The Capital Times

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A Proudly Radical Newspaper’s Century-Long Fight for Justice and for Peace

Dave Zweifel and John Nichols

Foreword by David Maraniss

The story of a newspaper that has held strong to its principles for more than a century, as told by two insiders who helped preserve its sense of journalistic integrity.

336 pages, 7 x 9, 60 b&w photos
Paperback: $25.00 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-847-8
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-848-5
Publication Date: 12/5/2017

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Description

In a time when journalism is under assault and newspapers struggle to survive, one radical Wisconsin newspaper's success—and continuing fight for justice and peace—remains unbowed: The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin. Editors Dave Zweifel and John Nichols recall the remarkable history of a newspaper that served as the tribune of Robert M. La Follette and the progressive movement, earned the praise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for its stalwart opposition to fascism, battled Joe McCarthy during the “Red Scare," championed civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights, opposed the Vietnam War and the invasion of Iraq, and stood with Russ Feingold when he cast the only US Senate vote against the Patriot Act. The Capital Times did not do this from New York or Washington but from the middle of America, with a readership of farmers, factory workers, teachers, and shopkeepers who stood by The Capital Times when the newspaper was boycotted, investigated, and attacked for its determination.

Through it all, The Capital Times remained unbowed, and the paper still stands as a counter to British newspaper editor Lord Francis Williams’s description of American papers as “dull as weed-covered ditch-water; vast Saharas of cheap advertising with occasional oases of editorial matter written to bring happiness to the Chamber of Commerce and pain and irritation to none; the bland leading the bland.” Just here and there are a few relics of the old fighting muckraking tradition of American journalism, like The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin.

Author Bios

Dave Zweifel

Editor emeritus Dave Zweifel has been associated with The Capital Times for more than sixty years and is one of the nation’s most well-recognized and honored newspaper editors. He served as the president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council for fifteen years. Zweifel has been a Pulitzer Prize judge and a regular participant in national and international dialogues and debates about journalism. He was named to the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame in 2014. Zweifel lives in Madison

John Nichols

John Nichols has been associated with The Capital Times for more than twenty-five years, currently serving as its associate editor. He is also executive editor of The Nation magazine and is the author or coauthor of ten books, including It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, written with Senator Bernie Sanders. Nichols is a recipient of the Council for Wisconsin Writers Major Achievement Award. He is also a frequent commentator for the BBC and a guest on radio and television programs in the United States and abroad. He lives in Madison.

I disagree with The Capital Times—most of the time. But I have always read it because the reporting and the writing are so great, and because I want to know what the genuine progressives are thinking. When I was governor, I had three copies delivered to the office because I knew people would steal at least two of them and I wanted to make sure I had one for myself.

Tommy Thompson

Former governor of Wisconsin (1987–2001)

“When we started to talk about building a Rainbow Coalition, the media did not always take the idea seriously. But one newspaper out in the middle of the country—The Capital Times in Wisconsin—embraced this belief that we could bring people of every background together in support of economic and social justice and peace. They didn’t just get what our campaign was about, they endorsed it. The Capital Times is a remarkable newspaper. I love it for its courage, for its vision, and for its determination to keep speaking truth to power.”

—The Reverend Jesse Jackson

“The Capital Times has for a century provided Wisconsin, and America, with cutting edge reporting, anchored always in an historical context by timely editorials with timeless value. It is a daily testament to the value of true progressivism for our democracy. There is nothing like this newspaper anywhere else in the world!”

—Barbara Lawton, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin (2003–2011)