between the two newspapers was further shielded by the federal Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which protected newspapers participating in such agreements from antitrust charges. Supports Senator Joe McCarthy The Wisconsin State Journal vociferously supported McCarthy throughout his political career, consistently defending his methods and attacking his detractors. The State Journal endorsed McCarthy every time he ran for state-wide office, five times in all, including three Republican primaries. The first time was in 1944, when McCarthy was little-known and challenged incumbent Republican Senator Alexander Wiley in the Republican primary. The State Journal was one of four papers to endorse McCarthy that year, the only one outside his home base in the Appleton area. Setting the tone for later endorsements, the 1944 introduction was an effusive, admiring portrait taking up the better part of an entire page with two pictures and an account from McCarthy himself, trumpeting the "Tail-Gunner Joe" myth propagated by McCarthy based on a "commendation" he almost certainly forged. The State Journal endorsed McCarthy in the Republican primary and general elections in 1952, writing just before the general election in 1952: Sen. McCarthy, despite, some mistakes, has done the nation a service. He has brought the anti-Communist fight out in the open, where it should be. He has forced the reluctant administration to act against Communists and fellow-travelers in the government and out. He has focused attention upon the serious domestic issue of infiltration by Russian agents. And, despite his critics and the most vicious personal attacks directed on a public figure in our history, he has slowly but surely produced evidence about persons and events ... evidence the American voters should have. "McCarthyism" has encouraged our citizens to ask some penetrating questions of "important" people, and demand honest answers. The MNI strike In 1976, Madison Newspapers, Inc. sought to upgrade its technology with the implementation of digital copy editing and typesetting. Without negotiating with the unions, MNI managers ordered the new equipment, and in April 1977 automated typesetting equipment was put into use. Seventeen printers were forced to give up their jobs and the wages of the remaining printers were cut by one third. On October 1, 1977 the five local unions at the MNI plant went on strike, including the International Typographers Union, the Newspaper Guild, the Wisconsin State Journal Employees Association, the pressmen's union and the mailers' union. Striking employees had founded the Madison Press