Campaign finance records show a political action committee representing the owners of a Springfield, Massachusetts, televsion station made a donation to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal — who beat Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in last month's Democratic primary for the state's 1st Congressional District.
The donation came right before a debate WWLP hosted.
Nexstar Media Group owns WWLP, along with almost 200 other television stations. Its PAC gave $5,000 to Neal's campaign.
Morse said he felt like he was not only running against the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, but also the local media.
Morse was at the center of a controversy in the late stages of the race.
Given the donation, he was asked if he felt like he was treated fairly by WWLP's news department.
"Local media — 22 News, WWLP in particular — played an integral role in amplifying that story, and refusing to correct that story as the facts unfolded," Morse said.
The story Morse is referring to: the College Democrats of Massachusetts accused him of engaging in inappropriate behavior with college students. Shortly thereafter, The Intercept reported the claims were brought forward by a student trying to curry favor with Neal, and involved state Democratic officials. The controversy made headlines across the region and beyond.
In a statement, Neal's campaign said, "Richie is proud to represent the strong and ethical reporters of central and western Massachusetts, and it’s disappointing to see Mayor Morse attacking these good journalists.
The statement continued, "Richie will always stand up for hard working local news reporters and their critical contribution to our communities."
"I think you would find in most news organizations, they're completely oblivious to what the top executives of the firm are doing with their money."
Al Tompkins
WWLP's news director did not respond to requests for comment.
A Nexstar corporate spokesman, Gary Weitman, said in a statement, "The Nexstar PAC is a completely separate entity from our local television stations, which have always determined their own editorial content."
Al Tompkins is a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute, which focuses on training journalists. He said that in his experiences working in newsrooms, he believed that to be the case.
"I think you would find in most news organizations, they're completely oblivious to what the top executives of the firm are doing with their money," Tompkins said. "It happens at sort of a very different level from the people making editorial decisions."
Tompkins said broadcast companies, just like other industries, have issues and interests before lawmakers, so donations are made. He said there is a level of disclosure about donations, because PACs representing media companies have to file campaign finance reports, which are available to the public.
"Disclosure isn't a complete sanitizer, but at least it says to the public, 'Look, we understand that there's an implicit friction here, and we're addressing it, we're not hiding anything,'" Tompkins said.
Those reports show Nexstar's PAC has made more than $350,000 worth of political donations since 2019.
Other recipients besides Neal include senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, as well as Vermont U.S. Rep. Peter Welch.
