Uppity Wisconsin
Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
Kachingle?
Tue, 03/02/2010 - 10:24am | Steve Hanson
Some of you are probably wondering what's up with that little Kachingle medallion on the right of the page. And if you aren't wondering, I'm going to tell you anyway.
Uppity Wisconsin will be four years old in about 2 weeks. Through that entire period, everything about the site has been paid for by myself and a (very) few generous contributors. No big foundation here, no big political donations, no lobbyists. Mostly just me and a couple of donors, most of whom are people who blog here.
Gist of it is, I've been looking at the ol' corporate checkbook a lot lately and realized that if Uppity Wisconsin is going to exist into a fifth year, something has to change. So we're giving you a chance to help.
Tags: Remember News?
Mon, 12/21/2009 - 1:19pm | Steve Hanson
You know, news? The kind that was reasonably clearly focused, and that came to you in a reliable way?
I find myself thinking about this because I keep seeing things happening around me that are disheartening. Yesterday I went over to my local rural store to buy my Sunday papers. Only to find out that I can no longer buy the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram because apparently Downsville is too far away to get delivery. And I can't get it delivered to my house either. Cutbacks. So the only paper I can get now is the Dunn County News (which is okay, but pretty darn local and limited in scope). If I want the Leader-Telegram, I now need to drive to Menomonie to buy a copy. Can this be good for their already-dwindling advertising revenue?
The Progressive Magazine Turns 100
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 9:31am | GlobalGirl
The Progressive Magazine turns 100 today.
And the journal continues to be a voice of the progressive movement: An unrelenting voice for social justice and political autonomy.
From Joe McCarthy, the US-financed Guatemalan death squads, the danger and fraud of American nuclear arms policy to America gone crazy under the Bush administration, the Progressive Magazine has never strayed from its mission as a journal dedicated to fact-based journalism and a voice for sanity and truth in public affairs.
From Joe McCarthy, the US-financed Guatemalan death squads, the danger and fraud of American nuclear arms policy to America gone crazy under the Bush administration, the Progressive Magazine has never strayed from its mission as a journal dedicated to fact-based journalism and a voice for sanity and truth in public affairs.
For me growing up in Wisconsin reading the Progressive Magazine was and is an integral part of the political culture, like hating Joe McCarthy, opposing the Vietnam War, and the death squads in Central America.
And so the magazine retains a place in my heart right next my education at UW-Madison and the many people whom I have met who spend their lives dedicated to social justice.
Good for the Capital Times
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 8:22am | GlobalGirl
The Capital Times just corrected their editorial, “Van Hollen should act fast on petition fraud case” (July 25).
At issue is the nonsensical and internally incoherent assertions of some of Esperanza Unida's people that one of their two opponents for state assembly (whom they failed to knock off the ballot, making Esperanza Unida zero-for-two in this campaign) had improperly received legal counsel.
Ridiculous.
Editorializes the Capital Times today:
We have, as well, come to the view that the law firm and associates of attorney Michael Maistelman acted appropriately in this matter. ... We have been impressed with [attorney] Halbrooks' forthright and detailed responses to the concerns that have arisen. ...
Call for a Retraction
Sat, 07/26/2008 - 6:14pm | GlobalGirl
I just want to say that I am truly disappointed in the Capital Times. It is supposed to stand up for the truth and be thorough in its investigations. When the format of the Capital Times was changing, I took Dave Zweifel and John Nichols at their words that the quality of the journalism would not suffer as they changed media.
Why then did they print an editorial that was so shabbily researched? I am referring to the editorial column “Van Hollen should act fast on petition fraud case” (July 25).
Journalism That Matters #2
Thu, 06/05/2008 - 3:15pm | Steve Hanson
Today has been a much more exciting day here at the conference. Video and pictures (I hope) later.
There are several recurring themes:
- Community Building - how do you succeed with this?
- Building a financially self-perpetuating model (dear to my heart)
- Collaboration between sites and how to promote that.
There is a remarkably large contingent of cheeseheads here. We are in the process of working on a plan for all of the above. More later after I believe it's actually under way - but there's a lot of exciting stuff going on.
John NicholsIn other Wisconsin news - John Nichols gave a really great talk this morning in regard to the direction that journalism is taking, and how the Cap Times is part of that (and how some of it has not worked).
Remember what media reporting was like?
Sat, 05/03/2008 - 4:21am | warmmidwest
Check this out ... come back with me to 1988 ... Dan Rather ... reported by the investigative unit of CBS, plus an interview featuring unanswered questions by Bush 41 regarding the Iran-Contra Scandal - ON LIVE TELEVISION.
Seriously, watch this and think about how far the bar has been lowered in twenty short years, folks.
It's like Dan Rather is an Internet blogger or something. It's seriously WEIRD.
Fourth estate, where are you now? I miss you. <sniff>
Getting it all wrong
Sun, 03/23/2008 - 10:46am | xoff
Ah, if only I did even 25% of the things for which I get the blame.
This is an email I sent this morning to the Associated Press:
An AP story in Sunday papers by Scott Bauer includes this false statement, which I would ask you to correct:Gableman 's appointment to the bench has been called into question by the Greater Wisconsin Committee, a liberal group run by Democratic Party operative Bill Christopherson. It implied in an ad that Gableman won his appointment only after donating $1,250 to McCallum 's campaign.
Le Cap Times est mort; Vive le Cap Times
Fri, 02/08/2008 - 11:12am | Steve Hanson
I suppose I was as surprised as anyone about yesterday's announcement at the Capital TImes, that they are going to publish a paper twice a week and expand their web presence . Then again, I'm not.
My personal involvement with the Capital Times is peripheral - many years ago when I lived in Madison my ex was a reporter at the Cap Times. I think the eventual fate of the paper as a going physical paper was sealed with the joint operating agreement with the State Journal. What seemed like a great deal for the paper at the time turned out to be a big liability, as afternoon papers folded throughout the country. The fact that Madison has maintained two daily papers up till now is fairly amazing, so with the continuing drop in readership at the Capital Times, its not surprising that some changes are in the works.
I think this may eventually be a great thing for the paper. Newspapers all over the world are facing these issues. It's very possible that the circulation issues at the Madison paper are going to force it to be a leader in a change that I think is inevitable. It's becoming harder and harder for a physical publication that "only" comes out once per day to compete with the ever-refreshed news cycle of television, radio, and the Internet.