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That Tweet Looks Familiar

WISN in Milwaukee has a number of staffers on Twitter and it is very obvious when there is breaking news or a big story the station wants to promote. 

When a second arrest had been made in a local playground shooting, Milwaukee stations were quick to tweet the news.

But WISN, which has taken to Twitter like a teenager, was really pushing the story on Twitter.  News of the arrest was posted under multiple accounts, including anchors Kathy Mykleby(@kathymykleby) and Craig McKee (@mckeeWISN), the @WISN12News account, assistant news director Ed Reams (@WISNedreams) and the account of executive producer Jessica Schmid (@jlynnbattle).

But the Milwaukee Journal says that  a closer look at tweets from WISN staff shows several of those about the shooting to be identically worded, suggesting they were not written by the person posting them. Also Wednesday, Mykleby and reporter Colleen Henry (@colleenmariehen) posted the same tweet within minutes of each other: "Stopping speeders from above. On @WISN12News at 5, how planes help pull over drivers who are trying to trick police. http://ow.ly/i/5IJmv ."

News director Christopher Gegg (@ChrisGegg) said in an email that digital media manager Tom Swigert(@tomswigert) oversees the @WISN12News account, but "reporters and anchors have access to it" and "can jump on and update."

Reams said, in an email, that "all tweets are sent by individual account holders," but that the station provides "suggested tweets" for staffers "several times a day" that they can send from their own account.

"It really isn't much different than re-tweeting," he said.

Well yeah....it kind of is.