September 25th, 2026: Journalists blocked in Milwaukee, Jay Johnson misconduct report, Public interest vs victim privacy

I do want to begin with a And then in the course of the week, it was sort of in limbo whether or not those three outlets would be covering the president amidst what was a very busy week with his speech to the United Nations General Assembly last Tuesday and then a state visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping on the rundown for the president.

It was a big week to not have pool coverage, which for at least a portion of the week was the case.

Those three outlets were back on Thursday to covering events from the White House, but it did spark an interesting conversation both online and even here at WTMJ in the newsroom and just around the water cooler about whether or not coverage of this was more a matter of defending First Amendment rights or if it was media groups going to bat for other media groups and showing solidarity in that regard.

Those conversations were then even further amplified locally on Thursday.

You had Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Tom Tiffany holding a roundtable on veterans issues at Explorium Brew Pub, not too far from where we are here in downtown Milwaukee.

and the event was open for media members to attend.

There were opportunities to ask questions after the roundtable was done.

But the storylines out of the event were less about veterans' issues and more about two Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters being barred from entering the event by a Tiffany campaign staffer.

The two reporters in question were Mary Spacuzza, who the paper identifies as their investigative political reporter, and David Clary, the public safety reporter for the paper.

Clary was at the event ostensibly to ask Tiffany further questions about the Milwaukee County Inmate Tablet Program, a story that Clary has been reporting on for several months and has begun to crop up in political messaging from both the Tiffany campaign as well as his opponents, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on the Democratic side.

Meanwhile, Spacuzza was in all likelihood there to cover a political event featuring a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate right in her paper's backyard.

But as the two attempted to enter the event at Explorium, staffer Eric Brooks prevented both from doing so in an exchange captured on video by Spacuzza.

We'd like to cover it.

Veterans are an important issue.

Well, we'd like you to cover the race fairly.

I believe we are covering the race fairly.

You have not.

I believe we are.

You have not.

We've got plenty of other press here.

You're more than welcome to look at their coverage.

They've been doing a great job of covering this race, but you're not allowed in.

I believe our coverage has been fair.

We've been requesting interviews for weeks.

Veterans are an important issue.