When the Daily Caller started releasing the leaked emails from the Journolist list-serv, founded by Erza Klein and reportedly consisting of approximately 400 members, most in the media business, the blogosphere pounced.
Some attempting to justify the obvious collusion to kill stories in the media and some denouncing such tactics from names associated with major news outlets such as Washington Post, Bloomberg, TIME, The Politico, The Guardian etc....
Dave Weigel was the first and only casualty so far, with his leaked emails being exposed first and resulting in his offering his resignation to the Washington Post which was accepted.
Erza Klein, founder of Journolist, still writes for Washington Post.
The Journolist scandal, documented in release after release from The Daily Caller can be found here.
To this day I have not found a full list of Jounolist members but as more emails were provided by the Daily Caller, more and more names were added to the list as well as more and more major news publications, high profile blogs and even political operatives, Obama appointees and White advisers.
Collectively, the leaked emails pointed to a severe scandal for some media journalists involved with Journolist, while others were Liberal bloggers and pundits so their bias was already known and there was no perceived objectivity to begin with.
Excluding those that were admitted partisans to begin and simply focusing on those that slant toward Liberal but write for organizations that are supposedly objective, I wonder why more has not been made about those specific organizations and the continued presence of Journolisters on their staff.
Roger Simon, also with The Politico, quotes Erza Klein as stating "If people had been getting together and deciding on a message and then publishing that message, that would have been clearly unethical, and I would not have allowed it, and it didn’t happen."
Oh really?
Issues brought to light from that series of leaked emails showed Liberal media members colluding to kill stories (Jeremiah Wright) by creating a racism meme by accusing conservatives "any" conservative of "racism" to distract from the story. Showed a concentrated planned attack against Sarah Palin when she was announced as John McCain's vice presidential running mate. Showed the intense gossip session discussing rumors created by Daily Kos within days of that announcement about Sarah Palin's fifth child, Trig, who has Down Syndrome. (Yes some did "report" on those rumors)
(Those familiar with the Journolist scandal already know this information, those that did not can follow the links above to see for themselves).
Other direct lies from Klein regarding Journolist include; when he claimed no "government or campaign employees" were part of his group should be wondering why he still has a political forum at Washington Post after it was proven beyond any doubt that Obama appointees, White House advisers and other political operatives were, indeed, part of the group.
Why is Joe Klein from TIME is still associated with TIME?
Why is Mike Allen, Lisa Lerer and Ben Smith are still associated with The Politico?
So on and so forth.
In researching a couple pieces I have written on the Journolist issue, I have often come across pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Bloomberg and many others that focused on the exact issues and "spin" the Journolisters had just discussed in the leaked emails.
The first question that popped into my mind is: "Was this reporter/journalist part of Journolist?"
The second question, just as concerning is: "Did they get their storyline idea and exact phrases they are using from those Journolist members' writings about that issue, therefore allowing the narrative to be set"?
The answers to those questions and the fact that they are even relevant is damning to any and all news outlets.
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