This is an opinion piece.
What to make of the Sam Kuffel kerfuffle?
In case you missed it, Milwaukee’s CBS 58 and Weigel Broadcasting fired the weather forecaster after conservative talk show host Dan O’Donnell exposed Instagram posts that she made unfairly criticizing Elon Musk for supposedly making a “Nazi” salute (which I don’t think Musk actually did.)
That’s sparked heated criticism, mostly from the left, against the network, O’Donnell, and its news director, Jessie Garcia. Frankly, a lot of the liberal arguments against the firing are silly and hypocritical, although I don’t disagree with their ultimate conclusion.
EXCLUSIVE: @CBS58 meteorologist Sam Kuffel makes a pair of vulgar Instagram posts while spreading the lie that Elon Musk was giving a Nazi salute during yesterday’s Presidential Inauguration. pic.twitter.com/C9qzSNg4J4
— Dan O’Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) January 21, 2025
There are some gray areas here, in contrast to the simplistic arguments being tossed around:
Firing Her Goes Too Far, But a Private Company Has a ‘Right’ to Uphold Its Own Policies
Knowing what we know now, I do not think Sam Kuffel should have been fired. She’s a young meteorologist whose career could be completely destroyed by this. I’m not a fan of cancel culture, and that’s also true for people I disagree with. I also have empathy for young people just starting out in the world, and sometimes they make mistakes they need to learn from.
If she violated her contract or a workplace policy due to the posts (which I’m not clear on because of CBS 58’s abysmal handling of this), suspend, reprimand, or counsel her. I have empathy for anyone who ends up on the other end of a media juggernaut, especially when they’re just starting out in the world. You don’t get to erase Google, and it affords people no second chances. The Internet is written in ink, not pencil. I believe in second chances – unless there’s some pattern here that we don’t know about. She has caused controversy through her use of social media before.
To be clear, if the station has a policy on social media that Kuffel violated (which is unclear because of their non-transparency), and because they claim objectivity and are a private company, I think they’re likely in their “rights” to fire her. She brought this on herself, and she isn’t the “victim” here. Not arguing otherwise. I would have stopped short of firing her though, for the reasons previously articulated. My opinion might change if there’s a long history of warnings, but that’s not information we know either way because of the station’s lack of transparency. Sam Kuffel says the posts were made on a private account, which also matters.
Many People Don’t Believe CBS 58 & Other Corporate Media Are Objective Anyway
The firing appears to be based on the corporate media’s smug and faulty assumption that they are the “objective” ones, which I think a large part of the country simply doesn’t believe anymore. The United States had a partisan press in its earlier days. There’s an argument to just put it out there and be honest about where you’re coming from.
I think some journalists would argue, “She’s supposed to be objective. Journalists aren’t supposed to share their political opinions.” However, at least half the country doesn’t believe they’re objective anyway. They think it’s a lie. The media made their bed on that angle with how unfairly they’ve covered Trump (and some local issues). Pretty much the only people who think they’re objective are apparently the folks running their news meetings and liberals who don’t want them to be.
I’ve heard people on BOTH sides arguing that she has “free speech” or a “right to her opinions.” She doesn’t really, not in a corporate workplace. CBS 58 is a private company. They get to set their own rules. People misunderstand the First Amendment. It bars government intrusion on free speech, not a private company’s. But I think this belief derives from a historic distrust in the media’s fairness. I think it comes from a belief that they’re not objective anyway.
She spouted off about politics knowing her station claims objectivity. She took the risk. That being said, a lot of younger people believe they have a “right” to say whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want, when corporate policies often say otherwise. That’s why I’d counsel her (or suspend/reprimand).
Journalists HIDING Their Political Biases While Creating Biased Narratives Is a Bigger Issue
CBS 58 did some really unfair reporting of Republican Tim Michels in the governor’s race, for example. I’m more concerned about that than a weather forecaster spouting off on a private Instagram page. I’m more troubled by the bias some journalists HIDE while twisting the facts or omitting information to create misleading narratives (case in point: Milwaukee “journalist” Dan Bice’s unfair hatchet job on Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel the other day.) The list goes on and on.
At Wisconsin Right Now, we don’t hide our opinions, but we also use journalistic techniques to report stories (open records, source verification, fact-checking, interviewing, etc.) We believe our mission is to tell people the verifiable facts and information that the other media ignore, omit, censor, or twist. But we don’t hide who we are. We are very clear on our mission. They’re not.
It’s very revealing and arguably hilarious that some on the left are basically arguing that people in the media should be able to take personal political positions as long as those opinions attack conservatives or further liberal talking points while simultaneously claiming the liberal media are the objective ones (which pretty much no one right of center believes.) It’s completely inconsistent, and they can’t even see that. To be clear, I believe journalists should strive to be fair. They should verify the information they report and document facts. If they can’t prove it, they shouldn’t print it. But that’s a different question.
She’s a Meteorologist, Not a Reporter
She’s not a reporter. She’s a meteorologist. That makes a difference in this “objectivity” analysis. Not sure how her opinions on Elon Musk could possibly taint her predictions of bad weather.
Double Standards Abound
Fox 6 Milwaukee Anchorman Ted Perry was treated differently over an inflammatory social media post. So there is that. (I’m consistent on this. We wrote a column arguing that Perry’s posts were outrageous, but he shouldn’t be canceled, either.) There’s definitely a double standard here. I’ve lost count of how many people on the left think I should be canceled because they don’t agree with all of my opinions. So they’re hypocrites in many cases. But that doesn’t mean I will be one.
It’s ridiculous for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to compare Kuffel’s situation to Jay Weber. Jay is a talk show host – a pundit and opinionmaker who doesn’t claim objectivity.
A Fairer Read of the Situation Is That Elon Musk Didn’t Intend to Make a ‘Nazi Salute,’ But It’s a Matter of Opinion, Not Fact
It’s fair game to criticize Sam Kuffel’s posts, though. Many on the left who are defending her are arguing that she was right to call out a Nazi! Or, they argue, “If you can’t call out someone for making a Nazi salute, what can you do?” They are acting like it’s a FACT that Elon Musk made a Nazi salute. I do not believe he did. When you watch the video in totality of the context, it’s obvious he was saying my heart goes out to you.
Elon is awkward in mannerisms; people with Asperger’s sometimes miss social cues. His record on Israel seems clear; even Netanyahu is defending him. Thus, when you look at the full picture contextually and fairly (yes, “OBJECTIVELY”), the fairer read is that he wasn’t intending to give a Nazi salute. Minimally, it’s arguable that he wasn’t intending to give a Nazi salute.
That means it’s a subjective opinion whether he gave a Nazi salute, not a fact. I believe this follows a trend in which some on the left increasingly are throwing objectivity out the window anyway in the Age of Trump. They believe left-wing opinions are the “human norm,” or the “facts,” and it’s wrong to be “objective” or to give Trump or Musk a fair shake. I find that revealing. I personally don’t agree with Kuffel’s posts because I do not believe that the fairest read is to assume Musk was making a Nazi salute. I don’t personally believe he was.
CBS 58 & Weigel Have Done a Terrible Job Explaining This to the Public
What her contract says and what their policies say matters, and CBS 58/Weigel have done a very poor job of explaining why they took the action they did. Crisis management 101: Just explain clearly what you did and why. They’re hiding behind vaguely word statements about “not talking about personnel issues.” They’ve got a big problem here.
I know two older Democrats who live in the Milwaukee area. I’ve never seen them so upset about anything in the local media before! Both were going to write CBS 58, call for managers to be fired, etc etc. They said they loved watching Sam Kuffel and kept referring to her as “just a young kid who was our favorite weather person.” I was at dinner with them and it was all they talked about. They were hot under the collar. CBS 58 has done a terrible job of explaining this action.
Some of the Criticism of Jessie Garcia & Dan O’Donnell Is Beyond the Pale
I’ve known CBS 58 news director Jessie Garcia for a long time, although I haven’t talked to her for years other than to place interns. I actually went to preschool with her, believe it or not, and then we lost touch (since preschool) and grew up in different communities. I then worked with her for several years. The people accusing her of being rightwing or supporting a “Nazi” or whatever are being ridiculous.
She’s really not very political behind the scenes, and I don’t even know for sure what her politics are, but I would be very surprised if she was conservative. The personal attacks are really over the top. Criticizing her for firing Kuffel is fair game, though. If she made the call. I’m not clear whether she made the call or whether people above her did, though, because, again, CBS 58 and Weigel (and Jessie) have done a terrible job explaining this.
Similarly, I’ve known Dan O’Donnell for a long time. The personal attacks against O’Donnell are also beyond the pale. It was absolutely fair game for him to criticize Kuffel’s posts due to their content, her position, and CBS 58’s claims of objectivity. If she didn’t want people to criticize her politics, then don’t go on point and throw out incendiary political positions on social media.
Proportion, People
I guess what I’m arguing for here is proportion. I wouldn’t have fired her for this, based on what we know now, but I also don’t think it’s beyond the pale to criticize her posts, and some of the liberal arguments against doing so don’t make sense.
These opinions are my own and don’t represent any institution where I work.
Table of Contents
