MADISON, Wis. — A conservative radio talk show host and a moderate Republican state senator on Thursday both bashed a move to quash an investigative journalism center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee voted early Wednesday to force the Center for Investigative Journalism off the UW-Madison campus. The state budget amendment would also prohibit UW employees from doing any work related to the news center.
In a blog post, WTMJ-AM radio host Charlie Sykes called the move “a vindictive attack on a journalistic operation on ideological grounds.” And Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz, a moderate who frequently butts heads with more conservative members of his party, said he would attempt to remove the provision from the budget before the Senate votes on it.
“Journalism is a serious and important profession in our society, as much as many of us politicians from time to time wish it didn’t exist,” Schultz told The Associated Press. “It is one of the underpinnings of our civil liberties.”
The center is a nonpartisan investigative news organization that offers its stories free to mainstream media outlets. It operates rent-free out of two offices in the university’s journalism school. Under an agreement signed in 2011, the school covers the cost of utilities and Internet access, and in exchange the center hires some of its students as paid interns and provides academic support.
There was no debate about the center’s relationship with UW before the budget item came up as part of a larger motion shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday following an all-night meeting. Budget committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, defended the proposal at the time, saying it was unfair that the organization was able to stay at UW rent free. He said Democrats would support removing a news organization they viewed as being right-leaning.
“We’re just being consistent,” Nygren said. “We shouldn’t be providing resources to this organization.”
