Cult of exposure
No evidence of a vast left-wing media conspiracy
Cult of exposure
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
I proudly consider myself to be the only Fourth Estate denizen who has yet to weigh in on the brouhaha concerning JournoList, the now-defunct listserv where roughly 400 liberal pundits, reporters, bloggers, and academics communed with each other online. This has become a big issue lately, at least in the usual overheated right-wing precincts, thanks to Tucker Carlson’s Daily Call website, which has alleged that JournoList was proof of a vast left-wing conspiracy to control public discourse – an hilarious concept, given the fact that (and I'm speaking from experience) a quartet of journalists standing in a hotel lobby generally can’t even agree on where to go for dinner.
Was I a card-carrying JournoLister, a foot soldier in the alleged cabal organized by Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein? Not a chance. Even if I had been invited to join (which I wasn’t), I would have declined. I instinctively value my independence; when a journalist joins a group, over time he or she risks being exposed to group think.
A second problem was the format itself. In this era of digital transparency, there was zero chance that the email traffic would remain private. It’s astounding that 400 people in and around the news business would somehow assume that their ideas (both full-baked and half-baked), gossip, and various harrumphings could remain off the record. The cult of exposure does not permit that kind of naivete. I agree with Bill Maher, who remarked not long ago that it’s nuts to say anything in an email that you wouldn’t want to see quoted on the front page of The New York Times.
Foolish as the JournoListers were on that issue, I can still understand, in theory, the impulse to create it. In the old media world, journalists enjoyed physical proximity to their colleagues; ideas and gossip were swapped at the cubicles and the coffee machine. The new media world is a lot more atomized; scribes often work alone, often craving the stimulation of absent peers. From this perspective, the list serv idea made sense – as a virtual newsroom were people share their thoughts and kick around ideas. Which is what list servs always do anyway.
Member discipline was impossible, however. It was inevitable that some of the most fervent (and, by all accounts, the youngest) JournoListers would write some insipid stuff - like suggesting that everybody should try to defend Barack Obama by accusing all conservatives of racism, like saying what a laugh it would be to watch Rush Limbaugh drop dead. And it was inevitable that such suggestions and remarks would be outed and cherry-picked by conservatives as evidence of a unified conspiracy – even though, in reality, most JournoListers probably deleted the stupidest messages as a matter of routine, along with the penis-enhancement emails and the rest of the daily dross.
Of course, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a group of 400 people would include some outliers – just as any meeting of 400 people (community confab, city council chamber, whatever) is often dominated by those who are the loudest. None of this strikes me as evidence of a lock-step mentality. Even the Daily Caller’s recent scoop - about how JournoListers authored a pro-Obama statement during campaign ’08 – is seriously overblown, given the fact that only 10 percent of all list members (41 of 400) signed on to the statement. This strikes me as a sign of the list’s diversity, not the smoking gun of a conspiracy.
JournoList, nevertheless, was a wrong-headed experiment. Everyone in the far-flung punditocracy – on both the left and the right - needs to be able to air the first rough draft of their thoughts, to have casual conversation about stuff that isn’t fit for publication, to engage or reject the nuttiest ideas on the table. But none of this can be done online, not when ideologues on the other side are anxious to overplay snippets out of context. The telephone is still a fine substitute for digital chatter. So is face time at the bar. In any event, I’m glad I was not asked to join up. I take seriously the old Groucho Marx joke about not wanting to belong to any club that would have me as a member.
But wait! If you string together the first words of each of the preceding paragraphs, in descending order, you wind up with a sentence. Could it be...gasp...a secret confession? Conspiracy paranoids, arise! Take out your codebooks! And have a nice weekend.
Handnik... Way to go. You liberals are so predictable. Whenever the facts are against you one of your favorite ploys is to yell RACISM. Please cite any of the so-called racist based bills introduced by republican law makers. I doubt you can. However check out some of Michele Obama's writings. Now there's racism.— Phil Checchia- Thank you Dick. We wont judge you by the liberal "Tea Party standard" where if there is a fringe element of a group that your affilitagted with, the whole group is guilty.— tr88
- Sorry, in the interest of truth, I have to call you on being the the "only Fourth Estate denizen who has yet to weigh in on the brouhaha concerning JournoList". A quick search of Philly.com indicates youre the only denizen of the Fourth Estate that works for PNI that has weighed in.— tr88
Comment removed.- "I still think that the majority of conservatives have pushed for policies that discriminate on the basis of race." "I don't think conservatives hate people of other races, I just think they use race as a determining factor in deciding what laws to push (in some areas)." - Care to provide some examples, Nik?— PhillyTru
- Comment removed.
It is clear to me that the Journalism Party is filled with partisan bigots and liars who wish ill (and even death) upon those they disagree with. Until the leadership of Journalism Party takes to the stage and loudly and public condemns and expels those who hold these views they are simply not to be trusted. Whitewash jobs like Polman's are simply a means of providing cover for an party of ill repute filled with insidious and treacherous liars who will do anything to remake the world into a socialist paradise. Throw the first stone Polman! Cast out the devils amongst your brethren, Polman! Do it now, before there's nothing left to salvage of your low and mean profession.- That was fun. Perhaps I was a liberal in a previous life?
- Here are some of the racist tea party people the amg was talking about on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1CLPhz0DHM&feature=fvw and here is a video of one the the racist tea party person that carried a gun to the party. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syx26QtQIM— Mike Welbourn
- Mike Welbourn- Excellent link. Should be some reccommended viewing for Nigelsthemastiff. Perhaps it will open here eyes.
I'm shocked at the violent rhetoric among journolisters. The whole "plate glass window" piece really makes me think there are some left wing nutcases out there.- This should tell you all we need to know about the cries of racism from the left " It was inevitable that some of the most fervent (and, by all accounts, the youngest) JournoListers would write some insipid stuff - like suggesting that everybody should try to defend Barack Obama by accusing all conservatives of racism,"............................... Tell us something we don't know Richard! I can't imagine the left would trivialize this if conservative journalists were doing the same thing. I guess the days of objective reporting are over.
- Lordhumongouns- The left always tries to portay themselves as the beacons of tolerance and understanding. Seems to me that quite a few on the left are viscious vindictive hateful people.
- Nigel- you said " And SMike, I don't believe I'm using a political narrative just because I know that racism still exists in our country.".................. If you say so. I certainly don't know anyone who is racist. I guess it's still prevalent among Democrats( see klansman Robert Byrd) but Republicans, conservatives, and Libertarians believe in the content of people's character. We see potential in people You seem to always see a victim. Right now we have legitimate policy differences with this President. But that's all there is to it. Did you view Mike Welbourns link?
- Great link Mike, just proves what I've been saying all along, the Tea Party as a whole is not a racist organization. But if you want to post one link and use that as proof positive that racism no longer exists, go ahead and believe what you want. This link does not prove that racism no longer exists nor does it prove that there are no racists within the Tea Party. And I find it funny that SMike chided me earlier for using a youtube video as proof of racism yet lauds you for providing a link from youtube. SMike, have you learned nothing from the Sherrod incident?!?!? LOL. And one last thing, the woman at the beginning of the video calls blacks "her people" and says "they haven't done anything better for my people (among other comments that would be called reverse racist)." Had she done that in opposition to the Tea Party or your viewpoint, you'd call her a racist. You'd be screaming about how entitled she feels and how she's just waiting for the government to give her a hand out and do things better for her people. And please, spare me the hubris and denial. You've already done it.— amg
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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