On April 12 my classmates Kevin Hogan, Allison Kruschke and I made a trip to WISN (Milwaukee's ABC affiliate). Our job was to visit the station and ask them to see "the public file." The public file contained information related to how much money super PACs are spending on advertising. According to ProPublica, an online news source focused on investigative reporting, "TV executives have been fighting a Federal Communications Commission proposal to make the data accessible online." Since the TV stations are resisting, ProPublica has taken matters into its own hands and is reaching out to the public.
The news outlet is requesting assistance from the community to make copies of the public records from the stations. Our job is to find the records, scan them, and send the information to ProPublica who will make it accessible online.
At first, Hogan, Kruschke and I were a little worried about asking for the public records. We were unsure if the station would be resistant or even what information we were supposed to specifically copy. However, all our worries abated when we began speaking with the staff at WISN.
As soon as we walked up to the front desk and explained what we were doing, employees were more than happy to assist us. We were taken to a small room with a filing cabinet and encouraged to look through the files and flag anything we wished to have copied. Their only request was that we kept all the files in order.
We ended up finding files on Restore our Future (the pro-Romney super PAC) and Red White and Blue Fund (the pro-Santorum super PAC). Unsurprisingly, each PAC had spent thousands of dollars on advertising at the station and Romney's super PAC far outspent Santorum's.
The experience did not stop there. We were then asked if we wanted to see the newsroom. Of course if you ask journalism students if they want to see an actual newsroom, they will not refuse. We were thrilled at the opportunity and accepted it readily.
The news outlet is requesting assistance from the community to make copies of the public records from the stations. Our job is to find the records, scan them, and send the information to ProPublica who will make it accessible online.
At first, Hogan, Kruschke and I were a little worried about asking for the public records. We were unsure if the station would be resistant or even what information we were supposed to specifically copy. However, all our worries abated when we began speaking with the staff at WISN.
As soon as we walked up to the front desk and explained what we were doing, employees were more than happy to assist us. We were taken to a small room with a filing cabinet and encouraged to look through the files and flag anything we wished to have copied. Their only request was that we kept all the files in order.
We ended up finding files on Restore our Future (the pro-Romney super PAC) and Red White and Blue Fund (the pro-Santorum super PAC). Unsurprisingly, each PAC had spent thousands of dollars on advertising at the station and Romney's super PAC far outspent Santorum's.
The experience did not stop there. We were then asked if we wanted to see the newsroom. Of course if you ask journalism students if they want to see an actual newsroom, they will not refuse. We were thrilled at the opportunity and accepted it readily.
When we were first assigned to go to the stations, the entire Journalism 4953 class groaned. However, the experience turned out to be truly rewarding and I was very thankful for the courtesy and helpfulness exhibited by the WISN staf.
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