Tuesday morning's Journal Sentinel story about the Clifford campaign phone calls:
The Journal Sentinel's editorial board endorsed Clifford on Sunday. The editorial board is separate from the Journal Sentinel's reporting and editing newsroom.
True, those functions have been separate and schizophrenic of late, with conservative news content and a more liberal editorial policy. But, lest you think they are too separate, consider this.
From Tuesday's news story:
"We understand the First Amendment right of free speech," Editor Martin Kaiser said. "However, the Journal Sentinel cannot stand by while its readers are confused and misled by political telephone calls that undermine the newspaper's integrity and independence.
"Any calls that mention the newspaper's editorial page endorsement should let callers know immediately and clearly that the calls are coming from the political campaign and not from the newspaper."
And from Tuesday morning's editorial:
This newspaper certainly understands the First Amendment right of free speech; however, any political telephone calls that mention a newspaper's endorsement or newspaper's reporting should let the recipients know, immediately and clearly, that the calls are coming from a political campaign and not from the newspaper.
Your witness.