While it may be true that investigative reporting in blogs will never replace that of newspapers, you may not be able to tell in the race for the Illinois Fifth Congressional seat, to be held early next month. Yesterday a blog, Rosanna Pulido is a Freeper, appeared in multiple Internet outlets.. The blog lists the anonymous postings of a commentator to the Free Republic by a poster known only as Chicago lady. The blog, started March 10, was apparently sparked by an admission by Rosanna Pulido in a March 5th WMAQ broadcast report that she was the poster known as Chicago Lady.
The Rosanna Pulido is a Freeper blog analyzed the Free Republic, looking for instances of Chicago Lady postings and listing each of them. Pulido, who has said her campaign is about honesty in that March 5th WMAQ segment, reacted by asking the Free Republic if “reproduction of freerepublic comments ok??” and referencing the blog Rosanna Pulido is a Freeper.
The reaction among Republicans, at least in the blogosphere, has been deadly. Tom Mannis, who writes the Rogers Park Bench, withdrew his support from Pulido saying “new concerns that have caused me - as of late this morning - to completely withdraw my support for the Pulido campaign.” While Chris Barkulis at Rightnotwrong also laid into Pulido saying, “I cannot in good conscience back Ms. Pulido or her campaign.”
The Pulido campaign, at least on its blog and campaign web sites, is not yet commenting on the issue. Mannis has a long discussion of the failures of the Pulido campaign, especially in engaging residents of the district on the Internet.
However, this blog, Media Insider, is all about how the media, as in the mainstream media. And in the fallout over Pulido I decided to look at how the MSM has been treating the election of a new representative to Congress. We'll make it brief.
Here is a list of all the stories found in searches for “Rosanna Pulido” from the web sites of the MSM, by outlet, since March 1st. This is relatively the same format used to report blog entries except I'm going to be lazy about changing everything. Note please there is only ONE story on the connection between “chicago lady” and Rosanna Pulido. It is the WMAQ story noted earlier.
Chicago Tribune:
- Quigley tops Democratic field By John McCormick and Dan Mihalopoulos ,Tribune reporters
...250,000 on TV ads and phone calls to boost her campaign. Leading in the race for the Republican nomination was Rosanna Pulido, who has called for stricter enforcement of Immigration laws. She led Tom Hanson, who describes himself as a...
- Quigley pulls off primary victory By John McCormick and Dan Mihalopoulos ,Tribune reporters
...250,000 on TV ads and phone calls to boost her campaign. Leading in the race for the Republican nomination was Rosanna Pulido, who has called for stricter enforcement of Immigration laws. She led Tom Hanson, who describes himself as a...
Chicago Sun-Times:
Outsiders take a shot at 5th
Author: Abdon M. Pallasch The Chicago Sun-Times
Date: March 2, 2009
If a former professional wrestler, a peace activist and a nationally known anti-illegal immigration crusader were running for Congress, why wouldn't you hear about it? Because they're non-Democrats running in a district everyone writes off as Democratic.
Yes, it is possible a Republican or a Green could win the congressional seat Rahm Emanuel left to become President Obama's chief of staff.
As recently as 15 years ago, Michael Patrick Flanagan shocked...
Correction
Author: The Chicago Sun-Times
Date: March 3, 2009
A story in Monday's Sun-Times should have referred to 5th District congressional candidate Rosanna Pulido as a founder of the Illinois Minutemen. ...
Voter rebellion put reformer on top
Author: Carol Marin The Chicago Sun-Times
Date: March 4, 2009
Who knew at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday that an earthquake was about to hit Chicago's Northwest Side? Not Mike Quigley. He was standing alone on the corner of Cornelia and Southport grasping a handful of campaign fliers. Fifteen minutes before the polls would close, he was giving one last pitch to Brown Line commuters who hadn't yet voted in the three-party, 23-person primary for Rahm Emanuel's 5th Congressional District seat.
Not the richest candidate, Quigley...
Special elections by mail? Election's cost: $33 per vote
Author: Abdon M. Pallasch The Chicago Sun-Times
Date: March 5, 2009
Chicago and Cook County election officials will ask the state Legislature to allow them to conduct future special elections by mail to save money and increase voter participation. Even if only 10 percent to 18 percent of the voters are going to turn out for an election, officials have to have enough ballots and staff for a 100 percent turnout.
That means the City of Chicago spent $1.75 million on Tuesday's special election, or about $33 per vote. Cook County Clerk David Orr...
WBBM-TV
23 Candidates Crowd Field To Replace Emanuel 
March 3, 2009, 12:01 p.m. Central
Right now, 23 candidates are vying to take White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's place in the Congress, but Chicagoans will narrow that field to three on Tuesday as...
Quigley Wins Dem. Primary, Seeks Emanuel's Seat
March 4, 2009, 1:43 a.m. Central
...O'Connor and state Reps. Sara Feigenholtz and John Fritchey. Republican Rosanna Pulido is leading the pack of six GOP candidates seeking the party...
Quigley Tops Dems For Emanuel's 5th District Seat
March 4, 2009, 5:41 a.m. Central
...Quigley is not unopposed. He will face Illinois Minuteman Project founder Rosanna Pulido, and peace activist Matthew Reichel in the general election on April...
Early Voting Begins For Emanuel's Old Seat
March 16, 2009, 9:11 a.m. Central
...District primary on March 3. He faces Illinois Minuteman Project founder Rosanna Pulido, who won the Republican nomination, and peace activist Matthew Reichel, who...
WMAQ-TV
Quigley Gets Nod in 5th District
Mar 4, 2009
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley beat out a field of 11 other Democrats to get his party's nomination for the chance to replace Rahm Emanuel.
GOP Not Fully Embracing Their Candidate for Congress
Mar 5, 2009
Rosanna Pulido is the GOP's candidate in the race to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress, but her own party hasn't given their full support.
WLS-TV
5th District primary results almost official
Illinois GOP tries to restyle itself
5th District Democrats gather Sunday
... Republican candidate is Rosanna Pulido, and the Green party ...
Cardinal calls for end to raids
... Rosanna Pulido, the director of the ...
WGN-TV
“THERE ARE NO RESULTS TO YOUR SEARCH QUERY.”
WTTW-TV
No results within the month of March were posted.
I'm not the first person to note that this is a terrible overall picture of the media not caring about this race. I suppose that in the days to come, as the date the election is about to be held approaches, the media will gather more and furrow its collective brow. Still, it is a terrible picture of media incompetence and lost opportunity.
Let's keep in mind too, as it congratulates itself and defends itself from New Media, that although the MSM found the dirt, it took a blog to do the dirty work to dish it up. I'll be watching the reaction of the large media as it addresses this issue. Will it reference the blog that actually found the dirt?
Discuss
TRAVIS MOYER, 03-24-2009
I still doubt the effectiveness of blogs to do the investigative reporting that the MSM does, but this is a wonderful example of citizen journalism. But this just involved comment searches and digging up info on the internet. But FANTASTIC work nonetheless.
I'm sure it would get more notice if a republican actually had a shot at winning that district.
Comments for this article are now closed