Tim Sheehy, former head of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce (MMAC), received a Milwaukee Press Club Headliner Award for his contributions to our community. In his acceptance speech Sheehy addressed the need for journalists to keep their political leanings unknown and the importance of the Fourth Estate, saying “An informed citizenry is at the heart of America’s 246-year-old experiment in democracy. A free press is foundational to an informed citizenry.”

Sheehy delivered the remarks below at the Milwaukee Press Club’s Gridiron Awards Dinner on May 3, where he was presented with the club’s Headliner Award.

My professional life has been spent advocating for Milwaukee’s business community. For 40 years, on a weekly basis, this role has put me in front of a camera, in the paper, or on the radio.

From this experience, I want to reflect on two questions:

  • What makes a good reporter?
  • And what role does a free press play in our society?

I was first quoted in a Sentinel story in 1983, my first talk show appearance was in 1984. Since then, I have engaged reporters/media from Journal Sentinel, WTMJ, WISN, ESPN, NYT, WSJ, Time, 60 Minutes, Economist, Dubai News, Shanghai Daily, Al Jazeera, and many others. So, I have some perspective on what makes a good reporter.

A perspective that has been shaped by working with some great ones like Don Walker, Mike Gousha, John Torinus, Tom Daykin, Rick Barrett, Rich Kirchen, Meg Kissinger, Corri Hess, and John Mercure to name a few.

The first time Charles Benson (T.V reporter with WTMJ) put a mike in my face, I was a young guy lobbying in the State capital. Fast forward to 2018 and it was Charles who covered a story about my youngest son playing with the Packers.

In between those 35 years we exchanged information on and off the record, spent hours wading through hearings, sharing a quick lunch in the car, nights crossing paths in the capital, weekends responding to breaking news. And, sweating it out, live on camera.

After all those years, I still don’t know if Charles is a Democrat, Republican or an independent. I do know he has competed in an Iron man. But I don’t know if he is conservative, liberal, or libertarian. I know he is a bike rider; I do not know if he is pro/con on the streetcar. I don’t know his views on any of the issues we covered.

And never once has Charles given me favorable coverage in his reporting …not once, nor for that matter has he ever given me unfavorable coverage. All he gave was a story that told itself. As a reporter, Charles is not my friend, he is not my enemy. He has my respect for the job he must do and the deadline by which to get it done.

What makes a good reporter?

  • Do your homework to ask informed questions.
  • Be skeptical, without being a skeptic.
  • Your reporting is a window for viewers/readers, not a filter for the news.
  • Be relatable in your coverage and relevant to the subject.

To pursue a story with purpose and passion and then report on it with an objective perspective is a hard line to walk, but it is the stride of a good reporter.

And that leads to the second question, what role does a free press play in our community/society?

An informed citizenry is at the heart of America’s 246-year-old experiment in democracy. A free press is foundational to an informed citizenry.

In political science terms the press is known as the 4th branch, which acknowledges the unofficial, but widely accepted role the news media plays in providing information citizens can use to check the power of the three formal branches of government set in the Constitution. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches.

Several factors have crept into play threatening the valued role the Fourth branch plays in our democracy.

Too often national T.V news is now delivered through a right or left filter. You must be an adept clicker to surf for information. Did this lens for news programming develop on its own, with an audience that grew accustomed to this view? Or have our viewpoints become so tribal that the media migrated to cater to its customers?

Talk radio has lured many of us into thinking opinion is news. Will we continue to be flabby listeners content in ignoring Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s admonition, “that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”

Local newsrooms have been so drained of resources that many stories lack the perspective to provide insight. Will it be Tweet, Tweet, to local news coverage?

And just as AI is a disruptor for many of the industries we work in, it is disrupting media in all forms. The use of AI by nefarious actors will push us fiction or worse unless we protectively use it to pull fact.

One hundred and ninety years ago, observing America’s early years, French political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville noted, “America’s greatness lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

This observation is as true today as it was in America’s early years. But to repair our faults, we must be able to detect those faults. We will not repair what we cannot discern. It is a free press that is critical to our vision.

So, to those aspiring to the media profession, to those working in it, and those who went before you, I end with a thank you, and a plea that the country needs you as urgently as it did in its founding.

– Tim Sheehy is senior advisor and past president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

You can read his entire speech here: http://www.wispolitics.com/2024/tim-sheehy-the-press-for-democracy/