Update to a previous post
Via Watch Dog
We are fully aware of who Wisconsin Reporter is.
Stephanie Puentes tried to keep the smile from stretching across her face as she made that comment Thursday after denying my request to cover the White Privilege Conference here in Madison.
When I came back Friday morning, Puentes, a conference media representative, clearly seemed agitated. Puentes told me she was quite familiar with the previous stories I had done leading up to the seminar, which examines the concept that minorities may not be afforded the same privileges as white people.
And, again, she wouldn’t let me in.
Did it have anything to do with the story I wrote in early February, disclosing that taxpayers are underwriting at least $20,000 — and likely much more — of the cost of the forum at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center?
Or maybe it was because of my other piece Wednesday quoting Niger Innis, national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, who called the White Privilege Conference an irrelevant and frivolous waste of taxpayer money.
Puentes insisted I wasn’t allowed in because I had not registered online in advance or called the conference’s offices ahead of time to make arrangements.
It’s not as if I didn’t try.
White Privilege Conference officials have failed to make themselves available for comment when I’ve attempted to contact them for past stories. How was I supposed to make arrangements when nobody would return my calls and talk to me?
It also didn’t help the conference’s website doesn’t include a section for media registration.