First came word of the daily secret planning session phone calls between Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and several highly placed Old Media types (Here and here) and now Politico has revealed the existence of a hush, hush web message board where denizens of the lefty media get together on a daily basis and plan how they will all cover the news for the great unwashed out there.
But don't worry, this "journolist" is no great cabal of underground left-wing plotters attempting to co-opt the message emanating from the bowls of the Old Media. We know this cuz they told us so!
Move along.... nothing to see here.
Michael Calderone is soon going to find his invites to all the swankiest mau jacket required cocktail parties drying up if he keeps this sort of reporting up.
For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.
Proof of a vast liberal media conspiracy?
Not at all, says Ezra Klein, the 24-year-old American Prospect blogging wunderkind who formed JournoList in February 2007. “Basically,” he says, “it’s just a list where journalists and policy wonks can discuss issues freely.”
See, if ol' Ezra says it's coo, then dadgummit, whaterya'all worried about?
But, despite it being good and all, Calderone couldn't get more than three dozen of the message board's members to go on record about it.
POLITICO contacted nearly three dozen current JList members for this story. The majority either declined to comment or didn’t respond to interview requests -- and then returned to JList to post items on why they wouldn’t be talking to POLITICO about what goes on there.
Gosh, fellers. If it's all so innocent, why is everyone suddenly so shy?
Curioser and curioser.
I urge you all to go on over to Calderone's piece and read about this whole sordid business.
Oh, and after you do, I'll meet ya'all back on the RightWing-o-list so'as we can plan how to respond.
Until then... show me the secret handshake.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
denizens of the lefty media
March 17, 2009 - 09:59 ET by motherbeltdenizens of the lefty media get together on a daily basis and plan how they will all cover the news
That says it all!
Bernard Goldberg only scratched the surface when he said that they were immersed in their own worldview.
This actually proves a conscious effort to "play" the news from a certain viewpoint.
They are an utter disgrace.
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
Wow! Liberals doing what they accuse others do AGAIN!
March 17, 2009 - 10:07 ET by Franklins_LockeThis explains how all the stories sound the same. I always wondered how ALL of them were wrong about the same things.
Now, you would think, if all of them are commiserating together and discussing ideas, their news product would be much better than it is. This is pathetic if they are teaming up together and what we see is the best they can do. Good grief. They stink at this!
http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/
Politico's Own
March 17, 2009 - 10:10 ET by CaringwhiteguyI note that in his piece Calderone mentions Politico's own Mike Allen, Ben Smith and Lisa Lerer as members of Journolist. I wonder if Calderone had any luck getting them to talk . . . especially for attribution.
Furthermore it's obvious that Calderone knows at least 35 names on the list and probably all of them. Why not disclose the names to those of us in the unwashed public? Just in the interest of the "public's right to know".
Now THAT'S Irony
March 17, 2009 - 10:17 ET by CobraManFrom the article:
The same people who insist on transparency and accountability in others operates a "secret" website and refuses to speak publicly about it. There's no transparency and no accountability. Now THAT'S Hypocrisy!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
Well, cobra, they are just
March 17, 2009 - 10:28 ET by motherbeltWell, cobra, they are just "protecting their sources." ;-)
This also explains their saturation coverage of Obama during the campaign. So much for their excuse that he was the "big story" and that's why they carpet-bombed him with coverage.
It's plain now that they plotted and planned to make him the big story.
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
Now, to be fair
March 17, 2009 - 13:29 ET by JeffWeimerThey have a point. There is a place for anonymity and honest "off the record" analysis.
Problem is, this is an echo chamber, much like our righty blogosphere and the lefty blogoshpere. But we (and most of the left) are open to the public, and this is an invite-only group that purposefully excludes a Republican/right-of-center viewpoint in its arguments, and it has the ear of the mainstream press. Does anyone wonder why we have a hard time getting our viewpoint out there? Wonder why their narrative was so consistent throughout the last two years? Why you heard nearly the same things from the national press?
Here's your reason.
This is now little more than a phone tree from Rahm Emmanuel through his "morning chat" friends to the media and the "progressive" blogosphere. And they charged us with coordinating. Projection, pure and simple. At least we were public with our opinions, and transmitted our memes above board.
They'd should show you
March 17, 2009 - 10:21 ET by RagamuffinThey should show you their papers if they have nothing to hide das comrade.
When is the MRC going to post the talking points they get from the RNC? Oh wait, you do . . .
Talking Points for the RNC?
March 17, 2009 - 10:38 ET by CobraManSo, MRC has a secret website too? May I quote you on that?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
So, MRC has a secret
March 18, 2009 - 10:11 ET by RagamuffinSo, MRC has a secret website too? May I quote you on that?
Whoa! How'd you guess!
http://conwebwatch.t...
Point us to the equivalent
March 17, 2009 - 10:39 ET by SickofLibsPoint us to the equivalent smoking gun, please.
not so fast
March 17, 2009 - 15:09 ET by RagamuffinConsidering the weakness of the case originally posited, I say "you first."
Almost none of the wild conjectures in the original article are supported by his links. It's quite paranoid to think that just because they don't do whatever it is they are doing in public that it's sinister. Everybody has the right to privacy and anyone who isn't paranoid recognizes that people often use that right without criminal or conspiratorial intent.
Me first? Wouldn't that be
March 17, 2009 - 17:02 ET by SickofLibsMe first? Wouldn't that be me researching your claim for you?
Not interested.
No. It means you prove that
March 18, 2009 - 08:22 ET by RagamuffinNo. It means you prove that there's a smoking gun at ALL. The original article is nothing but rank fearmongering with no evidence to back it up. ULTRA SECRET liberal websites discussed in Politico articles? Please.
The smoking gun is
March 18, 2009 - 08:47 ET by general companyWhy are they so shy? The evidence is that the site exists.
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Wait...
March 18, 2009 - 09:20 ET by Warner Todd HustonWait, are you saying the site doesn't exist, Ragamuffin? But, folks on it ADMITTED it in the article.
are you saying the site
March 18, 2009 - 10:06 ET by Ragamuffinare you saying the site doesn't exist
No.
It's clear that if the "dirty libs" were plotting evil on their "ULTRA SECRET" they wouldn't say it existed in the Politico would they?
This whole post is making a mountain out of molehill. With no evidence at all NewsBusters is peddling cheap Alex Jones level conspiracy theories.
Do you have
March 18, 2009 - 20:18 ET by Warner Todd HustonYour opinion is noted for both it's existence and it's worth.
PRAVDA
March 17, 2009 - 10:43 ET by 10ksnookerPropaganda R-US.
That's all that comes out of the PRAVDA media anymore.
Sad to see journalist sell their souls and their profession, to the Socialist cause. Looking for a bailout are we? When the government starts advertising in the newspapers, you will know the bailout is on.
Exactly what I'm thinking
March 17, 2009 - 18:34 ET by jdlybrandPraise the Lord and pass the teleprompters. I'll need thirty five copies distributed ASAP.
Four Fingers Rahm
Big shock--the KA slurpers agree with each other
March 17, 2009 - 10:49 ET by StarAZIf this weren't true--it would still be true. Of course, these youngsters get the party line straight each day. They probably twitter each other into a tizz all day long. Scary banks, scary insurance companies, weird cabals, dishonest journalists, no more newspapers--isn't this a lot for six months? Nothing means anything anymore! And certainly, we learned from the election that these so-called reporters love this character no matter what he does or what he reads off his electronic cheatsheet.
no wonder they were so upset
March 17, 2009 - 10:59 ET by jgarciano wonder they were so upset about wire tapping..........
Secret handshake
March 17, 2009 - 11:09 ET by RESTLESS 1Hell, you probably need a username, password, secret docoder ring, fingerprints, eye scan, and facial recognition to log on to the damn site. Can't risk the "wrong" kinda people gettin' in ya know.
"This liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008
I despise them
March 17, 2009 - 11:14 ET by usinkoreaThey can't see anything wrong with it. That's one of the worst things about it...
Bernard Goldberg has noted why well: Part of it is group-think... Having virtually everybody coming from the same part of the political spectrum, everything just seems like common sense. And they see disagreements and probably heated backs-and-forths --- but it never occurs to them that all the disagreement is still ----- between people who basically come from the same political thinking. ---- Like - if someone were to post something anti-abortion, or perhaps in support of Calif.'s prop 8 ---- I bet the forum would freeze up --- because everyone would be dumbstruck --- and not even understand why they are so shocked....
Another is that they see what they are doing as "nobel" - they are in a "noble" profession --- they make society "better" - they are elements of "change" and "hope" ---- so even if they are one-sided --- it's all for the best for the nation as a whole anyway....
Peer-Pressure
March 17, 2009 - 11:24 ET by usinkoreaAnd another thing --- I have no doubt at all that this "free exchange of ideas" -- as several of the quoted sources argued -- actually works to encourage conformity.
Most of the quoted sources note some reverence for the "quality" and "status" of the people commenting on the forum.
How much do you want to bet these "free ranging discussions" where everybody speaks "candidly" --- end up with the majority brow-beating the odd voice of dissent into submission? --- if not submission in the form of accepting exactly the status quo the majority of the membership point out - at least modifying differences to the point it becomes acceptable to the whole.
For example, in this kind of forum, if one of them were to come out in favor of prop 8 in California, or against federal funding of stem cell research ---- they would have rained down on them the fire and brimstone of the majority view point until they modified their position or left the forum or refused to mention the subject again.
That is what being behind closed doors and one-sided in membership gets for them --- I'd bet money on it...
Where is?
March 17, 2009 - 12:22 ET by Snede7711Where on the Internet is the vast right-wing conspiracy? I would like to join that Listserv.
NRO pins them to the wall
March 17, 2009 - 13:19 ET by Right2thePointNRO pins them to the wall and slaps em around
I sure do get tired of
March 17, 2009 - 13:30 ET by marvlI sure do get tired of reading about wet-eared weenies like Ezra Klein. He probably has fewer pubic hairs than IQ points, and less sense than a boiled turnip. People like him should not be allowed to express opinions or create websites.
Do Stephi,
March 17, 2009 - 14:14 ET by Dan DiegoVegala and Visehead (Carville) have accounts or post via their minions?
Excellent work Michael Calderone
March 17, 2009 - 23:53 ET by The Goat WhispererExposes "quizlings" of modern JournoList-ism.