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What You Won't Find In The Main Stream Media.
The JournoList Saga Continues
Posted By B.J. Bethel On July 26, 2010 @ 12:05 am In FrontPage
News of the existence of “JournoList,” a 400-member listserv e-mail chain of liberal Washington D.C. journalists, began to emerge last year. It hit a peak several weeks ago when Dave Weigel, who was covering conservative politics for the Washington Post, was fired. Weigel’s expletive-laced frothings, aimed at some of his sources and subjects, were released to Tucker Carlson’s political website, the Daily Caller.
The list had always been highly discussed in conservative circles, but its founder, Ezra Klein, did his best to dismiss speculation that it was anything but innocuous. Weigel’s e-mails revealed otherwise. Andrew Breitbart later offered $100,000 for a member to come forward with the entire JournoList archive.
Through a source, Carlson came through with the archive last week. Weigel and his list-mates concluded that their now-revealed rants should be held private, even if shared with the inboxes of 400 other people.
Imagine, in one instance, if a state official were disclosing stories about state and security secrets at a party of 400 people. Most of those details would be online before said state official was home for the evening. But using Klein’s logic, and that of his like-minded cadre, all such matters should be off the record due to privacy. That’s an important fact to keep in mind, because most Washington D.C. journalists, at least of the so-called mainstream, liberal, and objective varieties, had little qualms with the New York Times when it made decision after decision to reveal state secrets involving American intelligence, or when phone calls between John Boehner and Newt Gingrich were surreptitiously recorded and transcribed by a media outlet. Washington journalists would have you believe their own rants to an audience of several hundred are of more importance than national security matters or personal phone calls.
That’s a small kernel of the hypocrisy revealed by Carlson and the Daily Caller. For years, conservative complaints of teamwork among supposedly objective journalists and liberal politicos was said to be muckraking; that these journalists weren’t, in fact, treating politics as a team sport, but were operating objectively. The list’s existence in itself shows that isn’t the case. Several mainstream outlets are well represented among the list members, such as TIME magazine, Politico, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post, as well as those from opinion outlets such as The New Republic, Salon, and The Nation. Conspicuous by absence are members of conservative outlets.
Inclusion of conservative members would have been detrimental to the list’s purpose. Members of JournoList corroborated in shaping the narrative on political stories in a manner benefiting the progressive movement. This ranged from outrage over the questioning of Barack Obama by ABC News during a presidential debate, to a discussion on how to handle Sarah Palin’s nomination.
The outrage over the ABC News debate prompted a letter to the network, signed by 45 members of the list, who were upset over the questioning of then-candidate Obama about his connection and relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who had repeatedly made racial and other incendiary remarks from the pulpit.
That Obama had held Wright as an inspiration for his own writing and career, and that Wright seemed to share some mentor relationship with then-candidate Obama, was of no matter. The reaction to Wright’s statement that the U.S. had helped create the AIDs virus ranged from merely ignoring the story, as suggested by Chris Hayes of The Nation, to a more apoplectic response: Spencer Ackerman submitted the idea of a JournoList effort to flag politician Karl Rove or writer Fred Barnes as racist in an effort to deflect heat off Obama.
“If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us,” Ackerman wrote. “Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.”
Such hate was spat regularly at conservatives. Sarah Spitz of National Public Radio declared she would “laugh manically” if she was in the presence of Rush Limbaugh and he was having a heart attack. After her daydream was revealed, she soon offered a public apology.
That such thoughts are common among journalists is no major revelation to anyone with common sense, but the list confirms two major criticisms the Right has had of the beltway media in general.
First, some members of objective outlets and other places regularly coordinate with political activists in maintaining a narrative. Rush Limbaugh often aired audio of a wide-range of network talking heads using the same terms and arguments repeatedly in different cable airings. The most infamous of which was the excoriation of George W. Bush and his lack of “gravitas,” which became the most over-used word in the country during the 2000 presidential election. Before that, CNN executives were regular overnight guests at the Clinton White House. Then-presidential candidate John Kerry was reported to have held a clandestine hotel meeting during his campaign with executives at several mainstream outlets.
The other is the use of race as a weapon. Ackerman showed little regret in using race as a way to slander two innocent people in the name of political advantage. This is also no surprise to those who have followed racial politics over the last 20 years, but such reprehensible actions should surely lead to firings.
Unfortunately, it won’t. National media outlets are decidedly insular and inbred. The fired Weigel found another high-profile job within days. Meanwhile, such corroboration will continue. Jeffery Goldberg at The Atlantic confirmed the existence of a new list called Cabalist, which began soon after the closing of JournoList. This smaller listserve will no doubt be more exclusive and less open to public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, a public that is already disinterested in mainstream news has more reason not to believe what they see, hear, or read.
B.J. Bethel is a journalist living in the Midwest. He has written about sports, government, and film for the last decade.
General Background Info From Discover the Networks
Link:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7567&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fpmdtn+%28FrontPage+Magazine+%C2%BB+Discover+the+Networks%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher Listserve that allowed some 400 liberal journalists, academics, and political activists to brainstorm and collaborate among themselves During the 2008 presidential campaign, Journolist members secretly colluded to discredit and ignore stories that had the potential to harm Barack Obama's bid for the White House. Ceased operations in June 2010 Weigel was not alone among Journolist members in posting such incendiary items. For instance, Sarah Spitz, a producer for the show Left, Right & Center which aired on the National Public Radio affiliate KCRW, wrote that if Rush Limbaugh were to suffer a heart attack in her presence, she would do nothing more than “laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out” because “he deserves it.” “Listen folks – in my opinion, we all have to do what we can to kill ABC and this idiocy in whatever venues we have.... We need to throw chairs now, try as hard as we can to get the call next time. Otherwise the questions in October will be exactly like this. This is just a disease.” Numerous other Journolist members – including employees of Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, Salon, and the New Republic – agreed that they should attempt to derail public dialogue about their favored candidate vis a vis his relationship with Wright. Soon afterward, a number of Journolist members began collaborating on an open letter defending their favored candidate. Contributors included Baltimore Sun columnist Thomas Schaller, Mother Jones reporter Jonathan Stein (who suggested conferring with “our friends at Media Matters”); Jared Bernstein, who would go on to be Vice President Joe Biden’s top economist; Holly Yeager, now of the Columbia Journalism Review; Salon columnist Joe Conason; Slate contributor David Greenberg; David Roberts of the website Grist; and Columbia School of Journalism professor Todd Gitlin. In its final form, the letter characterized the debate over Obama's affiliation with Wright as “a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world.” The statement was signed by Journolist members and released on April 18, 2010, garnering considerable attention from the media, including The New York Times. Chris Hayes of The Nation exhorted his colleagues to ignore the Wright controversy, depicting it as a transparent attempt by “the right” to “maintain control of the country.” “[T]here is no earthly reason to use our various platforms to discuss what about Wright we find objectionable,” wrote Hayes. Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent, noted that while “[p]art of me doesn’t like this [Wright] sh*t either,” he was even more distressed by the prospect of “being governed by [Republican] racists and warmongers and criminals” in the event that Obama should lose the election. Ackerman exhorted his fellow Journolist members to “raise the cost on the right of going after the left.” To do this, he said, his colleagues should first “find a rightwinger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window,” then "[t]ake a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear." "Obviously I mean this rhetorically," added Ackerman, before elaborating on his recommended strategy: Andrew Breitbart, founder of the website BigGovernment.com, stated that Journolist's behind-the-scenes maneuverings amounted to “collusion” designed to “shape narratives” by taking stories “that should be covered on a mass scale” and stopping them “in their tracks.” Added Breitbart: “What The Daily Caller has unearthed proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that most media organizations are either complicit by participation in the treachery that is JournoList, or are guilty of sitting back and watching.”
Founded in February 2007 by the Washington Post's liberal blogger/columnist Ezra Klein, Journolist was an online listserve consisting of some 400 self-described liberals – mostly journalists, but also some professors and political activists. Journolist functioned essentially as a secret society of email communications, where members could compare sources, share information, discuss their thoughts on current events, and coordinate the way they reported on certain stories – all off the record. Conservatives were barred from joining the group.
Journolist was shut down by Ezra Klein in late June of 2010, a few days after someone had leaked a number of offensive comments that one of its members, David Weigel (a political reporter for the Washington Post), had written on the listserve regarding conservatives. The most damaging leaks, published in The Daily Caller, were laced with obscenities and charged that conservatives were predominantly racists who sought, above all else, to protect their own “white privilege” – even as they used the media to “violently, angrily divide America.” In two of his Journolist posts, Weigel expressed his hope that conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh and newsman Matt Drudge would both die.
In 2009, when agitated American citizens nationwide established the Tea Party movement to advocate for limited government and fiscal responsibility from their elected representatives, Journolist member Ryan Donmoyer of Bloomberg News saw “parallels here between the teabaggers and their tactics and the rise of the Brownshirts” in Nazi Germany. Richard Yeselson, a writer for various liberal magazines, attributed the people's discontent to the fact that “the president is a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama.” Yeselson dismissively characterized the demonstrators as a collection of “gun nuts,” “anti tax nuts,” “religious nuts,” “homophobes,” “anti-feminists,” “anti-abortion lunatics,” “racist/confederate crackpots,” “anti-immigration whackos,” and “pathological government haters.”
Perhaps the most significant revelation about Journolist came to light in July 2010, when The Daily Caller reported that when the racist, anti-American rantings of Barack Obama's longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright had become an issue during the heart of the 2008 presidential primaries, Journolist members had actively conspired to discredit and bury the story. This occurred, for instance, after an April 2008 ABC News debate in which: (a) moderator Charlie Gibson asked Obama why it had taken him nearly a year to formally dissocate himself from Wright's remarks, and (b) co-moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Obama, “Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?”
Journolist members who watched the debate were outraged. Richard Kim of The Nation accused Stephanopoulos of “being a disgusting little rat snake.” The Guardian's Michael Tomasky wrote:
Within a week, Rev. Wright was back in the news after he: (a) accused Obama of having repudiated his (Wright's) comments for “political reasons,” and (b) asserted that the U.S. government had created the AIDS virus as a tool for the commission of genocide against African Americans. Once again, Journolist members rushed to Obama's defense:
“If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.”
On July 23, 2010, it was learned that at least one economic adviser to the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, Jared Bernstein, had been a member of Journolist during the campaign.
THE VERMONT TEA PARTY
LEGISLATIVE WEASEL WALL OF SHAME
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS & SEN. PATRICK LEAHY
THESE PAID ELECTED OFFICIALS VOTED IN FAVOR TO CONTINUE YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO BE USED BY THE CORRUPT POLICICAL ORGANIZATION ACORN.
ACORN, HAS BEEN DIRECTLY LINKED TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FRAUDULENT VOTER REGESTRATIONS, AND HAS BEEN CAUGHT ON VIDEO, GIVING SUSPECT ADVICE TO TWO FILM MAKERS, POSING AS A PIMP AND PROSTITUTE. THE ADVICE WAS HOW TO SET UP A BROTHEL, USING UNDERAGE, ILLEGAL ALLIEN GIRLS.
WHY DID SANDERS & LEAHY VOTE THIS WAY? AGAIN, ONE HAS TO BEG THE QUESTION; QUID PRO QUO!
The letter/memorandum below, was issued by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, concerning actions to take for the legislators to support the government run Health Care Bill, HR3200. The complicit Main St Media has been covering the attempts of Democrat Legislators to use Pelosi's template and her talking points to sway Americans who do not want Bill HR3200...from opposition to acquiescence. National polls indicate that the majority of Americans are AGAINST this Bill. When you hear your elected officials speaking to the contrary, they are lying to you...period. Senior citizens are against theis bill 2:1. Those below 30 years of age are for HR 3200 2:1, until they learn that the Bill will cost them a substantial percentage of their income---then they are against HR 3200 2:1!!
To denigrate those of us that are vocalizing our opposition to HR3200, they are giving interviews to a compliant press, stating that we, the Tea Party Movement, are “Astroturf” and extremists, Nazi's, a mob, thugs among other choice negating names. They cannot win on merit, so they have to attempt deceit & name calling. We are average, normal law abiding citizens, who contribute to society, and We will not stand for this.
M E M O R A N D U M
To: Democratic Members of Congress From: House Democratic Leadership
Date: Friday, July 31, 2009
Re: Strategic Communications Plan for August: Health Insurance Reform
Over the last few months, we have made great progress to advance a strong health insurance reform bill through the House, and are closer than we have ever been to taking this historic step for our country. As we prepare for the five-week-long August District Work Period, we must recognize the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in what may be the most consequential DWP we have ever faced.
Winning the health reform debate in August requires nothing less than an aggressive, multi-front effort to control the message and keep the momentum moving forward. The continued focus and effort of every Member is critical to ensuring our success. The following memo outlines the strategic plan for Member action, earned media, and rapid response for August that will enable us to use this month to build support and momentum so we can return in September well-positioned to pass a health reform bill in the House.
Our message is simple. It is in sync with the White House. And it counters the Republican ‘government takeover’ message. Hold the insurance companies accountable. Remove them from between you and your doctor. No discrimination for pre-existing conditions. No dropping your coverage because you get sick. No more job or life decisions made based on loss of coverage. No need to change doctors or plans. No co-pays for preventive care. No excessive out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, or co-pays. No yearly or lifetime cost caps on what insurance companies cover.
SHOWING MOMENTUM & DRIVING THE DEBATE
District Health Care Events Members have already held more than 550 health care events in their districts this year, but we must do more. The Democratic Leadership has prepared a list of suggested district events and materials to help you organize and conduct successful events during the month of August. Press will be notified each week of a sampling of the events occurring around the country to demonstrate that Democrats are using the August District Work Period to advance the health reform conversation and build support for this critical effort. Members are advised to put a ‘human face’ on health reform by incorporating personal stories into events and communications.
Telephone Town Hall
In addition to the traditional town hall, the telephone town hall is a convenient and efficient tool for you and your constituents to effectively communicate. Hold a health care focused telephone town hall with guests that can help tell the story about why health reform is so important. For instance, hold a call with a doctor from your district or a small business owner whose testimony can provide a powerful narrative on the need for reform. Leadership or committee staff will also be available to serve as a resource on your calls.
Weekly Events Each week, a national event will be organized to highlight our continued work and progress on health insurance reform. Events will range from a Committee field hearing, a DC-based press event, or events in Members’ districts with Leadership or Committee Chairmen. Additionally, press will be informed of continued efforts by Leadership and Committees to move the process forward.
Radio/TV Booking for Members
An aggressive effort to book Members for national and local radio and TV interviews will ensure our message will be delivered to both large and targeted audiences. Stephanie Cherry in the Speaker’s office serves as the primary booker for the Democratic Caucus and will be working to book Member interviews over August.
Print Press Outreach
Throughout August, a series of press conference calls with Democratic Leadership, Committee and Subcommittee Chairs, and other key Members will be organized with national and regional reporters to offer updates on the reform debate and to explain the components of the Democratic House measure. State and regional delegations are encouraged to organize conference calls with regional media. In addition, communications staff will be working hard to push the human-interest stories that highlight why reform is necessary and how it will benefit the average American. An aggressive effort will also be underway to ensure our message on reform is targeted and tailored to specific audiences.
Hispanic Media
The Speaker’s office will work to book Hispanic/Spanish speaking members of relevant committees on Spanish-language radio and TV. Democratic Leadership will also be available to assist with Hispanic-focused district events, including town halls, telephone town halls, and calls with Hispanic media reporters.
RAPID RESPONSE
Tracking Key Members for message delivery on any day of recess.
Health Care Hotline – Leadership and Committee staff will be standing by to help Members and staff with any issue related to health care.
Daily Myth-buster Email to House staff tracking myths and misinformation in the news and including materials to respond.
Truth About Health Reform Website to log opposition myths and provide independently sourced myth-busting and fact-checking research to set the record straight.
INFORMATION & REGULAR UPDATES
Daily Emails from Leadership Offices
• Momentum/In the news roundups
• Daily Myth-buster email
• Statements on developments/framing of news
• New polling data
• New studies or reports
• New section for Daily Dose email highlighting August action
Regular Health Care Update Calls Democratic Caucus calls will be arranged for Members to receive an update on the latest health reform developments and to share news about how the health debate is progressing in their districts. A similar call will also be organized for staff.
Health Care Clearinghouse & DemCom All message materials, fact sheets and other resources provided to Members and staff are available on the newly-created DemCom intranet (demcom.house.gov) and on the Health Care Reform Clearinghouse: www.majorityleader.gov/members/health_care.cfm. In addition, each of the committees of jurisdiction and the Speaker’s office have resource pages on their sites:
• Energy and Commerce Committee
• Ways and Means Committee
• Education and Labor Committee
• http://www.speaker.gov/HealthReform
COORDINATION The Leadership is working in close coordination with the White House and outside groups (including but not limited to HCAN, Families USA, AFSCME, SEIU, AARP, etc.) to ensure complementary efforts during August. The President, Secretary Sebelius and other principals in the reform debate will be working throughout the month to hold events, promote the message in the press and move the reform effort forward. We are also working closely with supportive organizations to ensure they are implementing comprehensive plans for August that include grassroots efforts, media strategies and anything else that can add to the momentum. In addition, a list of groups supporting health reform has been provided to your offices with information on ways you can partner with them in your districts.
WINNING ON THE WEB There are many creative ways to use New Media to help reach new audiences, hear directly from your constituents, and bolster the overall health reform message.
• Facebook – Become a fan of Health Reform on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HealthReform and use your Facebook profile to share what health insurance reform will mean for your constituents.
• Twitter - Follow the latest news and rapid response at http://twitter.com/healthreformnow and if you use Twitter, retweet messages you want your constituents to see.
• Delicious – Get must read news articles on our delicious feed at http://delicious.com/HealthCareReform.
• Blog – Blog on health reform on your House blog, or guest blog on websites that your constituents read. Invite bloggers in your district to your town halls and other events and ensure they have information they need on health insurance reform.
• Health Reform Web-Page Template – A template for a health reform web page with images and top-line messages will be sent to all offices for easy integration into Member websites. Members can customize with preferred materials, statements, and district-specific information.
• Embeddable Online ‘Flash Quiz’ for Members to post on their websites, providing users with an interactive tool to learn health care facts and why reform is necessary.
• You Tube – Members can produce their own recordings to post on their website and social networking pages or embed in newsletters. If you would like to record your own video and need videotaping assistance in DC, please contact the Speaker’s press office at x67616 or Antonio and Rob in the Caucus office at x51400. Leadership and Committees will also be working to produce video material to highlight the need for reform.
• Online Chats – Leadership is identifying main stream media reporters and bloggers who are interested in conducting live online chats and interviews on health care reform. Members should contact their local media about such opportunities.
• ‘Hidden Tax’ Clock – Modeled after the National Debt Clock, the ‘Hidden Tax’ clock would tally the additional dollars families pay to subsidize the uncompensated health care costs of the uninsured (approximately $43 billion overall per year).
House Buys $200M Jets for Lawmaker Travel
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 11:48 AM
By: Jim Meyers
The House has approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite jets for transporting members of Congress and other top government officials.
The Air Force had requested one Gulfstream 550 jet, which cost about $65 million. But the House Appropriations Committee added another $132 million to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill for two more jets, and "specified that they be assigned to the D.C.-area units that carry Members of Congress, military brass and top government officials," Roll Call reported.
It was just last year that lawmakers sharply criticized the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington by private jet for a hearing about a bailout of their companies.
The Gulfstream 550 is capable of flying long distances without refueling. The company's promotional materials say: "The cabin aboard the G550 combines productivity with exceptional comfort. It features up to four distinct living areas, three temperature zones, a choice of 12 floor plan configurations with seating for up to 18 passengers."
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told Roll Call that if Congress wants to buy new jets for the comfort of top government officials, "I think that all needs to be justified on the merits . . . Certainly, lawmakers can fly — and many do — coach and business class."
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform." 1944
Norman Thomas (1884 to 1968) 6 time Presidential Candidate; Socialist Party of America.
