Confessions of a Journolister
— By David Corn
| Thu Jul. 22, 2010
It's shocking that progressive journalists have progressive ideas and share them with other progressive journalists.
Wait, no, it's not? Then I suppose I am misreading the series of stories in the conservative
Daily Caller that have revealed the exchanges of the now-defunct Journolist, a supposedly off-the-record listserv for nearly 500 journalists and policy wonks, most of whom were progressive. (My deep dark confession: I was a member, mainly a lurker; I haven't posted anything in years. And, truth be told, when I did post it usually was to promote a column or article I had written, seeking links.) The Daily Caller and other conservatives have depicted the Journolist gang as practically a secret society coordinating the so-called liberal line in the media. But an ex-Daily Caller reporter was part of the group—which has gone unreported on by the Caller.
Sarah Palin today called Journolist participants "sick puppies" and has pointed to the Daily Caller's articles as proof that anti-free-speech libs control the mainstream media and have subverted it for their own nefarious purposes. But that's a foolish analysis, for equating the Journolist group—predominantly self-identified liberals writing or working for self-identified liberal outfits—with the MSM is absurd. The listserv was mainly a fun place for folks to kibbitz, trade ideas, and argue over published pieces. Think of it as a bar for journalists—without the booze, but with the occassional brawl. Sure, some participants wrote intemperate comments, just as they would mouth off in a tavern with friends, colleagues, or antagonists. Journalists—liberal and conservatives—do hold strong opinions and often are not shy about sharing. While I do not begrudge the Daily Caller the fun copy it has obtained by gaining access to Journolist archives—I would certainly write stories about a similar conservative listserv if I could—this is not an instance when a conspiracy has been exposed (especially since Politico and others have already written about the existence of Journolist).
~snip~
Journolist was a community, not a conspiracy. It did not issue directives. But some participants did see it as a mechanism for trying to increase the overall influence of this community—which occasionally led to some mighty big talk full of high hopes. But there were no marching orders and no coordination. ...
~snip~
Funny, no mention from the Daily Caller about the Wednesday Meetings that Norquist has been chairing his since 1993:
Norquist chairs the Washington, DC - based “Wednesday Meeting,” a weekly gathering of more than 150 elected officials, political activists, and movement leaders. The meeting started in 1993 and takes place in ATR's conference room. There are now 61 similar "center-right" meetings in 46 states. (From June, 2010)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/06/grover_norquist_joins_goproud.htmlMore:
David Brock's
The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy Synopsis
A former right-wing journalist David Brock uses his keen understanding and experience to show how a conservative media has skewed American politics noticeably to the right. Brock's incisive analysis of right-wing media theories, strategies, financing, and operations makes for a convincing argument that the Republican Right does not embrace or encourage journalistic freedom, but instead seeks to control it. With billions of dollars to spend and a readiness to demonize dissenting voices - combined with trends toward media consolidation as well as deregulation of the airwaves - the conservative media machine possesses the tools needed to shape the national consciousness.
Publishers Weekly
... In this blistering j'accuse, Brock mounts a less gossipy and more systematic assault on the right-wing media juggernaut of think tanks, publishers, talk radio shows, Web sites and cable networks. He treats it as a disciplined political movement, inspired by Communist subversion techniques, bankrolled by a handful of right-wing zillionaires through corporate and foundation spigots, tightly yoked to the Republican policy agenda and masterminded by arch-conservative Grover Norquist at weekly strategy meetings. By Brock's account, it constitutes a seamless propaganda machine conveying dubious scholarship, Republican talking points and antiliberal smear campaigns from think tanks and Internet rumor mills to the FOX News and talk radio echo chambers and thence through a network of conservative pundits into the quality press. Meanwhile, Brock charges, the mainstream media, cowed by spurious charges of "liberal bias," have abandoned their role as objective arbiters of truth in favor of an uncritical airing of partisan ideology in the name of "balance." The result, he says, is a public discourse in which the line between fact and opinion is blurred, poorly funded liberal voices get shouted down, "no issue can be honestly debated and no election can be fairly decided." ...
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Republican-Noise-Machine/David-Brock/e/9781400048755Articles about Grover Norquist and weekly right-wing coordination meetings:
Sowing the Seeds of GOP Domination: Conservative Norquist Cultivates Grass Roots Beyond the Beltway, Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post, January 12, 2004
"They gather every Wednesday morning in a boardroom of Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist is president of the anti-tax group. The shades are down, the lights are weak, yet an incandescent assuredness infuses the room. A hundred and twenty people mill around, eating bagels, distributing talking points, exchanging business cards and tips. They are lobbyists, analysts, senior White House and Hill staffers, advocates for property rights, gun ownership and traditional values."
From
The Mighty Wurlitzer, Robert Borosage, The American Prospect, May 6, 2002
"Most prominent is Grover Norquist's famous Wednesday meetings, which convene a who's who of conservative activists from 70 or so groups with grass-roots operations, from the NRA to the Christian Coalition, plus conservative congressional aides and writers who serve as movement propagandists. But there are also weekly Wednesday night gatherings of under-30 conservatives, called the Third Generation, at the Heritage. There are monthly Chinatown lunches of the Federalist Society, a network of right-wing judicial extremists. There's Tyrrell's Saturday Evening Club, a monthly confab of leading conservative writers and pundits at a French restaurant. And there's the annual national Conservative Political Action Committee meeting, where of hundreds of grass-roots activists from around the country are roused to battle and given their marching orders."
The Caveman Cometh, The Economist , March 31, 2001 U.S. Edition
House divided, Mary Jacoby, Salon, May 24, 2004
"For years, Norquist and DeLay have worked to purge the nation's corporate lobby shops of Democrats, and companies that fill GOP campaign coffers with money are rewarded with access to lawmakers. Enemies don't get their calls returned, and without access, they lose clients. Access is coordinated by the White House, often through the office of another powerful Texan, political strategist Karl Rove.
For two years, the assistant who answered Rove's phone was a woman who had previously worked for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Norquist's and a top DeLay fundraiser. One Republican lobbyist, who asked not to be named because DeLay and Rove have the power to ruin his livelihood, said the way Rove's office worked was this: "Susan took a message for Rove, and then called Grover to ask if she should put the caller through to Rove. If Grover didn't approve, your call didn't go through.""
Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan, Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation, April 26, 2001
" 'The meeting functions as the weekly checklist so that everybody knows what's up, what to do,' says Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, a conservative pollster who has been a regular attendee for years."
Grover Norquist, Media Transparency Report
"Grover Norquist is one of the most connected members of the new right wing movement. He has close ties to the Republican Party, large U.S. business interests, and both the subsidized and regular U.S. media. He truly represents the nexus of politics, business and media."
Wednesdays with Grover, New Yorker, August 1, 2005
Norquist's power high, profile low, Susan Page, USA TODAY June 1, 2001
The Soul of the New Machine, Michael Scherer, Mother Jones, January/February, 2004
"The invitation-only meetings Norquist hosts have become a hot ticket for Washington's conservative in crowd, the place for GOP players to brainstorm, swap intelligence, and see and be seen. The 100-plus people who come each week are the powers who run the federal government—congressmen, lobbyists, senior White House and Senate staffers, industry-group leaders, and right-wing policy wonks. "Everybody there has some sort of entrée," says conservative activist Peter Ferrara, a longtime attendee. "When the White House sits down and says, 'We want to get the word out on something,' the top of the list is Grover.""
Grover Norquist -- The Republican Party's prophet of permanence, Chris Suellentrop, Slate, July 7, 2003
Conservatives Savor Their Role as Insiders in the White House, Robin Toner, New York Times, March 18, 2001
http://www.commonwealinstitute.org/archive/information-about-the-right#COORDINATION
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