Journal Sentinel AWOL on Holloway Today

Embattled County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, testified under oath yesterday regarding his dealings with the now-defunct anti-poverty agency OIC.

Here's the coverage of the hearing before the Milwaukee County Personnel Review Board as it appeared in the largest newspaper in the state, Holloway's hometown Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Yep. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

No other media covered it either.

Holloway nemesis, Supervisor Joe Rice, said in an email to radio talk show host Charlie Sykes:

As the county supervisor who filed the original complaint with the Milwaukee County Ethics Board in this matter, I have a particular interest. I believe it merits public attention as it involves questions of integrity and ethics of a prominent elected official. Without pre-judging the outcome, I think the public would be well-served by knowing the details of the examination and cross-examination of Mr. Holloway as it is the first time to my knowledge that he has testified on this matter in open session under oath.

While attending the hearing yesterday afternoon I found it curious to note that there were no members of the media present.

And they wonder why their circulation and revenue from the paper are plummeting.

I mean, if this isn't newsworthy, what is?

Ironic laspse of coverage, considering just last month they ran a series on open government with the tag:

The Journal Sentinel is among many newspapers across the country featuring stories this week designed to drive public discussion about why open government is important to everyone, not just to journalists.

Open government is important to everyone, but not worthy of precious column inches in the daily paper?

Last time they were this asleep at the switch, the entire pension scandal occurred. It wasn't until Bruce Murphy, reporting in Milwaukee Magazine, broke the story that the paper began paying attention.

Perhaps they've decided their readers don't care about County Government. That would be a misreading of the views of the few remaining readers they have left.

We care.

Sometime, somewhere, a newspaper publisher will ignore the damn focus groups and ponder these two trends. The USA-todaying of print journalism and the decline in the circulation of daily newspapers.

Why newspapers don't have a half dozen state, county and local government stories each day is beyond me.

I will have more on Holloway in the days and weeks ahead, as his saga has a long way to go.