Fred Barnes has posted an editorial at the Wall Street Journal about the recent stories about the JournoList. Ezra Klein, a writer for the Washington Post, started the JournoList in February 2007 and wisely shut it down last month. The JournoList was a group of several hundred journalists who formed a group to promote liberal causes and liberal politicians rather than report news accurately.
One of the groups main projects was the promotion of Barack Obama for President. Mr. Barnes reports:
"JournoList contributors discussed strategies to aid Mr. Obama by deflecting the controversy. They went public with a letter criticizing an ABC interview of Mr. Obama that dwelled on his association with Mr. Wright. Then, Spencer Ackerman of The Washington Independent proposed attacking Mr. Obama's critics as racists. He wrote:
""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. . . . This makes them 'sputter' with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.""
This is disturbing. Smear tactics are something most of associate with 'yellow journalism'--not the mainstream press. The alternative media has tried to bring people the other side of the story, and in many cases alternative media has done the job the regular media should be doing. Talk radio has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 1990's, and the internet has numerous blogs and news sites. As long as people are willing to do a small amount of investigation, they can get the other side of the story.
I am not a chess player--I can't sit still that long, and planning strategy bores me (and I may not be that bright!), but I feel as if the country is involved in a giant chess game with a group of Chicago thugs. The issue is control of our country, control of our economy, and control of our news. Will the people be in control or will the government be in control? I am waiting for the effort to shut down the alternative media on the radio and on the internet. I hope I am wrong in thinking that this is a possibility, but so many things have happened in the past year and a half that I had thought were impossible, I am not sure that this could not happen.
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