Feb. 17, 2012 Hello I am Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

. This note is to let you know our Party's deep concerns about the Wisconsin Reporter and its dishonest efforts to portray itself as an unbiased news organization and a wire service. Your paper or news organization has published or aired its work and we write to let you know about our belief that this is not an even-handed organization that supports good journalistic practices and principles. The organization has direct ties to a top Scott Walker fundraiser, and we do not expect fair or balanced treatment from them and neither should you. When they first moved into Wisconsin with an avowed "free market" ideological point-of-view, their initial articles appeared to be free of much bias. Knowing their funding sources, we were surprised by this pleasantly surprised. But over the past several months that began to slowly change. They sent away reporters who had gained some respect in the Capitol. They brought in reporters with an agenda. And gradually, over time, their news stories have become more and more pro-Scott Walker opinion and less news. We find now that their content is very one-sided in its slant, selective in its use of some facts while ignoring others, biased in its incendiary words and its approach to issues, and absent the ethics and norms that should guide any news organization. By a generous stretch, their "product" may have a place on an editorial page, but certainly not as it is trying to disguise itself as balanced news. Many elected Democrats have chosen not to respond to press requests from the Wisconsin Reporter, because they have had their words twisted or their points ignored, while extreme conservatives and Republicans are portrayed in glowing terms. At the state Party, we do not deal with them whatsoever, after being lied to directly, and subjected to the shoddiest of journalistic practices, and we have advised our Party leaders not to deal with them. Just this week, our chairman was engaged in an off-the-record conversation with another reporter that Wisconsin Reporter attempted to record. A few months back one of their reporters attended a training session meant for election volunteers put on by the Democratic Party. You can read the misleading and inaccurate portrayal by the reporter here. Wisconsin Reporter made no effort to contact us beforehand and

afterward penned a misleading, one-sided portrayal of the events that followed, and actually stole that material was intended for volunteers and not for the press. They misled volunteers about their identity and only confessed after they were confronted. We have never seen any efforts like this visited upon Republicans, for whom they routinely lift headlines directly, including Gov. Walker's press releases. This is not news. Their stories about the recall have been hysterical and used frequently by Scott Walker and his allies as supposed proof of problems with the effort. Last week, they suggested a "gap" in recall figures when a cursory review found that they had not counted several pages of petitions. This totally erroneous report was picked up by several news organizations and trumpeted in rightwing radio, a repeated pattern that shows their true intent. They have attempted to obtain media credentials and used them as a straight-news reporter by a right-wing blogger named Kevin Binversie, who actually is a Republican activist who blogs frequently in opposition to Democrats and for the Scott Walker administration. He recently wrote that Democrats "would shoot their children in the head" to become governor. This is totally outof-bounds. Our volunteers and our candidates have found plenty of disturbing evidence of partisan bias in their product, their methods and their content. After having communicated our repeated concerns directly to the Wisconsin Reporter, we have been ignored and excoriated. So we feel it necessary to instead communicate directly with reputable news outlets that, at times, use their content. If you look here, you will see the questions raised by Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of The Capital Times, about the underlying agenda of the Wisconsin Reporter, a project of the rightwing Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. That center, which receives significant funding from the Bradley Foundation, chaired by Walker campaign chairman Michael Grebe, has been linked with "Tea Party" groups supportive of Scott Walker. Disturbingly, the Wisconsin Reporter has confirmed that it subjects reporters it hires to an ideological litmus test that violates the norms and traditions of journalism. I am sure you and your readers expect all your news content not on the editorial page to be balanced with a critique of all sides and parties. I know you work hard to maintain that approach. We are advising our members about the Wisconsin Reporter and similar groups, such as "Media Trackers" and the "MacIver Institute," all funded by organizations that directly support Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

We hope that you will maintain editorial fairness by noting our concerns if you continue to publish their editorial content, or, please, at least to let your readership know that this group is an adjunct of an activist right-wing organization that supports the Scott Walker agenda. Thanks for your time. Please email me to acknowledge that you have received this and please let me know if you will continue to use their product at all, and, if so, whether you will continue to publish or air their stories without any mention of their partisan bent. Sincerely, Graeme Zielinski Communications Director Democratic Party of Wisconsin 414-364-1077; graemez@wisdems.org