Jason Zimmerman has been working in media in North East Wisconsin for over 20 years. His role as the Political Reporter at WBAY has put him in a position to interview and get to know politicians on both sides of the aisle. On Wednesday, he got into a heated verbal exchange with the incumbent Mayor of Green Bay, Eric Genrich, about the coverage that he has been given during the course of the campaign.
During our conversation, he told me “I think the Mayor’s had a sense of frustration toward me for while.” He went on to describe how throughout his entire career, he has gone to great lengths to make sure that he does not appear biased toward or against any candidate he may be covering. He went on to emphasize that it is important to get the answers to the questions that Wisconsinites are interested in, and also to ask follow-up questions when an answer may not go far enough.
According to Jason, this verbal spat stemmed from a question about the topics the Mayor would choose to address in press conferences. He went on to paraphrase the conversation “There is criticism that you’re speaking about issues at the state and federal level, that the Mayor’s office has no control over. I talked about the press conference held last week regarding abortion, he held another press conference on education spending with the Green Bay School District… and yesterday was on ACT 10.”
Jason went on to reference his years in the industry, and that you would be hard pressed to find another politician that has a problem with the way that he reports on stories. He went on to say that he stands by every question he has posed to both the incumbent Mayor and the challenger.
I have personally reached out to the Mayor’s office for a response to Jason’s comments, but as of writing this article I have not heard back yet.
To listen to the entire conversation, click the player at the top of the article.
