Wisconsin’s largest newspaper added a major correction to an article it published about the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate just days before voters in the Badger State head to the polls.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story Thursday that claimed Michels Corporation, co-owned by Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, employed no black “employees in management positions.”
By Friday, the outlet had added a major top line correction to the story to note that the diversity “concerns” in question were not for the whole company, which employs about 8,000 people, but one subsidiary in Illinois.
“An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that public documents showed Michels Corp. does not have Black employees in management positions. Company officials said after the initial publication of the story that the documents pertained only to one subsidiary of Michels Corp,” the outlet added to the top of the story.
The headline was changed from “Michels Corp. does not have Black employees in management positions, according to public documents,” to “Lack of diversity at a Michels Corp. subsidiary raised Equal Employment Opportunity concerns for Illinois contract.”
According to the company, minorities or women actually make up about 17.3% of middle or upper management positions throughout the company. As conservative outlet Wisconsin Right Now pointed out, black people in various management positions can be found by searching LinkedIn.
The diversity “concerns” were publicized by the Left-leaning SEIU Wisconsin State Council, a state lobbying group.
A source close to the Michels campaign told The Daily Wire that the Journal Sentinel had “egg all over their face” thanks to the story and subsequent correction.
“The Journal Sentinel took a hit from the SEIU and the Democrats and ran with it without a shred of scrutiny in spite of being given evidence that it wasn’t true. They rightfully have egg all over their face as a result. It’s no wonder trust in legacy media is reaching new lows every day,” the source said.
It’s not the first time that the Journal Sentinel has faced criticism over its coverage of Michels. In a story published at the end of August, a headline declared that Michels, a Christian, donated to “anti-gay” and “anti-abortion” groups through his foundation.
The story centered on Michel’s donations to crisis pregnancy centers as well as Christian churches that adhered to a biblical view of marriage and gender.
“For four years, they turned a blind eye to the consequences of Evers’ many failures and are now all in as accomplices in his desperate campaign to demonize me, my company, my family, and now even our personal charitable giving,” Michels said at the time.
Recent polling has shown Michels and incumbent Democrat Gov. Tony Evers tied, just ahead of Tuesday’s election.
