Former Argus Reporter Sneve in kerfuffle with current Argus reporter over ‘activist journalism’

Pat Powers

Former Argus Leader reporter, Joe Sneve, now of The Dakota Scout, is in a Twitter debate with Argus Leader education reporter Morgan Matzen over the language he used in a story about State Representative Fred Deutsch.

It’s an exchange which seems to give some insight into the work conditions that former Argus Reporters Sneve and Jon Ellis from the Dakota Scout worked under and the corporate demand for woke-speak from corporate parent Gannet:

What do you think? Is Sneve in the wrong for not following the “trans-journalism style book?”

Or is he correct to reject the demands from his former co-worker Matzen, commanding him to get in the woke-lane, grab a pronoun list, and go along with the crowd when it comes to his writing?

53 thoughts on “Former Argus Reporter Sneve in kerfuffle with current Argus reporter over ‘activist journalism’”

  1. so if I introduce myself as a “biological female,” that’s offensive?
    Cool.
    I’m always on the lookout for new ways to be offensive.

    1. seriously, in the alinsky playbook, use ridicule on your enemies and great peer pressure / conformity on your friends.

  3. Have these trans “females” like the swimmer Lia had their DNA tested? His build is not that of a female. And i refuse to use his preferred pronoun.

  4. Argus Leader went “woke” years ago. I prefer the English language, truth, and common sense over make-believe, woke, and bullying. SD is not woke so why would we talk like we are? We are more in touch with reality than someone wanting to re-assign their body and pronouns. Who can keep up with the stupidity? Sports should be categorized by Scientific DNA, not by brain farts.

    1. Mr. Sneve, usually a questionable fellow in grudznick’s mind, is on the mark like a gentleman peeing into an empty beer bottle on this one. The young lady with the Sioux Falls “newspaper” is an activist and not a reporter.

  6. The THOUGHT POLICE are on patrol. It is weird….in the name of personal freedom, they insist on denying it to others.

    It was said that if you joined corporate McDonalds, you had to learn to McWalk and McTalk.

    So she is McTalking.

    You go, Joe.

    Meanwhile, I heard the Argus is down to NINE staff. That would be 8 on the billing and ad sales staff, and one writing crap like this sermon to Joe Sneve.

    Crazy. In the day, the Argus was THE force with which to reckon. Now they are a BLOG.

      1. nice deflection. to redirect, however, let’s try for a one line summary of all this. mine would be – the traditional media in this state, much of it, is done giving even one scintilla of a percent of a crap about hosting, preserving and presenting the deep and smart journalism this state needs. thank god for blogs like this even though it’s scary to get dependent on the blogosphere. now you can get back to your easter egg hunt for book burners. thank you.

      2. It’s the woke left that’s going to ban all the books with pronouns in them.

        It’s languages like Arabic, French, German, Russian and Spanish, which assign gender to nouns, which are quite problematic. All such languages are offensive now.

        1. Oh really? It’s too bad you couldn’t be further from the truth as no Democrats have pushed legislation to ban books while Republicans are proposing laws in almost every red state as I type this. Good try though. It’s amazing how some of you keep breathing on a daily basis.

  7. Dave Kranz would be appalled at the precipitous fall of the Argus. IN the last few years, they went off the cliff. THUD. Started 20 years ago, firing all the investigative reporters.

    And the Argus has not hit bottom. Stand by for that.

    We have hit a time when when only the weakest or wokest journalists would take a job there. And it shows on this story.

    Ten bucks says this Argus person cannot tell you WHO dave kranz was.

  8. The Dakota Scout is glorified litter box liner, Jon Ellis was and is a lazy journalist, and Joe’s ego far outstrips his abilities to research. Argus is better off without both.

  9. This young Ms. Madsen, very inexperienced, is part of the reason that Sioux Falls newspaper keeps tanking. And tanking.

    They have augured in so deep at this point, they can only be saved by the likes of the South Dakota Scout blogging and that Searchlight outfit, across town. Ms. Madsen should be groveling up for a new job.

    I’m just sayin…

  10. Quick someone get Dick Cheney’s opinion on this Morgan Matzen’s Activist Journalism here……

  11. Way to go Joe. Can’t decide which she should be more embarrassed about, that she has time to criticize a reporter over this, or admitting she’s following some special interest group in writing all of her stories.
    Bad news for those with fireplaces that rely on Argus to start their fires, probably won’t have that tinder source available much longer.
    Dry sad wok corporate successful effort to ruin a once good news source.

    1. Even the New York Times has had op-eds recently pining for a return to objective journalism. Here’s a monster-media employee demanding use of a special-interest group’s stylebook. She doesn’t even do so in the pages of her own publication, but, on a competing platform since she knows no one will read it in her own paper.

      We may as well convert Al’s namesake school of journalism back to a basketball court. His vision has clearly been buried deep by the very industry he built.

    2. good observation. the previous shame of failing your due diligence and failing to reach for the highest standard, however, doesn’t just fall on some political minion – it falls on owners who undertake to buy these outlets then decide the effort isn’t worth the cost. it’s like buying a baseball team, firing the players and selling the park then promoting sales staff and janitors to player status and having them swing bats in a field somewhere and still calling it baseball. if you don’t have enough of the right people with the right skills and tools, in the right place at the right time, doing the right things, then it’s not baseball.

  12. I’ve hung on to my Argus subscription much longer than most. Today’s the day that ends. Can’t believe she has the nerve to fight over this woke shit.

    Time for these woke Argus reporters to fold up shop and move on to a more woke state.

  14. The Black Robe Regiment is being reorganized to bring morals, values, and self discipline back in the government process. The rise of church in defense of liberty is what helped separate from the king, and it was the church that led the movement to lead to a new age concept of which the people were the sovereign, not the King, or the President, or the Congress, or the Legislature. It was a group led by the Pastors who organized their congregations to be the first line of defense, that stood in the way of a corporate, tyrannical government, and it was the thanks to people like Joe and countless citizens who had the know with all to write journals, dialogues, opinion pieces to educate, inform, audit, what their government is doing or not doing. It is not about the pros or cons of a particular issue, but it is about actively pursuing real time journalism or chronicles about what is occurring within our past, present, with the ability to change the future for a positive good. Before the left critiques Joe Sneve, I recommend they look more into who owns the Argus Leader, then proceed to learn who owns Gannett, and then, you will learn who really controls News Media Corp. You will find, that it is the corporate investors who own stock in the company, who is controlling what is being printed in those corporate papers.

    The Return of the Black Robe Regiment.

      1. We are a group of people, concerned citizens of who wish to protest, serve our communities, and bring people together in a congregation of followers with the goal of creating a quorum of respectful, and positive discussion. We meet in Churches, Public Assemblies, and Forums to engage in civil discourse on all matters of public interest. We see ourselves as the true masters of the universe, beneath our Lord, God the Almighty, as adopted by the Preamble to the South Dakota Constitution. We took our oath to defend our creator, the people, and to maintain an honest, transparent government. We see ourselves as the last stand for unity, and the Rise of Donald Trump in 2016, where he hoisted the 1776 American Flag atop the White House symbolized the Rebirth, and Recreation of the Black Robe Regiment of Pastors leading their Congregations to lead in adopting positive laws by means of resolutions and initiatives. When the time is right, we shall present 1 candle in the Church Steeple where the enemy comes by land, and 2 candles in the Church Steeple where the enemy comes by sea. However, the enemy is already on our soil, and that presents further, that the time is ripe to become the creator, the father, and judge of the proceedings to come. The left has shown their first hand, we installed Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021, while the Left has made its final move as it closed down Churches, but left open their dutiful masters, the Multi-National Corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Home Depot for all to see. Today, the churches are now concurring with each other, that this is our time to shine, and have given up our Tax Exemptions led by several Pastors who now are seen as re-energizing the Black Robe Regiment. We come in peace, and shall remain peaceful, awaiting for the Left to make their next move.

        Hail to Paul Revere, the Pastors, and their Congregations. For they are the line of defense to returning America back to a Moral and Righteous Society.

        1. So. Overgodders.

          You pose no threat to the dominant position of the Conservatives with Common Sense in the breakfasting community in Rapid City. You all will be in church when we are served our gravy taters.

              1. At some point, the People will get fed up with the over taxing being done in South Dakota, high property taxes, the sales tax surplus is growing greater and greater, the high tax rate on vehicles, and all the TIF candy being thrown out to developers, let alone all the Farm and Housing Subsidies being thrown around show evidence of society being over taxed. At some point the Church will rise up and organize the people to take back control of their own State of Political Corruption.

                Whether it is Kristi Noem, or the Executive Board of the Legislature, or the several Municipalities and School Districts contining to rape American Citizens of the State with progressive taxation of high property taxes and sales tax rates all to create this abundance of tax dollars to subsidize the Farmers, the Ethanol Industry, the Housing, the Insurance, the Energy, and Banking Industries.

                On top of that, members of the Senate may be passing a law that gives to the City of Deadwood the right to contract with Other Municipalities and Private Companies to expand the Industry of Sports Wagering across the State, look at S.B 209.

                At some point fellas, we have to admit that we are over taxing people to death, to allow a small group of citizens to profit off our taxes.

                At some point, the people will band together, behind their Pastors, organizing their Congregations for the better good.

        1. this black robe society or whatever is either a sincere moral majority ex-pat sitting alone in a basement someplace; or some lefty pretending to be this new uber-wave of godly patriotic republican loyalty-oath-servers in order to create a new layer of q-anon style fake news. either way, eww. i say it’s a lefty effort because their math skills are in question, and they’re treading the path that always leads to exchanging our current revenue system for one that includes a state income tax, which we should continue to avoid. i await the ad hominem response.

  15. Sneve and Ellis repeatedly revealed repeatedly their bias in the support to legalize and fully commercialize Marijuana in South Dakota. Hypocrisy.

  18. Interesting that this is the first mention of HB 1080 on this blog. The bill was forcibly rammed through both chambers without the Governor’s office showing up to speak in support, aside from a quick sentence at the end of Soye’s testimony to the effect of “oh yeah and the Governor supports this, too.” No press availability for the bill signing, and one of the shortest press releases to support the bill becoming law.

    Why? This looks like a turd of a bill passed as quickly and quietly as possible to allow everyone to wash their hands and close their eyes. Embarrassed by your votes? You should be. The process that pushed this through was the most shameful thing I’ve seen in the SD legislature.

    1. Samantha Chapman, some of us are on to what the trans movement is about: targeting, then mutilating, gay kids. They are trying to eradicate homosexuality by reassigning gender. The UK is ahead of us in this realization, but we here are catching up.
      Gender dysphoria is a delusion, and while delusions can last for years, eventually they end. Kids who thought they were trans eventually realize they are gay. Leave them alone, let them grow up and figure it out. If they are left alone, there won’t be any reason for them to be offended by pronouns, dead-naming, or words like “biological female.”

      1. Anne what you posted clearly shows how little you regarding this. Which far right political grifter was pushing this? They are making money pushing these lies and misinformation and it appears you fell for it hook line and sinker.

  19. Now the that Sioux Falls paper says the kind of fish you eat make you a racist. How woke is that?

  20. Can we morn the loss of fact and truth? “Biological female” is “inaccurate”? I disagree, but still, say that the term perpetuates negative stereotypes, or it ignores other important factors, or it fails to address the issue. But don’t say it’s “inaccurate.” “Biological female” is an accurate and descriptive statement about one’s physical and biological make-up. For generations, we’ve joked about one side or the other arguing “up is down and down is up.” We’re there, it’s not a joke anymore. I hate to reduce a dispute to hyperbole, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders was not exaggerating when she said that the fight today is between normal and crazy.

  21. “How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn’t make it a leg.” – Abraham Lincoln

    A man is not a woman just because he got surgery.

  23. A series of surveys from Gallup reveals that 25% of Americans in 1993 reported having very little or no confidence in newspapers, a number that’s risen to 46% in the 30 years since.

    Exactly why America is more distrustful of the media is unclear, though it coincides with the rise in political polarization that’s taken place over the last 25-30 years and the ascent of social media.

    This is CLEARLY exhibited in the extreme views of the current Argus Leader staff….and why subscriptions and advertisers are running away from that paper as quick as they can.

    Give me old fashioned hard nosed reporting like the Dakota Scout any day over the Argus…it’s really sad that it has fallen so far so fast.

  24. Fred isn’t a target because he’s on this new bandwagon of hating on trans people, that is just the flavor of the month for them. It wasn’t long ago when they were scared of Mexicans, before that it was Muslims. A few years from now it will be something new. He’s a target because he’s a hypocrite. He cherry picks what he thinks is “important” and tries to legislate that. He calls for limited government, but wants to make every decision he can for you in your life, because he thinks he knows better. A man who has sold the idea of cracking your back as healthcare wants to control what you perceive as healthcare.

    I’m sick of this notion that the GOP is for “limited government”, we can clearly see it is only limiting to one perspective of government. You can look at Fred’s introduced and sponsored legislation and see every piece is to expand control of your life through government he and his autocratic friends control. We want freedom, not more government.

  26. I’m surprised how many rush to defend a coke dealer, but it makes me wonder who in Pierre is in on the supply. JH most of all.

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