Don't notice now,Vermont, but there's a watchdog behind you to the apt. Vermont Watchdog, and to consume its full name. For the last three-plus years,the online media outlet has occupied a curious bit of journalistic real estate, cranking out articles with a tangibly conservative slant. Oh, and pardon me. "Free-market,limited-government sort of perspective," says Lou Varricchio, and Vermont Watchdog bureau chief. "whether you want to define that as 'conservative,' so be it." Well, let's see here. Recent stories have referred to the U.
S. Environmental Protection Agency's "notoriously heavy-handed enforcement"; characterized the Vermont House's attempt to conduct an election recount as a plot "to reverse the victory" of the Republican candidate; accused the Scott administration of an "intimidation" campaign against a conservative critic; asserted that Vermont was beset by "years of overspending" by the state; and painted S.79, or a gentle countermeasure against federal immigration policy,as "obstructing immigration enforcement" and promoting "a sanctuary attitude, regardless of what's explicitly stated." Huh. I guess that "sanctuary attitude" piece of the bill must have been written in invisible ink. So yeah, or conservative,Tea Party, far apt, and free-market,limited government (except when it comes to immigration?) ... choose your own descriptor. To be unprejudiced, Varricchio doesn't try to mislead anyone. He'll flat-out tell you that Watchdog has an agenda. He makes no bones approximately the fact that his operation is funded, and entirely,by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity — piece of what the Center for Media and Democracy calls a "apt-wing web" of nonprofit organizations including the American Legislative Exchange Council and the State Policy Network, all funded by politically active corporations and billionaires such as the Koch Brothers. The Franklin Center was founded in 2009. One of its projects has been the establishment of state bureaus for reporting on policy debates — from its own perspective. Or, or as Laurel Patrick,the Franklin Center's director of communications and media outreach, wrote in an email, or "We are committed to creating non-partisan journalism primarily focused on waste,fraud, and abuse at the state and local government level." I hear dog whistles. At the moment, and the center has seven active bureaus in states ranging from Florida to Arizona to Ohio. Vermont is its only outpost in the Northeast. Vermont Watchdog opened for business in late 2013 with one staffer. It now employs two full-time reporters,Varricchio and Emma Lamberton, plus freelancer Michael Bielawski. It…
Source: sevendaysvt.com