On 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News," Journal Sentinel writer Daniel Bice talked about the process in which he wrote the story about the extramarital relationship between Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee Magazine (and former 620WTMJ talk show host Jessica McBride).
"I got an anonymous letter on June 1st," explained Bice. "Since then, I've been trying to talk to the Chief, to Jessica, to her husband, (former Waukesha County District Attorney) Paul Bucher, the mayor, many people."
"It took a while before the police chief finally decided to issue a statement. He gave it to me yesterday, apologizing for the affair."
"It is not been an easy thing for someone to admit. He had to talk to his wife and his daughter."
"Last week, I tried to go to a press conference, and they were afraid I might ask this question, so they barred me from the press conference. Stuff has been going on for the last two-and-a-half weeks."
Bice also had questions about whether to go with this story.
"We struggled with that. Someone sent us what appeared to be a love letter and e-mails between them. We spent time, more than an hour, talking with a journalism ethicist about this."
"I talked to a guy from Boston, and we went through the story to discuss whether this is something that we should write or not, and another guy from Maine. These are two of the leading journalistic ethics professors in the country."
Then, the chief took a step that gave Bice the room to tell the story.
"Once the Chief decided to make the apology, and to go public with it, then it becomes news."
As a journalist, Bice had a keen understanding about the questions that could come with a relationship developed with the subject of a news story.
"There was the journalism ethics question, because there was this long-going story that Jessica had written about him. It's not clear when the affair starts. I've asked both of them repeatedly that question, and neither of them wants to address it. Then there's the question of, 'He's the police chief. Should he be involved in an extramarital affair?' "
Reportedly, McBride had also started a relationship with her current husband, Bucher, through her work at the Journal Sentinel.
"I don't know the details of that stuff. I don't think she was removed from any beats, but once it became apparent she was dating Paul Bucher, they had to draw a line and say you had to write about him and certain things in Waukesha County. They never technically pulled her off a beat."
The content of the e-mailed letters reportedly exchanged between McBride and Flynn had a lot of content that brought questions to Bice as to what, and how much, to put in the story.
"We were up late trying to decide what we could and what we couldn't include. Some of it is incredibly graphic, and we decided to not include some of that."
"The stuff that we still include shows something of the struggle with the story, and the writing of the story for Milwaukee Magazine."
"It becomes clear that the letters don't say 'Jessica McBride' across the bottom, or 'Ed Flynn.' They match up the details that went on in their lives. They haven't come out and said, 'these are from us."
Bice received the letters, started communication with Flynn and McBride, and that started the process of Flynn's apologies.
"Once I came out and started asking about the letters, then the chief apologized to the mayor two weeks ago. Then, he flew home to Virginia this weekend to apologize to his wife."
"When he sent me the statement yesterday, I was impressed. I thought it was the grown-up thing to do. He addressed the issues without bringing Jessica up by name. He apologized for the stuff and asked the city to forgive him. I have no idea what the impact is going to be, but I think he can survive this."
However, McBride's family had a different response to Bice's inquiries.
"I went to (Paul Bucher's) house last weekend. He threw me off the property. He called on me for asking questions asking about this."
Bice talked about the potential effect this could have on Flynn's tenure as Milwaukee police chief.
"That's a different issue. I understand he's going to be talking with his staff and some other people. Who knows who else he's talking to, but it's a difficult situation. I can't think of any precedent of this, so I think it will be interesting to see how the people at City Hall will respond, how the council responds and how the Mayor responds.
"The Mayor put out a statement supporting him. The Mayor's known about this since June 3rd. The Mayor's not done anything yet to suggest that he's going to try to remove him or do anything like that."
