The JournoLIST Scandal

[Shady]

Apparently over a couple hundred liberal journalists have been colluding about which stories to cover, and how to frame their political enemies as racists. All in an effort to help elect Barack Obama, and then protect him as President. It's pretty incestuous.

According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

...

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”

...

Thomas Schaller, a columnist for the Baltimore Sun as well as a political science professor, upped the ante from there. In a post with the subject header, “why don’t we use the power of this list to do something about the debate?” Schaller proposed coordinating a “smart statement expressing disgust” at the questions Gibson and Stephanopoulos had posed to Obama.

“It would create quite a stir, I bet, and be a warning against future behavior of the sort,” Schaller wrote.

Tomasky approved. “YES. A thousand times yes,” he exclaimed.

The members began collaborating on their open letter. Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones rejected an early draft, saying, “I’d say too short. In my opinion, it doesn’t go far enough in highlighting the inanity of some of [Gibson's] and [stephanopoulos’s] questions. And it doesn’t point out their factual inaccuracies. Our friends at Media Matters probably have tons of experience with this sort of thing, if we want their input.”

Link

Pretty disgusting stuff. Back a year ago, when I mention that journalism had officially died in 2008. I had no idea how true that really was. I knew the media was in the bag for Obama, but who knew they actually ran a blog outlining their collabortion and support?

And who would have thought that Polk award winners would be involved in this kind of activity as well?

[punked]

Salon has already dealt with this, debunked it, and called you a liar. I mean honestly first the NAACP thing now this Shady you usually use lies which aren't already called out by the media.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/20/journolist_reverend_wright

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/21/more_journolist

Like it or not the guy who "broke" this "story" was fired by the Washington post for being a liar. So now Shady runs with his story which has already been called out for being lies. Shady the lair lair pants on fire.

[Shady]

Salon has already dealt with this, debunked it

Actually, Salon was complicit. They didn't debunk anything.

Like it or not the guy who "broke" this "story" was fired by the Washington post for being a liar.

Actually, he was fired for the things he said on the blog, about conservatives. He was the Washington Post liason. And he was outed on JournoLIST by liberals who didn't like a conservative view point he wrote about. Nice try.

[punked]

Actually, Salon was complicit. They didn't debunk anything.

Actually, he was fired for the things he said on the blog, about conservatives. He was the Washington Post liason. And he was outed on JournoLIST by liberals who didn't like a conservative view point he wrote about. Nice try.

Actually the Salon author points out that he was never on the email list, than goes on to cite how everything the daily caller used was out of context in an email chain thousands of emails long. That many of the people in the list weren't journalists AT ALL and were having private conversations out side of journalist circles. This is another stupid right wing smear which has been debunked.

I beat I could go back and use plenty of Shady posts out of context to make him say things he didn't I am just above that unlike Shady, Breitbart, Fox news, the tea party and the Daily Caller. This is propaganda at its finest welcome to the new right they learned well from Stalin.

Edited July 21, 2010 by punked

[Shady]

and were having private conversations out side of journalist circles.

Oh, I agree that they were having private conversations outside of journalist circles. Their conversations were never meant to be made public.

This is another stupid right wing smear which has been debunked.

Nothing has been debunked.

propaganda at its finest welcome to the new right they learned well from Stalin.

It's funny you should bring that up.

I hate to open this can of worms, but is there any reason why the FCC couldn’t simply pull their [Fox News] broadcasting permit once it expires?

And so a debate ensued. Time’s Scherer, who had seemed to express support for increased regulation of Fox, suddenly appeared to have qualms: “Do you really want the political parties/white house picking which media operations are news operations and which are a less respectable hybrid of news and political advocacy?”

But Zasloff stuck to his position. “I think that they are doing that anyway; they leak to whom they want to for political purposes,” he wrote. “If this means that some White House reporters don’t get a press pass for the press secretary’s daily briefing and that this means that they actually have to, you know, do some reporting and analysis instead of repeating press releases, then I’ll take that risk.”

Link

They wanna shut down Fox News because they don't like it's politics! Hugo Chavez would be proud.

[Jack Weber]

Actually the Salon author points out that he was never on the email list, than goes on to cite how everything the daily caller used was out of context in an email chain thousands of emails long. That many of the people in the list weren't journalists AT ALL and were having private conversations out side of journalist circles. This is another stupid right wing smear which has been debunked.

I beat I could go back and use plenty of Shady posts out of context to make him say things he didn't I am just above that unlike Shady, Breitbart, Fox news, the tea party and the Daily Caller. This is propaganda at its finest welcome to the new right they learned well from Stalin.

Is this anything like when the Bush administration tried to slander anyone who did not go along with that administrations stance on the Iraq war as "unpatriotic" and "siding with the terrorists"?

If the right does'nt want to be called racist,don't have Tea Party members posting images of Obama with a bone through his nose,or that great civl rights activist Andrew Breitbart doctoring videos to try to help out said Tea Party bigots...

[Shady]

Is this anything like when the Bush administration tried to slander anyone who did not go along with that administrations stance on the Iraq war as "unpatriotic" and "siding with the terrorists"?

Not reallyl. The Bush administration weren't pretending to be objective journalists. They're Republicans, advocating a Republican point of view. Same with the Tea Party. They don't pretend to be objective journalists. Just a conservative, smaller-government type group.

Short answer, no. You're premise isn't correct.

[Jack Weber]

Not reallyl. The Bush administration weren't pretending to be objective journalists. They're Republicans, advocating a Republican point of view. Same with the Tea Party. They don't pretend to be objective journalists. Just a conservative, smaller-government type group.

Short answer, no. You're premise isn't correct.

But I thought Fox was/is Fair and Balanced??

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction...

So what you're saying is that the Republican point of view,vis a vis the Iraq War,was that if you're against the wishes of the Administration you are a :

1.Unpatriotic pseudo-citizen and most likley a Communist...

2.Probably an Al Quaeda sleeper cell operative,and if not, probably an Islamofascist sympathizer...

Got it!...

[punked]

Oh, I agree that they were having private conversations outside of journalist circles. Their conversations were never meant to be made public.

Nothing has been debunked.

It's funny you should bring that up.

They wanna shut down Fox News because they don't like it's politics! Hugo Chavez would be proud.

NO that is an out of context quote from a professor on the list who is not part of the media. See how you are a liar?

[GostHacked]

Pretty disgusting stuff. Back a year ago, when I mention that journalism had officially died in 2008. I had no idea how true that really was. I knew the media was in the bag for Obama, but who knew they actually ran a blog outlining their collabortion and support?

And who would have thought that Polk award winners would be involved in this kind of activity as well?

Real journalism died way before that Shady. I'd say it died in the 90s. But others might say it died in the 80s, or 70s, ... or it never existed in the first place.

[Shady]

NO that is an out of context quote from a professor on the list who is not part of the media.

It's not out of context at all. It's in full context. The discussion he's responding to is listed, as well as the responses to his assertions afterwards.

Anyways, more JournoLIST fallout. Look how they celebrated on election night!

Nov. 3:

DAVID ROBERTS, GRIST: It’s all I can do not to start bawling.

LUKE MITCHELL, HARPER’S: I’m picturing something like VJ Day in Times Square. Seriously!

JOHN BLEVINS, SOUTH TEXAS COLLEGE OF LAW: It’s all I can do to hold it together.

Nov. 4:

MOIRA WHELAN, NATIONAL SECURITY NETWORK: I’m looking across the street at my polling place, and the line is wrapped around the block. I nearly burst into tears when I saw it. I’m feeling like today is closing the door on a terrible era, and opening another. I’m glad you started this thread because I was feeling kind of like I was the only one who is deeply emotional today.

HENRY FARRELL, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: I had to close my office door yesterday because I was watching YouTube videos of elderly African Americans saying what this meant to them and tearing up.

JOSH BEARMAN, LA WEEKLY: 11 months ago I burst into tears by myself on a plane while watching Hardball when my mind wandered to the image of President Obama being sworn in. I’ve been fighting it ever since.

EZRA KLEIN, AMERICAN PROSPECT: OHIO!

ALEC MCGILLIS, WASHINGTON POST: If you need further proof that VA is looking to go blue, check out what’s going on in VA-5 in deepest Southside Virginia, where Tom Perriello, my college roommate and a very good guy, is now up .06 percentage points — 2,000 votes — against Virgil Goode with 88 percent reporting.

GREG ANRIG, THE CENTURY FOUNDATION: This is really happening.

ADELE STAN, THE MEDIA CONSORTIUM: At last I can breathe.

SPENCER ACKERMAN, WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT: YES WE DID!

STEVEN TELES, YALE UNIVERSITY: I’m not sure why, but this part of the Battle Hymn of the Republic came to me . . . . Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

SPENCER ACKERMAN: [quoting Obama] “…we may not get there in one year or in one term, but America I promise you, we as a people will get there.”

HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

MICHAEL TOMASKY, THE GUARDIAN: I’m just jelly. Lord!

HAROLD POLLACK, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: I am awed by the responsibility we have taken on. Tomorrow a desperately ill African-American woman will present at my university hospital for care, and she will be turned away. She will expect us to live up to what we feel tonight. So we’ve got a lot to live up to.

ADAM SERWER, AMERICAN PROSPECT: My take.

SPENCER ACKERMAN: Goddamn, did an Obama speechwriter ghost that post? That’s pitch-perfect, Adam. Take a bow.

RYAN DONMOYER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Best quip I heard today, courtesy of a Facebook friend: “I wonder if Sarah Palin is still unclear about what a community organizer does.”

Nov. 5

SETH MICHAELS, MYDD.COM: there are flag-waving whooping crowds around the white house. afl-cio hq is insane here.

KATE STEADMAN, KAISER HEALTH NEWS: i can’t imagine anything like it except a world series/superbowl win, and several of my co-walkers told me it never gets the entire city so riled. i think what makes it even more amazing is the incredible diversity in this city and how we all came together for this, especially in victory.

MOIRA WHELAN, NATIONAL SECURITY NETWORK: I’ve never felt anything like U Street tonight. Huging, kissing strangers…everything.

ALYSSA ROSENBERG, GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE: I’ve gotta be all non-partisan on GovExec, so I hope you’ll all indulge me a minute here. On Monday night in Manassas, the band warming up the crowd before Obama arrived played “I Need You To Survive.” I think the core lyrics are pretty good statement of principles for progressives, especially going forward from a victory like this one:

Link

You gotta love the last so-called journalist. Stating that she's gotta be all "non-partisan" in her job, so indulge her for a minute.

[BubberMiley]

You gotta love the last so-called journalist. Stating that she's gotta be all "non-partisan" in her job, so indulge her for a minute.

You don't understand the difference between a journalist having opinions and objective journalism? I think that's covered in the very first class in journalism school.

Besides, if I were you, I would take a break from taking some nobodies' comments out of context for some sort of perceived political gain. You're 0-2 this week.

Edited July 21, 2010 by BubberMiley

[Jack Weber]

You don't understand the difference between a journalist having opinions and objective journalism? I think that's covered in the very first class in journalism school.

Besides, if I were you, I would take a break from taking some nobodies' comments out of context for some sort of perceived political gain. You're 0-2 this week.

Seeing as Lictor looks as if he's on another vacation,I think I'm going to start another "Whiffy List"...

Edited July 21, 2010 by Jack Weber

[Pliny]

The election of the first Black President of the United States was a momentous occasion. Too bad he doesn't have much in common with America and has more in common with the ideological political salvation of the world.

[ironstone]

Actually the Salon author points out that he was never on the email list, than goes on to cite how everything the daily caller used was out of context in an email chain thousands of emails long. That many of the people in the list weren't journalists AT ALL and were having private conversations out side of journalist circles. This is another stupid right wing smear which has been debunked.

I beat I could go back and use plenty of Shady posts out of context to make him say things he didn't I am just above that unlike Shady, Breitbart, Fox news, the tea party and the Daily Caller. This is propaganda at its finest welcome to the new right they learned well from Stalin.

That would be Joseph Stalin on the left.

[bush_cheney2004]

The election of the first Black President of the United States was a momentous occasion. Too bad he doesn't have much in common with America and has more in common with the ideological political salvation of the world.

That doesn't require a "Black President" at all....see Jimmy Carter.

[kimmy]

But I thought Fox was/is Fair and Balanced??

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction...

So what you're saying is that the Republican point of view,vis a vis the Iraq War,was that if you're against the wishes of the Administration you are a :

1.Unpatriotic pseudo-citizen and most likley a Communist...

2.Probably an Al Quaeda sleeper cell operative,and if not, probably an Islamofascist sympathizer...

Got it!...

Good grief, Jack, you're trying to defend these journalists by comparing their behavior to the Bush administration?! What an absurd non-sequitur.

Clearly much of this is a bunch of hype about nothing. Some of these guys were exchanging emails revelling in Obama's victory on election night? so what? They're allowed to have personal opinions.

And it appears that some of the stuff being presented is out-of-context (the one about cancelling Fox News' broadcast license, in particular.)

However, one item stuck out...

And that's not all! If you're wondering why you never heard anything about Barack Obama's many close ties to radical reverse-racist extremists back in 2008, it is because national security reporter Spencer Ackerman crafted a brilliant strategy to call Karl Rove a racist.

And I think this threads the needle. 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.

The plan was so cunning that other people on the list didn't agree with it and thought it would be counter-productive.

This might not reflect badly on everybody on this mailing list, but it certainly reflects badly on Spencer Ackerman. He's asking how they-- as journalists-- should deal with the Jeremiah Wright situation, and he's advocating a strategy to protect Obama from damage from this issue. Clearly this crosses the line between personal opinion and professional ethics.

People have often accused the media of trying to shape coverage in a way that favors their preferred politician or party. Here's one case where a journalist is advocating that his colleagues do exactly that.

Salon says that the colleagues' objection was not that it wasn't ethical, but rather that it was "counter-productive"... not sure what that means. Does that mean it worsens the calibre of political discourse? Or does it mean that they didn't think it was an effective strategy to help their guy win? We can only wonder.

The other thing I noticed was Adam Serwell's name among the tearful breathless celebration of Obama's victory. I remembered the name from the thread, where somebody referenced his crappy column to "debunk" the claims being made regarding the DOJ handling of the voter intimidation cases. I read through Serwell's columns and thought to myself "this guy isn't a journalist, he's a cheerleader, an apologist, a partisan hack sticking up for his team." And, clearly, that's the case.

-k

[ironstone]

Most journalists it seems are very left wing these days.That's not a crime in itself,but there is certainly more reporting of opinions than of facts in the papers and on television.I haven't found a worse example of this than a couple of shows on MSNBC.I urge you guys to check out these two programs,The Ed Show and Countdown with Keith Olberman.I have watched the Ed Show a few times and it's downright vicious.If you think Beck or O'Reilly are biased,you ain't seen nothing yet!

Was there anyone associated with FOX allowed in this JournoLIST thing?

[punked]

Most journalists it seems are very left wing these days.That's not a crime in itself,but there is certainly more reporting of opinions than of facts in the papers and on television.I haven't found a worse example of this than a couple of shows on MSNBC.I urge you guys to check out these two programs,The Ed Show and Countdown with Keith Olberman.I have watched the Ed Show a few times and it's downright vicious.If you think Beck or O'Reilly are biased,you ain't seen nothing yet!

Was there anyone associated with FOX allowed in this JournoLIST thing?

As we found out by the whole the Breitbart fox thing. It isn't that most Journalist are left it is that most journalist are honest and don't want to report lies. Just because that is where the truth is doesn't make them left it makes them honest.

[Shady]

The other thing I noticed was Adam Serwell's name among the tearful breathless celebration of Obama's victory. I remembered the name from the thread, where somebody referenced his crappy column to "debunk" the claims being made regarding the DOJ handling of the voter intimidation cases. I read through Serwell's columns and thought to myself "this guy isn't a journalist, he's a cheerleader, an apologist, a partisan hack sticking up for his team." And, clearly, that's the case.

Great catch kimmy! I hadn't noticed that. You're more of a real journalist than the folks at JournoLIST!

More fallout from JournoLIST-gate. National Public Radio is apologizing for one of their staff members comments on the JournoLIST blog.

Public Radio Publicist Apologizes For Controversial Remarks About Limbaugh

NPR

These were her comments.

If you were in the presence of a man having a heart attack, how would you respond? As he clutched his chest in desperation and pain, would you call 911? Would you try to save him from dying? Of course you would.

But if that man was Rush Limbaugh, and you were Sarah Spitz, a producer for National Public Radio (update: Spitz was a producer for NPR affiliate KCRW for the show Left, Right & Center), that isn’t what you’d do at all.

In a post to the list-serv Journolist, an online meeting place for liberal journalists, Spitz wrote that she would “Laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out” as Limbaugh writhed in torment.

In boasting that she would gleefully watch a man die in front of her eyes, Spitz seemed to shock even herself. “I never knew I had this much hate in me,” she wrote. “But he deserves it.”

Link

Apparently she worked for an NPR affiliate and not directly for NPR.

[punked]

And can you believe they shit all over Keith Olbermann too? Wait I thought they were lefties? I thought they only didn't like Rush and Glenn. What doesn't fit the selective narrative I better delete this post or edit the content to fit the right wing circle jerk going on in here.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/journolist-members-trash-keith-olbermann-as-misogynist-pompous/

[Shady]

And can you believe they shit all over Keith Olbermann too?

Who wouln't, he's become ridiculous. But they'd never wish him dead.

Anyways, great piece by Howard Kurtz.

But there is no getting around the fact that some of these messages, culled from the members-only discussion group Journolist, are embarrassing. They show liberal commentators appearing to cooperate in an effort to hammer out the shrewdest talking points against the Republicans -- including, in one case, a suggestion for accusing random conservatives of being racist.

Washington Post

Hmmm. A strategy which includes accusing random conservatives of being racist. That sounds oddly familiar. Especially over the last year or so.

[BubberMiley]

A strategy which includes accusing random conservatives of being racist. That sounds oddly familiar. Especially over the last year or so.

Whoever did that is also some random liberal. You don't even know who they are, and if you did, you still wouldn't because they're nobody.

But this week we've seen a strategy of accusing random NAACP members of being racist, and we know who are doing it.

Some of them are even in this room.

[Jack Weber]

Whoever did that is also some random liberal. You don't even know who they are, and if you did, you still wouldn't because they're nobody.

But this week we've seen a strategy of accusing random NAACP members of being racist, and we know who are doing it.

Some of them are even in this room.

You mean the sell out wannabe's who follow race baiting scum like Andrew Breitbart?

MMnnnooooo...

[bloodyminded]

Left Wing media.

:)

Too rich.

Edited July 24, 2010 by bloodyminded