As discussed earlier, recently the publisher of the State Journal (who has "friended" Tommy Thompson on facebook) and the editor (who has put a link to his rabid rightwing evangical church on facebook) have been publicly humiliating staffers for violating the paper's "code of ethics" by signing the recall petition.
According to Editor John Smalley, when you are in the newsaper biz, you "keep your politics to yourself" and maintain "strict neutrality in all things political." "It’s a common policy," Smalley says and "in place at nearly all credible news organizations."
Now, the intrepid Uppity Wisconsin research department has found more shocking violations of the Wisconsin State Journal's supposed "ironclad" ethics policy, which is apparently intended just for the low-level underlings and not really for management.
Of the eleven member board of directors of Lee Enterprises-- the company that owns the Wisconsin State Journal and dozens of other newspapers accross the country-- most are heavy donors to republican candidates or PACs.
First up is Greg Schermer. Greg is a vice president at Lee and has sat on the board since 1999 and since that time he has given thousands and thousands of dollars to Republican candidates... including $1,000 to Newt in January!
Next is Nancy Donovan. Donovan lives in the Chicago burbs and has been on the Lee board since 2003 and has been a huge GOP donor during her entire time. In 2010 alone, she dug deeeeeep into her deep pockets and gave about $10,000 to wide range or republican candidates (including tea party nut Sharon Angle) and every Republican committee imaginable, including the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congresssional Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
William E. Mayer, who has been on the Lee Board since 1998, and since that time, has given heavily mostly to Republicans, including maxing-out to John McCain when he ran for President. This cycle his guy was Huntsman... no word yet if he's started backing Mittens yet.
Let's see... Brent Magid joined the board in 2010 -- the same year he gave $500 bucks to Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen.
Then there's Herb Moloney, who has been on the board since 2001. Herbie doesn't give to candidates, but he did used to be publisher of the rightwing Washington Examiner.
Now, I'm sure some will poo-poo this and say these people are just on the board. But keep in mind, Lee's only business is owning newspapers. The head of the board and CEO of Lee, Mary Junck, is also chair of the board at the Associated Press.
It should also be pointed out that Lee Enterprises and its board recently crushed the union at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and gutted the once-decent newspaper even though it was making a profit for the company. And, according to the St. Louis Journalism Review, "Lee has a website for employees that provides negative information about unions."
According the Wisconsin State Journal's code of ethics, employees are prohibited from doing anything that gives the "impression" of political or issue partisanship.
Is there any doubt that the people calling the shots at Wisconsin State Journal and the rest of Lee Enterprise's papers give the "impression" that they have (and support) a rightwing agenda? Is there any doubt that the reason why the State Journal has been sooooooo supportive of Walker's union-busting agenda is because their parent company is virulently anti-union?
I, for one, get that "impression."