SPJ Madison, Next Door Brewing collaborate on American wheat beer to honor the First Amendment, open government and Wisconsin journalism

MADISON – The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Next Door Brewing invite journalists and advocates of open government to celebrate Sunshine Week with the tapping of Sunshine Wheat, an American wheat beer featuring local hops and malts, on Monday, March 16.

The celebration takes place from 6-9 p.m. at Next Door Brewing, 2439 Atwood Avenue, Madison. The first 50 attendees will receive a souvenir beer glass thanks to the generous lead sponsorship of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. WKOW-TV, the Wisconsin State Journal, Schott, Bublitz and Engel, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are supporting sponsors. Two tickets to upcoming Isthmus events – Isthmus Food Cart Fest, Paddle & Portage, Beer & Cheese Fest — will be awarded in a drawing, courtesy of Isthmus. With Gusto is making a poster for the event, prints of which will be available for $15 each.

Next Door head brewer Bryan Kreiter will speak about creating the beer and his use of local ingredients at 7 p.m. He will be followed with remarks by WNA executive director Beth Bennett about Sunshine Week.

Invited special guests include Wisconsin food and beer writers Chris “Beer Baron” Drosner, Robin Shepard, Laurel White, Linda Falkenstein, Barry Adams, Kathy Flanigan and George Zens.

March 16 is the 264^th anniversary of the birth of James Madison, father of the First Amendment and the man for whom the City of Madison is named. Sunshine Week, a national event in support of open government, runs March 15-21.

The event is free, and all area journalists are welcome to attend. There will be a cash bar; appetizers will be provided. RSVPs are appreciated to [email protected].

Based in Indianapolis, SPJ is a national membership organization that promotes high professional and ethical standards among journalists, First Amendment principles and the belief that a free and vigorous press is vital in a representative democracy. The Madison professional chapter was formed around 1990. Membership costs $75 annually, and it is open to journalists who spend at least half of their professional life writing or editing work for publication.

Contact: Mark Pitsch, [email protected]; 608-252-6145

The state’s Republican-led budget committee may have done no greater favor for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism than voting to evict it from two tiny offices in UW-Madison’s Vilas Hall.

Since the early morning, back-room decision surfaced last week, the center has received the kind of national attention – from media and political sources of all ideological stripes – only winning a Pulitzer Prize might have generated.

But that’s the good news. The bad news is that the decision, labeled petty and vindictive by conservative talker Charlie Sykes and yet to be fully explained to the public, is just the latest in a series of high-profile attempts by public officials to stifle a free and open media:

• The Obama administration targeted the Associated Press and a Fox News reporter for doing their jobs – seeking information from government sources that could be important for the public to know.

• Gearing up to convince voters to let him lead the state’s public school system, Rep. Don Pridemore identified reporters he perceived as liberal and told his staff in a grammatically challenged memo to demand their questions in writing.

• Last fall, the Senate campaigns of Republican Tommy Thompson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin corralled the media in roped off pens that made conducting interviews and taking photos and video more difficult.

And just last week, prior to its annual convention, the state Democratic Party refused to allow Capital Times reporter Jack Craver to cover the event because of alleged journalistic misdeeds. Maybe he failed to treat the party and its leaders with the kind of kid gloves and deference expected of a political reporter from a self-proclaimed “progressive” newspaper. Recall, this is the same political party that forcibly kicked out another reporter last year, this one from Wisconsin Reporter, a conservative media outfit that writes from a “free-market” perspective. Ironically, Craver first caught the DPW’s attention by writing about, yes, the party’s dismissal of Wisconsin Reporter journalist Ryan Ekvall.

One of the more popular parlor games among journalists these days is debating which gubernatorial administration, that of Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, or Gov. Jim Doyle, his Democratic predecessor, has better deflected and delayed routine media inquiries. Walker’s government seems to have one-upped Doyle’s. But to his credit, Walker has been downright magnanimous in answering questions from the press after various events in Madison and around the state. Something tells me he and his advisers find value in allowing him to tell the public why he does what he does. Were it so among state agencies.

Do you sense a pattern here? Perhaps Democrats and Republicans have found something on which they agree.

It bears repeating that the city of Madison was named for the Father of the Constitution and the author of the Bill of Rights. James Madison believed that a truly democratic society relied on the free flow of information. His colleague Thomas Jefferson believed a free press was vital to the sharing of information.

There’s still a chance the Legislature will reverse the decision to remove the WCIJ from UW-Madison. The backlash has been that swift and nearly universal. And if it doesn’t, Gov. Walker could always veto the provision.

Whatever happens in the short term, however, the investigative center will continue to thrive. Nothing spells success in journalism like doing good work, and making a few enemies.

Mark Pitsch is president of the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is an assistant city editor at the Wisconsin State Journal.

In a letter to a friend, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.”

Jefferson noted in his letter to John Jay that Americans should be “governed by reason and truth” and that the most effective avenue toward such “is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”

Recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice endanger our liberties by putting a chill on the work of journalists and discouraging whistleblowers from coming forward with evidence of government wrongdoing. The DOJ actions also raise the question of whether the government is deliberately seeking to silence the press. As a result, we are writing to urge your support of a federal shield law, the Free Flow of Information Act of 2013 (H.R. 1962 and S. 987).

A federal shield law would protect journalists’ confidential sources and the public’s right to hold its government accountable. While 49 states and the District of Columbia have some sort of shield protections, such a law does not exist at the federal level and its absence jeopardizes the ability of the press to do its job.

A shield law would ensure the kind of democracy envisioned by Jefferson. It would require judicial review of executive branch subpoenas of journalists’ records. Such a review would provide a key check on executive branch power. News organizations should also have the opportunity to challenge government subpoenas in court.

A free and open press is key to a vital democracy. Our city, Madison, Wisconsin, was named for James Madison, father of the Bill of Rights. Madison believed that a healthy democracy depends upon a knowledgable citizenry: “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”

We don’t like the idea of journalists – who are to hold government accountable – turning to government for protection. But the Department of Justice’s unconscionable action seeking wide-ranging information and records about the Associated Press without the news agency’s knowledge must be addressed. The Free Flow of Information Act would provide a qualified privilege for journalists to protect confidential sources and allow us to do our jobs, and to, like Madison hoped, provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions in a representative democracy.

Sincerely,
Mark Pitsch, president, and members of the executive committee of the Madison pro chapter, Society of Professional Journalists

Madison, the fourth U.S. president, correctly recognized the importance of a free press to a vibrant democracy. To celebrate his birthday, the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is declaring March 16 “Thank a Journalist Day.” We urge Madison-area residents to thank the journalists they know for doing the important work of providing information to the public.

SPJ will say its own thank you to local journalists by dropping off “I’m a Journalist” buttons to area newsrooms this week and by hosting a gathering at Tipsy Cow, 102 King St., Madison, on Thursday, March 15, at 7 pm. All journalists are welcome, and buttons will be available.

“It’s been a remarkable year in journalism in Madison and in Wisconsin. The Society of Professional Journalists believes it is proper to thank and recognize the work of journalists who are a vital component of our democracy,” said SPJ President Mark Pitsch.

Thank a Journalist Day comes during Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of open government and freedom of information, which coincides with the anniversary of Madison’s birth.

SPJ is also promoting the work of journalists through the use of the Twitter hashtag #thankajournalist all week.

Pitsch and other officers of the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will be available during Sunshine Week for interviews. Other SPJ officers are Joe Radske, vice president, 274-1234, Rebecca Wasieleski, secretary-treasurer, 920-568-8321, Gordon Govier, past president, 443-3688, Terry Shelton, past president, 338-5091.