journalists and supporters of their craft. (Afterward, Brogan, himself a former longtime Isthmus reporter, let me know that he discussed the speech with Mayor Rhodes-Conway, 'and she's taking your words seriously.') But I am bringing this matter to your attention because I think such exertions in defense of the Fourth Estate are important, and they need to start coming from every quarter. Donald Trump has treated the press with thundering contempt, seeking to blunt its ability to be a check on his abuse of power, just as he intends with his similar denigration of the judicial branch. This has created real risks for reporters throughout the land. Last year, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, recorded eighty physical attacks on journalists while they were doing their jobs. It also documented forty-eight arrests, detainment, or criminal charges against journalists, more than the previous two years combined. Join now Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been waging open warfare on members of the media who report things he does not like. He's threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of major networks. He's filed a defamation lawsuit against the board that awards Pulitzer Prizes for honoring the New York Times and the Washington Post for their entirely accurate coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He's suing CBS News over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during last year's campaign, claiming he is owed $10 billion in damages for its 'deceptive manipulation of news.' Trump is even suing the Des Moines Register for running a poll of Iowa voters shortly before the 2024 election that showed him trailing Harris. He says this amounts to 'brazen election interference,' which makes no sense, given that, if this report had any impact at all, it was to energize his supporters to turn out and help him win, which is what they did. 'It's clear that Trump is waging war on the press,' Samantha Barbas, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, told the New York Times. 'Trump and his lawyers are going to use any legal claim that they think has a chance of sticking. They'll cast a wide net to carry out this vendetta.' The media needs to take the lead in fighting back, and to some extent has done so. The AP, for instance, is suing the White House for denying it customary press access in retaliation for the news service's choice to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico. And while there had been rumblings that CBS News might seek some sort of a settlement over the 60 Minutes interview, causing some alarm among CBS staff, the network's lawyers filed a motion last Friday to dismiss Trump's lawsuit, calling it 'an affront to the First Amendment . . . without basis in law or fact.' But there was a troubling capitulation on the part of ABC News, which Trump sued because of a slightly incorrect statement made by one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. He said Trump had been found 'liable for rape' in the successful civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. In fact, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse under New York State law, although the judge noted that it was for conduct that met the commonly understood definition of rape. Trump's lawyers would have had a monumental task to prove Stephanopoulos's mistake met the high standard for defamation of a public official, set by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times Company v. Sullivan, of 'actual malice.' But in December, ABC News agreed to apologize and give $15 million to Trump's future presidential foundation and museum (plus another million to cover his legal fees). Now is not the time for appeasement—not toward the president of the United States, not toward the liberal mayor of a famously progressive town. Rather, it is a time to fight, and it should be a fight in which the allegiance of the American public to a free and fair press is clear. Don't let them get away with it. Stand up for and with the journalistic profession. Subscribe (seriously). And when others try to tear the press down to build themselves up, just say no. Or Nopee. Well, you heard the man: Share
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Now Is the Time to Stand Up for Press Freedom
LAST THURSDAY NIGHT, I GAVE AN AWARD to Satya Rhodes-Conway. She's the mayor of the liberal bastion of Madison, Wisconsin, where I live. It was received on her behalf by Dylan Brogan, the city's spokesperson, who, as I explained to an audience of several dozen people in a hotel conference room in downtown Madison, had told me he had come to listen and not speak. That's partly because it was not the kind of award that a person might brag about. Rather, it was the 'Nopee,' which stands for No Friend of Openness. It's one of six Openness in Government Awards, or Opees, that the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council has given out annually since 2007. The council, for which I have served as president since 2004, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, all-volunteer group that seeks to protect Wisconsin's tradition of transparent government. Similar organizations operate in other states. The Wisconsin Newspaper Association, a trade group representing the state's newspapers, hosted the event, which included a sitdown meal and two other presentations dealing with open-government issues in Wisconsin. The five awards besides the Nopee are the Popee (Public Openness Advocate), the Copee (Citizen Openness Advocate), the Mopee (Media Openness Advocate), the Scoopee (Open Records Scoop of the Year), and the Whoopee (Whistleblower of the year). One by one, I went through this list of winners. The Popee went to the Milwaukee Police Department for helping a UW-Milwaukee journalism class obtain records of old missing-persons cases. The Copee went to American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group that fought for years to get records from a disastrously failed Trump-instigated probe into alleged fraud in the 2020 election. The probe was conducted by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was recently charged by the state's Office of Lawyer Regulation with ten counts of alleged misconduct, several dealing with his disregard for the state's transparency laws. The Whoopee winner was Todd Heath, a Wisconsin man who has fought since 2008 to blow the whistle on a telecommunications company he says has been overcharging schools and libraries millions of dollars for internet access and other services. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that his case can proceed. The Wisconsin Examiner news outlet won the Mopee for successfully suing over high costs and long delays in obtaining public records. And Milwaukee television station TMJ4 clinched the Scoopee for uncovering serious problems with the county district attorney's office's list of law-enforcement officers with credibility problems. The winners all came to the podium and made remarks. Next came the Nopee, our award for the mayor. Bear with me—this may seem like a story about a local politician, but it's really about our need for a nationwide defense of the press. Share The Bulwark ON DECEMBER 17, THE DAY AFTER a mass shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison claimed the lives of three people—a student, a teacher, and the student shooter, who took her own life—and injured several others, two critically, a press conference was held. At one point, Mayor Rhodes-Conway, frustrated by questions for which she had no answers or patience, delivered a tongue-lashing to the press. This is what she had to say: It is absolutely none of y'all's business who was harmed in this incident. Please have some human decency and respect for the people who lost loved ones, or were injured themselves, or whose children were injured. Just have some human decency, folks. Leave them alone. Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal. Don't feed off their pain. An AP story that included these words appeared in papers across the country, and the mayor's office, I'm told, received tremendous positive attention. The media, meanwhile, became the recipients of fresh scorn. One reader of the AP story, in which I was also quoted (arguing that the authorities were being too tight-lipped), sent me an email that piggybacked off of the mayor's remarks. He accused the press of being 'vultures' who 'pound on the doors of the home[s] and ring the phones of the victim's families,' all in order to 'sensationalize the stories increasing their personal importance in driving up readership of the papers and viewership of the TV news to satisfy the public's unquenchable appetite for unnecessary personal details of the gore.' Of course, that is not what reporters do. As I was quoted saying in a fine column on this brouhaha by Judith Davidoff, the editor of the local paper Isthmus, 'Reporters seek information on victims not to exploit them but to honor their memory as unique human beings.' Davidoff also quoted from an open letter to the mayor from Vincent Filak, a professor of journalism at UW-Oshkosh, who explained the process of reaching out to crime victims and their families, based on his two decades of experience as a reporter, editor, and newsroom adviser. In some cases, people decline or even express anger, in which case 'I'd apologize and back away,' Filak wrote. But often, the people contacted welcomed the opportunity: 'All they want to do is talk about how great their kid was, or how amazing their parent was or whatever stories make them feel less hurt.' Support our independent political and cultural journalism by signing up for a free or paid Bulwark subscription. At the Opee Awards event, I challenged Rhodes-Conway's harsh suggestion that reporters were lacking 'human decency' and trying to 'feed off' the suffering of others: 'The fact is, the media whose job it is to cover such horrible stories are hurting, too. Their compassion for victims and their families is just as real as the mayor's.' I suggested that the reason she did not apologize when her remarks drew criticism is because she liked the attention her media-bashing brought. And since spokesperson Brogan was not there to speak, I used the time allocated to reflect on why the Opee judges, myself included, felt that Rhodes-Conway deserved negative recognition over other contenders. (Other candidates for this year's Nopee included a state representative who forced a small news outlet to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses and nearly go out of business defending itself against his specious defamation lawsuit, which was eventually thrown out of court.) Here's how I put it: I think it's because the press is tired of getting kicked around. We're tired of being used by politicians seeking to score cheap political points. Tired of being called the enemy of the people, or derided for an alleged lack of fairness or accuracy, often by people who have absolutely no regard for either. There's not a reporter I know who is not more conscientious about getting things right than most politicians. Over the years, I think our default position, as journalists, has been to take it on the chin. To absorb the attacks, put our heads down, and keep doing our jobs. And I think it's time for that to end. I for one am never going to let someone put the press down for no good reason without pushing back. I am not going to allow other journalists to be disparaged because it's fashionable to do so. It's true that those of us in the press sometimes offend people in power, and make a nuisance of ourselves by demanding openness and accountability. But we are not the enemy of the people. We are not the enemy of the police. We are not even the enemy of Mayor Rhodes-Conway. We are professionals who deserve to be treated with respect. And it's time that we started insisting on it. MAKING THESE REMARKS, LET'S BE CLEAR, required absolutely no courage. This was, after all, a roomful of journalists and supporters of their craft. (Afterward, Brogan, himself a former longtime Isthmus reporter, let me know that he discussed the speech with Mayor Rhodes-Conway, 'and she's taking your words seriously.') But I am bringing this matter to your attention because I think such exertions in defense of the Fourth Estate are important, and they need to start coming from every quarter. Donald Trump has treated the press with thundering contempt, seeking to blunt its ability to be a check on his abuse of power, just as he intends with his similar denigration of the judicial branch. This has created real risks for reporters throughout the land. Last year, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, recorded eighty physical attacks on journalists while they were doing their jobs. It also documented forty-eight arrests, detainment, or criminal charges against journalists, more than the previous two years combined. Join now Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been waging open warfare on members of the media who report things he does not like. He's threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of major networks. He's filed a defamation lawsuit against the board that awards Pulitzer Prizes for honoring the New York Times and the Washington Post for their entirely accurate coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He's suing CBS News over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during last year's campaign, claiming he is owed $10 billion in damages for its 'deceptive manipulation of news.' Trump is even suing the Des Moines Register for running a poll of Iowa voters shortly before the 2024 election that showed him trailing Harris. He says this amounts to 'brazen election interference,' which makes no sense, given that, if this report had any impact at all, it was to energize his supporters to turn out and help him win, which is what they did. 'It's clear that Trump is waging war on the press,' Samantha Barbas, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, told the New York Times. 'Trump and his lawyers are going to use any legal claim that they think has a chance of sticking. They'll cast a wide net to carry out this vendetta.' The media needs to take the lead in fighting back, and to some extent has done so. The AP, for instance, is suing the White House for denying it customary press access in retaliation for the news service's choice to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico. And while there had been rumblings that CBS News might seek some sort of a settlement over the 60 Minutes interview, causing some alarm among CBS staff, the network's lawyers filed a motion last Friday to dismiss Trump's lawsuit, calling it 'an affront to the First Amendment . . . without basis in law or fact.' But there was a troubling capitulation on the part of ABC News, which Trump sued because of a slightly incorrect statement made by one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. He said Trump had been found 'liable for rape' in the successful civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. In fact, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse under New York State law, although the judge noted that it was for conduct that met the commonly understood definition of rape. Trump's lawyers would have had a monumental task to prove Stephanopoulos's mistake met the high standard for defamation of a public official, set by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times Company v. Sullivan, of 'actual malice.' But in December, ABC News agreed to apologize and give $15 million to Trump's future presidential foundation and museum (plus another million to cover his legal fees). Now is not the time for appeasement—not toward the president of the United States, not toward the liberal mayor of a famously progressive town. Rather, it is a time to fight, and it should be a fight in which the allegiance of the American public to a free and fair press is clear. Don't let them get away with it. Stand up for and with the journalistic profession. Subscribe (seriously). And when others try to tear the press down to build themselves up, just say no. Or Nopee. Well, you heard the man: Share
