As predicted in this space a few weeks ago, the liberal media in Wisconsin rode to the defense of the Democrat in the closing days of the all-important state Supreme Court race on Tuesday.
In doing so, the state’s largest newspaper exposed that bias in an email exchange with Restoration News.
Corrinne Hess, a political reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, claimed ignorance of a major crime in Milwaukee that happened this year and certainly could have hurt the Democrat in the Supreme Court contest, Janet Protasiewicz.
“I actually didn’t know about this Perez case. But I will look at it,” she said in the email.
Of course, looking at it now is too late. The election is Tuesday.
The email exchange came about when Hess reached out to Fair Courts America, an organization under the Restoration of America banner. Restoration News also is part of ROA. Hess was doing a story about another case where Protasiewicz was criticized for a light sentence. Both Fair Courts America and another conservative group aired TV ads on that case.
While all crimes are traumatic, there is a spectrum of newsworthiness. The case Hess and her paper chose to cover on the eve of the election was several years older than the Perez case and involved a rape. The Perez case involved a murder, a police chase, and a crash, all happening just weeks ago, adding to its relevance. The 26-year-old victim, Aliyah Perez, is the niece of a prominent Milwaukee politician. What both cases had in common was a purported light sentence by Protasiewicz.
It strains credulity that Hess didn’t know about the Perez case and the Protasiewicz connection. It was well-publicized in Milwaukee. In case anyone missed it, Restoration News emailed a copy of its previous story about the case to all Wisconsin media, including the Journal Sentinel.
When asked to explain or clarify her email response just minutes earlier about ignorance of the Perez case, she emailed back: “Thank you for this. No, that is not my comment on the Perez case.”
My take on this as a former reporter. From a journalistic perspective, she can’t defend admitting she knew about the Perez case and ignored it. So the only other alternative is to say she didn’t know about it. We don’t know the truth. We’ll let you decide.
Instead, Hess and the Journal Sentinel “found” seemingly the only victim or victims’ family member in Wisconsin who isn’t unhappy with Protasiewicz’s light sentences and wrote a story attacking conservative groups attacking Protasiewicz. The Democrat is supported by George Soros-funded groups who famously favor prosecutors and judges who are soft on crime.
We doubt Hess and the Journal Sentinel did the leg work necessary to find other victims. But they were lightning quick to find a letter from Protasiewicz’s lawyer to TV stations trying to censor the ads.
That is what the Leftist media does in this information war—cover the information that helps Democrats and cover with a blanket the information that hurts them. Take a bow Corrinne and the Journal Sentinel—you did your duty for the cause. But Corrinne, you may want to change your Twitter bio that says “searching for good stories.” That’s obviously not true.