River News: Our View

Wisconsin has never lacked for political passion, and that’s an understatement. From the Progressive era’s dismantling of the patronage system to Scott Walker’s toppling of public-sector unions that provoked tumultuous protests, the state’s residents are ready to have a go on almost any issue at almost any time, and from a diversity of viewpoints.

Like anywhere else, however, what we sometimes lack is a clear window into how decisions are made. At this newspaper, we have made that clear over and over again in our fight for open records, open government, and transparency.

Many people don’t know it, but, for 18 years, the nonpartisan public affairs network known as WisconsinEye has served the transparency mission just as much, though in a slightly different but no less important way: It opens the doors of government by broadcasting its proceedings to the entire state.

It’s wide-open, unfiltered, C-SPAN-style coverage of our government’s inner workings is available to every resident without a subscription, without a spin machine, and without partisan meddling.

Unfortunately, sad to report, it is on the brink of ceasing to be.

As we report today, according to WisconsinEye president and CEO Jon Henkes, the network will go dark on December 15 without emergency support — no live coverage, no programming, no new content, and no access to its extraordinary video archive of more than 18,000 hours of hearings, debates, budget briefings, committee meetings, and Supreme Court arguments. 

A treasure-trove of civic history is about to go dark, and we are about to be blind to a whole lot of vital government conduct. The legislature simply cannot let this happen.

For nearly two decades, WisconsinEye has done exactly what we say we want from our institutions: Allow the people — not politicians, not donors, not pundits — to interpret events for themselves. 

And they do it without an enormous budget. They have six staff members. And those staff members, as we report, have in the last two-and-a-half years alone covered 2,648 state events, produced 218 studio programs, recorded 401 campaign events, and drawn 320,000 unique website visitors. That is extraordinary output for such a tiny operation. It is the very definition of public service journalism. 

It is a mission that punches well above its weight.

It’s important to know that what’s threatening the network isn’t mismanagement or mission drift. It’s the brutal math of the modern fundraising environment. Philanthropic dollars have dried up, competition in the nonprofit world has exploded, and donors have increasingly shifted their giving toward urgent human services or political combat. 

In six months, as they report, WisconsinEye made more than 40 significant donor solicitations. Not one produced revenue. 

That part should trouble everyone. When a nonpartisan transparency network can’t attract support in an age when political fundraising in Wisconsin exceeds $200 million per election cycle, we have belly-crawled into a dangerous war zone. Negative TV ads are funded to the hilt and fire relentlessly into our living rooms, while quiet, unbiased civic infrastructure is left begging for the munitions of open government.

The public loses on that battlefield.

Meanwhile, the state’s budget structure created an unintentional paradox. The legislature approved a $10-million matching fund to build a permanent endowment for WisconsinEye — a unique opportunity to ensure the network’s viability long-term. But under current law, any private donations that trigger a state match must be sequestered in that endowment, not spent on operations. 

In other words, WisconsinEye must raise money to survive today while simultaneously asking donors for money they can’t use for that purpose. AsWisconsinEye CEO Jon Henkes says, that means the network is basically competing against itself, and that’s an impossible race to run. 

The endowment is a great goal, a shining beacon of stability in the distance, but at some point lawmakers must understand that, without immediate help, there will be no long-term future to stabilize.

The cost to transparency and civic engagement would be immense. Wisconsinites would lose unmediated access to government. Journalists would lose a critical investigatory tool. Advocates, watchdog groups, local officials, teachers, students, and everyday residents would lose the ability to watchdog the institutions that govern us.  

And you know what that means. The vacuum will be filled with more special-interest elites, those with the most money to shape a narrative. The trust that so many say is fraying will fray further. 

The kind of bipartisan harmony we see surrounding WisconsinEye is rare. The network is thus a bridge to seeing the other side’s point of view that we must not waste.

There is a practical side, too. All WisconsinEye is asking for immediately is $1 million — a single year of operating costs. The budget hasn’t grown in four years. In a state with a biennial budget of nearly $100 billion, this isn’t even a rounding error. 

It’s certainly less than the cost of a single political ad blitz in a swing district. It is the cheapest, cleanest investment in transparency we can make. 

But the civic argument is even simpler. A healthy democracy requires a mechanism in which everyone — average citizens — can see the same thing with their own eyes and make up their own minds.

That is what WisconsinEye does. No commentary. No editorializing. Just the truth, delivered plainly, as it unfolds.

Readers can help in two ways.

First, reach out to your legislators and urge them to support funding right now to keep the network operating. Tell them there is no excuse for inaction on such an important matter.

Second, if you can give, give. WisconsinEye is a nonprofit. Your donation — large or small — buys more truth, more sunlight, more access for your neighbors who depend on this resource.

A democracy that cannot see itself clearly will lose itself. WisconsinEye has kept us honest for 18 years. Now it needs us.

Let’s not go blind.