Gov. Scott Walker vetoed a clause in the 2013-'15 state budget Sunday that would have forced the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism out of its space on the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus and prohibited faculty from collaborating with it.
The WCIJ is an independent, non-profit investigative journalism group that operates on a $400,000 budget made up of donations from private foundations, individuals and news organizations, according to its website.
Upon its founding in 2009, the center agreed to provide UW-Madison’s School of Mass Communication and Journalism students paid internships, offer career connections and give guest lectures and ethics training to students in journalism classrooms in exchange for rent-free office space in Vilas Hall.
In an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal Friday, Walker said the UW Board of Regents should address agreements between the university and private groups and not legislators in the state budget.
Walker also said he will ask the Board of Regents to evaluate its policy on housing organizations in university property.
“It’s appropriate for [the Regents] to look at it,” Walker said in the interview. “But it should be done in the context of a larger policy, not just specific to one organization.”
In response to allegations that the center exhibited a left-leaning bias in its coverage, WCIJ Executive Director Andy Hall said he is proud of the standards and transparency the staff uses in their reporting.
“The center always has and always will operate in a non-partisan fashion… We invite everyone to read our stories and see for yourselves that this award-winning journalism scrutinizes the actions of people in power and seeks solutions to problems facing our state,” Hall said.
Hall also said the support the center received in the last few weeks for the partnership between the WCIJ and the journalism school was “overwhelming.”
“We heard from people across the ideological spectrum, across Wisconsin and across the nation who care deeply about a strong press, academic freedom and the importance of non-partisan investigative journalism,” Hall said.
