Wow. I guess KELO-TV just went and flat out said it;

5) In addition to the requirements of Sections 1-4 inclusive, a candidate for a state or federal office must have reported, on official forms filed with the appropriate election authority, accepting at least $50,000 in monetary, as opposed to in-kind, campaign contributions, at least 25 percent of which must be raised from in-state constituents.  For local offices, a candidate must have reported, on official forms filed with the appropriate election authority, having accepted at least $15,000 in campaign contributions.

This is the reason why 3rd party candidates NEVER stand a chance, because the media essentially shuts them out because they don’t spend ad dollars with them. Call that a conspiracy theory all you want, but there is a little truth in it, a least a few years ago. A TV media salesperson told me a few years ago, “It’s NO secret we charge the political candidates more during the last throws of the campaign than we do our regular clients, because we give them the best rotation.”

As a person who works in direct mail and has worked on MANY winning local races the place I work for charges the normal rate. The only thing we require out of the candidates is that we treat them with normal turnaround times like our other clients and that they pay COD.

What is frustrating is that candidates like George Hendrickson has a lot to say. I had a very engaging conversation with George at the PRIDE festival. He is extremely sharp and is just as much qualified as the major party candidates. He would have been great in the debate as well as Mr. Wieczorek and he probably would have not worn faded tan socks at the debate like Bjorkman did 🙁

No surprise coming from Stormland TV’s GM, Jay Huizenga, who was personal friends with our former mayor, and would invite him to the station’s Christmas party and would go with him to Packer’s games in private box seats. I guess George and Ron need to give up some NFL tickets to be able to participate in the debates.

We will NEVER see a change in DC as long as we have a complicit local media that censors certain candidates.

(It is amazing it is such a sell out in so many ways, wonder if they will still be able to keep their box seats at the Packer’s game?):

From WIKIPEDIA: On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Nexstar in a deal valued at $17.14 per-share, valuing the company at $4.6 billion plus the assumption of $2.3 billion debt. The combined company will be known as Nexstar Media Group, and own 171 stations, serving an estimated 39% of U.S. households. The company will pay Meredith Corporation (whom Media General had previously proposed a merger with) a termination fee of $60 million, and give Meredith right of first refusal to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested during the purchase. The deal also includes contingent value rights for Media General shareholders if it sells spectrum from its stations during the FCC’s spectrum incentive auction.[24][25]

 Sale to Nexstar

On January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, including KELO. This deal will bring KELO-TV under common ownership with ABC affiliate KCAU-TV in Sioux City, Iowa.[8]

With the affiliation with KCAU we will get the regional bowling competitions live on air again? You have to be old to remember these exciting broadcasts with Gene Sherman (KCAU) and Dave Dedrick (KELO) cohosting “The Big Bowl” from Sioux City, Iowa.

Gene Sherman was an excitable guy who was the sports guy for years and gave school kids the guided tours. He showed the behind the scenes cool stuff.

stormland-faux-news

For the record it is the ‘Republican’ and ‘Democratic’ parties. Not sure when that has changed? (KELO-TV screenshot)

I wondered what the John Thune press release news station would do for coverage of the President, so I toggled back and forth between them and KSFY while watching live yesterday. I will admit KSFY did a better job, even though it got tiresome hearing Brian Allen say ‘awesome’ & ‘amazing’ every time he saw a presidential seal and grumpy-grouchy Nancy continually interrupting so she could tell us about the color of the carpet at the White House. But at least they praised the presidential visit, instead of turning it into a pouty-pants party for Noem-Rounds-Thune.

When I heard the above Stormland reporter say ‘Democrat’ party in his report and it being on closed caption, I just shook my head. This is what it has come to in the MSM in South Dakota, partisanship, awesomeness and whole lot of caring.

reporter_mj

“Hey, thanks for those tickets to the Greenbay game, now for some (softball) questions.”

So last week I was shown some photos of Mayor Huether attending the KELO-TV employee Christmas party doing photo-ops with employees. Maybe he was the keynote speaker or the entertainment for the night. Thank Snowplows my work just sets up banquet tables in the warehouse and feeds us fried chicken for about 45 minutes for our Christmas party.

I was also shown photos of the mayor attending a Greenbay game at Lambeau with the general manager of KELO-TV, Jay Huizenga. I guess it didn’t shock me too much (the Christmas party I find stranger then the game trip).

So I sent this email off to Jay;

Jay, I recently was given a couple of photos of Mayor Huether attending the KELO-TV employee Christmas party and you and him attending an NFL football game in Greenbay. No big deal. What concerns me is that the General Manager of a local news organization is crossing the line of journalistic integrity. I don’t think I have to remind you of the 4th estate, and their duties. Sometimes that means you can’t be friends with certain people. Before I post anything on my blog, I would like to hear an explanation from you.

Thank You, Scott L. Ehrisman

southdacola.com

Jay replied;

Thank you for the email.  I have no comment on my personal life.

No Jay, thank you for not answering any of my questions. I did think about sending the mayor an email, but I’m sure his ‘personal’ friend Jay probably already made him aware there are photos of Santa Cheesehead Mayor floating around on the Facebooks. C’mon Mike, didn’t you learn anything from the Lamb Chislic incident?

Though I responded to Jay that ‘I understood’ I really didn’t know what to think, but the more I thought about them, the more it frustrated me that our local news media would be this cozy with an elected official.

Like I said at first, didn’t surprise me. But then I started thinking about all the very (soft) stories this organization has done about the city, especially when it comes to this mayor or the Events Center (remember, KELO is a sponsor), and it started adding up, that the relationship is way too cozy.

First off, I don’t think there is anything wrong with people in the news industry being friends with local elected officials. Hey, if you want to go for a jog together, meet up for drinks, or even have dinner at each other’s homes, I think it is perfectly within reason. I think the more cordial journalists are to elected officials and vice versa, the easier it may be to get a story. I know my cordial relationships with public officials have yielded me many leads and information. But I certainly don’t take them to NFL games, and I am certainly not a full-time, for profit, news organization. I think more importantly I share a common interest in transparency, and integrity in government with these officials. I don’t need to scratch their backs, and they don’t need to scratch mine to get truthful information out there.

What makes this situation different is, who invited who? And who paid for the tickets and travel expenses to the game? This is where it gets complicated, and NO longer ‘personal.’ Someone indicated to me that KELO may have supplied the tickets since that particular game was broadcast on CBS, and the mayor or others in the party paid for travel expenses to make it appear more 50/50. Either way, it’s one thing for an elected official to buy you lunch or even a beer, but a trip to an NFL game? I also find it ironic that a Mayor and an Events Center sponsor would have to travel a couple of states away to ‘entertain’ themselves when they told us we needed to build the Events Center so we can see world class entertainment here instead of traveling. So which is it? Isn’t Stampede Hockey entertaining enough for you guys?

I want to know what you think. Do you agree with Mr. Huizenga that this has to do with his ‘personal life’ only? While (political) business may or may not have been discussed on the trip, it seems this kind of cozy relationship may affect the kind of news we hear about this political figure. AND I think it has. But you know what they say at these media organizations, the sales department never dictates to the news department what to broadcast. So I guess the General Manager never talks to the news department either, you know, similar to the relationship Huether has with the city council.

Though Jay did say the football game trip was personal, he failed to say anything about the Christmas party, which leads me to believe Huether was invited.

Like I mentioned above, I have often felt that this news organization has done light hearted and non-controversial stories about the city, mayor and others (I’m convinced that Thune has a staffer with a desk in their studios), and after seeing and hearing the latest about the relationship they share, I have ZERO confidence in this organization ever doing anything investigative or controversial about Huether, or even giving us the full story.

So much for Doug Lund’s post about how much better KELO is at NEWS then the Argus Leader.

I get angry when people I know in the broadcast news business, who work every bit as hard at their craft and are as dedicated to journalistic excellence as anyone at the Argus.

More like working on craft beers at an NFL game with the mayor. Speaking of the ‘100 Eyed Spaghetti Monster’ I told them about the situation and encouraged them to do a real story about it, instead of just my farting around stuff on my blog. I don’t have much confidence in that happening after reading Whitney’s column on Sunday about the mayor smiling a lot and beating up on Kermit over a wishing well. Stu, was that supposed to be a parody column? You know, parodies are supposed to make people laugh, right? At least you didn’t mention Dan Scott, and well, Janklow is dead anyway.

So much for the 4th Estate in Sioux Falls being the watchdog of local government, more like the lapdog.

I guess it is good to be King, and it only cost a couple of football tickets. I suspect to see another story about evil bloggers after this post gets published. Hey Jay, wanna join me for a Storm game? I’ll even drive, of course we would have to see it in our lousy stadium, be careful not to trip on any of the cracks in the floor and watch out for flying siding.