A veteran reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Monday she was prevented from talking to the crowd during an event at which First Lady Michelle Obama spoke.
Michelle was appearing Monday on behalf of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke.
The reporter, Meg Kissinger, said she was “creeped out” by the Orwellian encounter with officials from the White House and the Burke campaign. She posted her frustration on her Facebook page:
During her remarks, Mrs. Obama asserted that Burke “doesn’t care about politics.” I suppose she should let her aides know.
48 thoughts on “Reporter Barred From Reporting at Michelle Event”
The Obamas’ and Jarrett’s attempts at controlling the message will not work. A postscript to the story of Obama’s appearance on 60 Minutes speaks a lot: 60 Minutes viewership was down from its usual 18 million to a little more than 9 million. If Meg Kissinger gets this story out there, it will not work to Burke’s favor. BTW, is that Milwaukee’s biggest paper? If so, I believe it is a Democratic one. Not a good move.
I always thought a big part of these campaign rallies was media coverage ? I did an image search on Bing and just saw a couple of tight shots of the “crowd”, so assumed not many showed up, even for free tickets.
The reporter was told “not to talk to the people”, but I guess okay to report on all those vapid political promises speeches. This tells me, most of that crowd was union connected and paid to be there.
A truly good reporter would have ignored the requests and followed a few attendees up the street, and asked away !
Maybe you’ve hit on something. Maybe the attendance was done and the Dems didn’t want anyone to know.
down
You have no idea how right you are. It would also have been revealed that most of them were teachers bused in from Madison, which is Burke’s most ardent support base. That, and lady Madison cops with short, salt-and-pepper hairstyles who like to play softball.
Jesse Watters, you might be replaced…
Beyond arrogance. Pure evil.
The irony here is that Meg Kissinger is an uber-lefty Milwaukeean, a long-time employee of the uber-lefty Milwaukee Journal / Sentinel, which is (to answer Julie’s question) the “largest” paper in Wisconsin, by circulation. However newsworthy this may be, Kissnger’s own paper will not report her experience (nor that of her peers, and the stories are numerous) on the pages of their online or dead-tree editions. Kissinger’s “news” has been covered only at her own Facebook page. And now, the Obama / Burke / Unionista Slime Machine will be turned loose upon Kissinger, their own teammate, to discredit her. Read Stuart Taylor, Jr’s recent pieces on Wisconsin politics and the years-long witch-hunt harassing our governor and conservative advocacy groups by Milwaukee DA John Chisholm, working in consort with this very same newspaper. This newspaper slimed a veteran, decorated Milwaukee cop – shot in the line of duty – because he dared speak out against the John Doe.
Jed — Assume you are from Wisconsin — If not certainly know more than I do.
What’s the thinking behind this Mexican ID services in Wisconsin?
Thanks.
http://fox11online.com/2014/09/29/mexican-consulate-brings-id-services-to-wisconsin/
Grace, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one. I guess my initial reaction is that Scott Walker has a general distrust of anything the federal government is responsible, and has determined that it is better for Wisconsin that the state take a more active role in working directly with the Mexican government on this documentation. It gives the state direct control over both the information, and the enforcement. The state is better at cross-referencing these illegals with our criminal databases. And, in the event that these undocumented / marginally-documented individuals are driving without licenses or insurance, it saves them the 6-hour round trip to Chicago.
Walker doesn’t “go along to get along.” I have no doubt that he has determined that there’s a benefit to the state in this case.
Grace,
We have a large group of legal and illegal mexican workers here in WI. Here where I live they work on farms and orchard care / harvesting. A good percentage of them are legal, they have their green cards. This program will allow them to renew their papers here in WI without going to Chicago. The illegals, another story.
And I 100% agree with Jed’s post.
Thanks Jed and Owen. I am a big fan of Scott Walker’s and I think illegals America are a huge problem, now and in the future. Anything like this makes me nervous — largely because I was an early Rubio supporter in my state and we know where he took it. Moreover, Paul Ryan, again someone Iooked at seriously has been most disappointing.
So, I’ll hang in with Walker. I agree he is not a go along , to get a long kind of guy. On the other hand, the Mexican government seems to have a lot of direct access in state matters these days. And I don’t understand that at all.
I, too, am and remain a big fan of Scott Walker!
It’s not the first time, either. What are they afraid of? Someone spilling the beans that they are being paid to attend? Or an ‘unintelligent’ comment by an MO/BO supporter? Creepy!
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/off-mic/42734-obama-campaign-aides-shut-down-voter-interviews-at-rally-
These are the same handlers / sycophants who approached people on a public street in MV, telling them they could not “look at, nor photograph” FLOTUS and Jarrett as they power-walked at our expense.
At what point is the luster off the clearcoat, where the Obamas are concerned?
Jed, for some unknown reason, I used to spend part of my Saturday mornings fixated on CSPAN’s coverage of the Obamas stumping through the corn fields of middle America. This was way before the primaries and the teleprompter. The crowds were sparse and most left after the ‘entertainment’ was over. He always had a recognizable Democrat along side of him, but it did him no good. He was soo bad at impromtu speaking, people just left in the middle of one of his sentences.
There never was any luster, Jed. Without the Hollywood stagecraft, teleprompters, and speech writing wizards, he would still be stumping through the corn fields of Iowa.
Were those the same corn fields where he lost the “g’s” on the ends of all his “ing”-suffixed sentences?
No–that would be more urban in character.
I suppose it would be “racist” of me to make a corn rows statement. So I won’t.
Good one, Grace!
Jed, I think those were Secret Service trying to block the photographers.
http://www.vocativ.com/usa/obama/obama-secret-service/
All Imperial leaders, dictators and tyrants demand a weak, compliant and gutless press. Reporters who wander out of the little circle Obama draws for them to play in soon pay the price. Ask James Rosen, Meg Kissinger and many others. I’m sure Keith has a story or two to tell about Obama’s need to shut down reporters.
Oh, and I forgot to add: Enjoy your audit, Meg.
Pardon me for not feeling her outrage. She’s “told” by some political flunkie that she can’t do her job, can’t report the news, can’t interview anyone willing to talk to her, so she complains on Facebook!
Since when (and I know the answer) are members of the Press subject to the whims and orders of politicians on what, who, when, and where they can do their constitutionally protected job?
Shame on her, shame for bowing down to political pressure and then being so shallow that she complains on her FACEBOOK page as if that makes it right.
All of us here at the WHD have complained, commented, and felt outrage at the boot-licking treatment our once proud and independent press now gives to the political class. For pete’s sake, ask the dang questions and demand an answer, not an evasion.
Hold their lies up to the light, ask for the truth, not spin.
The little people don’t have access to the press briefings, we don’t have the magic passes to allow us access to our political betters, so as we depend on the working Press to do their job, we are sorely not getting what our Founding Fathers meant when they decided that Freedom of the Press was so important.
srdem, I agree with you. But re-read your second paragraph, above, and think of the way this administration treated James Rosen and Sharyl Attkisson.
They were just the working press, trying to do their jobs. And by asking the tough questions, they became the enemy.
“our political betters”–I know you are being droll, but this reminds me of a line I used to use when I had a real job. “I have many bosses, but no superiors.” Not well received, I can report.
Star I appreciate the line you used.
And this reporter: http://sharylattkisson.com/homeland-security-settles-case-of-document-seizure-from-investigative-reporter
At least they didn’t lock her in a closet.
Yep, I always think of that when I hear a “journalist” whine :)
Hillary Clinton had reporters escorted to and from the toilets at the CGI.
Why the quotes on journalist.
I always put journalist in quotes, because we have none to speak of today. Except Keith :)
Come on, that is insulting. I am one–was for 30 yrs, talked to sources, did not make up quotes, put the truth even when editors did not like it…There are plenty of reputable journalists–it’s just that the venues are dying out.
What about Atkisson, Rosen, Henry, Jennifer Griffin, there are many. Richard Engel–I respect him. David Ignatius–he was my editor once on a project, smart.
Others? Gang?
You know who is not cool? Well, so many–but that Beckel. What a clown. I know he is just a token on THE FIVE–but such a bad token. He never has heard of anything, never does his homework, has these fake tantrums–today I think they cut his mic. They had a quote from an FBI guy who said Obama values pol correctness over safety of Ams–and he went red like he does, sputtered, spit flying–do you really believe that, does anyone believe that, I curse him (the FBI guy) till they day he dies then I curse his grave–somethin like that. It was unhinged. Then I curse his grave–sickening.
Stephen Hayes, Catherine Herridge. James Taranto from WSJ has a way with words.
Almost makes me want to attend an event just to see what goes on!! Evil
Me, too. Almost.
In Wisconsin? You’d see a lot of Blue Fists, green AFSCME shirts, fringe-whack-jobs stoned out of their minds, vuvuzelas, and Walker-hating lunatics. Come for the cheese curds, stay for the fun.
I could stop and see some of cousins and family that I haven’t seen since the 70’s. Was nice back then, drove in a station wagon from So Cal, went to a cool lake
I love Wisc! We went to Squirrel Lake outside Minocqua for yeats–every summer. My parents were from there, Dad from Stevens Points, Mom from Wauwatosa. I get the Univ of Wisc alum mag–it is wonderful. Madison may be a baby Berkeley…but it is not the whole state. Door County, The Dells…
And Debbie Wassermam (blabbermouth) Shultz complained that Scott Walker was going to drag women by the hair and show them the back of their hand!
But, it is OK for a female Democrat to show her backhand to a female reporter? Is that the same theory that it is ok for an African Americans to call each other the N word that ends in A.
The Democratw certainly are not the party of Freedom. They can’t even believe in that pesky First Amendment! LOL, at least she wasn’t locked in a closet or she’d like that one pool reporter by Biden’s Staff in 2011 in Orlando.
What would happen to a reporter who defied the order not to talk to the crowd? Would they be arrested? Ostracized? Audited? I’d like to see more reporters stand up to these ‘aides’.
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Strange that not much was revealed in a Bangor Daily News article about her speech and also Planned Parenhood’s Cecile Richard’s speech. Wonder if reporters were sworn to secrecy. The media attraction was that Collins and Bellows were fighting over who was more pro-killing of the unborn, and Cecile Richards set the Bellows campaign straight on Susan Collins’ votes. Amazing that in Maine, gubernatorial candidates Cutler and Michaud are vying for the same title. When will Americans wake up and realize that life is precious and should be fought for from conception to a natural death?
GUESS MOOCHIES LUNCH MENU WASNT AVAILABLE EITHER…
ITS NOW FREEDOM TO PRESS NOT OF
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