By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal
The now closed down JournoList, has caused considerable controversy in recent weeks. According to its opponents, JournoList teamed up some 400 prominent “progressive” journalists in an effort to smooth Barack Obama’s path to the White House.
There have been accusations that “Journolitstas,” deliberately sought to downplay Obama’s association with the Marxist Rev. Jeremiah Wright and tried to smear conservatives or opposing journalists as “racists.”
This post looks at 106 reported “Journolistas” to look for connections or common threads.
Of the known “Jounolistas” and organizations listed below, many can be linked back to two interrelated groups Democratic Socialists of America, the U.S.’s largest Marxist-based organization and the D.S.A.’s “brain,” the Washington DC-based, far left “think tank,” the Institute for Policy Studies.
Between them, D.S.A. and the I.P.S. dominate or influence several organizations affiliated to JournoList, including:
*The American Prospect – Founded in 1990 by D.S.A. affiliate Robert Kuttner. Current editor-at-large, is leading D.S.A. member Harold Meyerson.
*Mother Jones – Includes D.S.A. member Adam Hochschild on its Board of Directors, plus some D.S.A. affiliated staff and contributors. Hochschild was a supporter of Progressives for Obama.
*Economic Policy Institute – Led by D.S.A. member Larry Mishel and I.P.S. affiliate Jeff Faux and several D.S.A. affiliated board members. This organization has contributed at least three officials to the Obama Administration, including Obama economic adviser and ‘Journolista’ Jared Bernstein.
*Center for American Progress – Several staff and officials are affiliated with D.S.A. and the I.P.S. Writing of the Center’s relationship to the Obama Administration, former Weather Underground terrorist leader and Progressives for Obama supporter Mark Rudd said “There’s a whole govt. in waiting that Podesta has at the Center for American Progress. They’re mostly progressives, I’m told…”
*The Nation – Edited by I.P.S. trustee Katrina vanden Heuvel, who presides over an editorial board which includes D.S.A. members Norman Birnbaum, Barbara Ehrenreich (also an I.P.S. trustee) and Deborah Meier, plus I.P.S. affiliates Tom Hayden and Roger Wilkins.
*In These Times – Created by I.P.S. and run mainly by D.S.A. members and affiliates. Based in Chicago, I.T.T.’s board of editors includes former Weather Underground terrorists and Obama associates Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.
*Progressives for Obama – Established by D.S.A. members Barbara Ehrenreich, Tim Carpenter and Bill Fletchers, Jr. Ehrenreich and Fletcher are also I.P.S. affiliates, as were two more of P.F.O.’s six founders: Tom Hayden and Danny Glover.
*Campaign for America’s Future – Founded in 1996, by several dozen D.S.A. members and I.P.S. affiliates, C.A.F. is a major coordinator of the U.S. “progressive” movement. In recent years it has organized several major Take Back America and America’s Future Now! conferences in Washington DC – which are attended by the cream of the U.S. progressive movement, including Barack Obama himself.
Apart from the D.S.A./I.P.S. connections, leftist institutions like The New Republic and the New Century Foundation are well represented. There are two known connections to George Soros‘ Open Society Institute.
Many major newspapers are also represented, as is national public radio, CNN and a host of leading “progressive” blogs and websites and leftist media “watchdog” Media Matters.
The following 106 names, are reported members of the now-defunct JournoList listserv:
*Spencer Ackerman – Wired, FireDogLake, Washington Independent, Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect
*Ben Adler – Newsweek, POLITICO
* Mike Allen – POLITICO
*Eric Alterman – Professor of Journalism, City University of New York, POLITICO, The Nation, Media Matters for America, Center for American Progress Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies affiliate. In April 2003, Eric Alterman e-signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba. In the 1980s, Alterman was listed as a “Guardian Associate” by the Maoist-oriented journal The Guardian. Alterman is a former protege and defender of the late I.F.Stone, a leftist journalist, secret Communist Party USA member and pre-WW2 Soviet intelligence contact.
*Marc Ambinder – The Atlantic
*Greg Anrig – The Century Foundation
*Ryan Avent – Economist
*Dean Baker – The American Prospect. in 2009 Dean Baker was a Contributing Editor for In These Times.
*Nick Baumann – Mother Jones
*Josh Bearman – LA Weekly
*Steven Benen – The Carpetbagger Report
*Jared Bernstein – Economic Policy Institute
*Michael Berube – Crooked Timber (blog), Pennsylvania State University. In April 2003, Michael Berube signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba.
*Lindsay Beyerstein – Focal Point (blog) (formerly Majikthise). In 2009 Lindsay Beyerstein was listed as a member of the Drum Major Institute Netroots Advisory Council.
*Joel Bleifuss – In These Times editor, long-time Democratic Socialists of America affiliate. In October 2008, Joel Bleifuss was one of several thousand college professors, students and academic staff to sign a statement to “Support Bill Ayers,” in solidarity with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.
*John Blevins – South Texas College of Law
*Sam Boyd – The American Prospect
*Rich Byrne – Playwright and Freelancer
*Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Atlantic
*Jonathan Chait – The New Republic
*Lakshmi Chaudry – In These Times
*Isaac Chotiner – The New Republic
*Michael Cohen – New America Foundation
*Jonathan Cohn – The American Prospect, The New Republic. In 2009, Jonathan Cohn was a Senior Fellow of New York-based think tank Demos, which is an Institute for Policy Studies partner organization.
*Joe Conason – The New York Observer
*David Corn – Mother Jones
*Daniel Davies – The Guardian
*David Dayen – FireDogLake
*Brad DeLong – The Economists’ Voice, University of California at Berkley
*Ryan Donmoyer – Bloomberg
*Kevin Drum – Washington Monthly
*Matt Duss – Center for American Progress
*Eve Fairbanks – The New Republic
*Henry Farrell – George Washington University
*Tim Fernholz – The American Prospect, New America Foundation
*James Galbraith – University of Texas at Austin, Campaign for America’s Future
*Todd Gitlin – Professor of Journalism, Columbia University, former leader of Students for a Democratic Society, Campaign for America’s Future founder, Democratic Socialists of America member, In April 2003, Todd Gitlin signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba. Progressives for Obama endorser.
*Ilan Goldenberg – National Security Network
*Dana Goldstein – The Daily Beast
*Merrill Goozner – Chicago Tribune, The American Prospect
*David Greenberg – Slate
*Robert Greenwald – Brave New Films, a production company that produced a documentary for Ronnie Earle during the case against Republican Party leader Tom DeLay.
*Chris Hayes – The Nation
*Don Hazen – Alternet
*Michael Hirsh – Newsweek, Take Back America conference, 2008
*John Judis – The New Republic, The American Prospect. A former leader of Democratic Socialists of America‘s preceding organization, the New American Movement, which was formed from the Students for a Democratic Society and the Communist Party USA. Judis is the former Editor of Socialist Revolution magazine and is an Institute for Policy Studies affiliate.
*Michael Kazin – Georgetown University. A founder of Campaign for America’s Future, editor of the Democratic Socialists of America-controlled Dissent magazine and co-author of a history of the Communist Party USA with D.S.A. member Maurice Isserman. In April 2003, Michael Kazin signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba. A veteran of the 1969 Venceremos Brigade to Cuba.
*Ed Kilgore – Democratic Party Strategist
*Richard Kim – The Nation
*Mark Kleiman – The Reality Based Community. In 2005 Mark Kleiman served as an affiliated scholar of Center for American Progress.
*Ezra Klein – Washington Post, Newsweek, The American Prospect, 2010 Business Section columnist, Washington Post, formed JournoList, February, 2007
*Joe Klein – TIME Columnist
*Paul Krugman – The New York Times, Princeton University, economics, world affairs and Pulitzer Prize winner (Neo-Marxist).
*Lisa Lerer – POLITICO
*Daniel Levy – Century Foundation
*Alec McGillis – Washington Post
*Scott McLemee – Inside Higher Ed, Democratic Socialists of America affiliate.
*Ari Melber – The Nation
*Seth Michaels – MyDD.com
*Luke Mitchell – Harper’s Magazine
*Gautham Nagesh – The Hill, Daily Caller
*Suzanne Nossel – Human Rights Watch. In 2005 Suzanne Nossel served as an affiliated scholar of Center for American Progress.
*Michael O’Hare – University of California, Berkeley
*Rick Perlstein – Author, Campaign for America’s Future. Democratic Socialists of America affiliate.
*Harold Pollack – University of Chicago
*Foster Kamer – The Village Voice
*Katha Pollitt – The Nation, a member of Democratic Socialists of America and a supporter of Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama. In April 2003, Katha Pollitt signed a “Statement on Cuba,” initiated and circulated by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba.
*Ari Rabin-Havt – Media Matters
*David Roberts – Grist
*Alyssa Rosenberg – Washingtonian, The Atlantic
*Alex Rossmiller – National Security Network
*Laura Rozen – Politico, Mother Jones. In 2009 Laura Rozen was listed as a Senior Correspondent of The American Prospect.
*Greg Sargent – Washington Post
*Thomas Schaller – Baltimore Sun
*Noam Scheiber – The New Republic
*Michael Scherer – TIME
*Mark Schmitt – The American Prospect. New America Foundation, former Director of Policy and Research at the Open Society Institute.
*Adam Serwer – The American Prospect
*Thomas Schaller – Baltimore Sun (Columnist), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Professor), FiveThirtyEight.com (Contributing Writer)
*Julie Bergman Sender – Balcony Films
*Walter Shapiro – PoliticsDaily.com
*Nate Silver – FiveThirtyEight.com
*Jesse Singal – The Boston Globe, Washington Monthly
*Ben Smith – Chief Writer/Columnist for the POLITICO
*Sarah Spitz – NPR
*Adele Stan – The Media Consortium
*Kate Steadman – Kaiser Health News
*Jonathan Stein – Mother Jones
*Sam Stein – The Huffington Post
*Jesse Taylor – Pandagon.net
*Steven Teles – Yale University, New America Foundation Fellow
*Mark Thoma – The Economist’s View (Blog), University of Oregon (Professor)
*Michael Tomasky – The Guardian, Contributing Editor of The American Prospect
*Jeffrey Toobin – CNN, The New Yorker, writer for The New Yorker Magazine – POLITICO
*Rebecca Traister – Salon (Columnist)
* Tracy Van Slyke – The Media Consortium, Take Back America conference, 2008, former Publisher In These Times
* Dave Weigel – Washington Post, MSNBC, The Washington Independent
*Moira Whelan – National Security Network
*Scott Winship – Pew Economic Mobility Project
*Kai Wright – The Root, The nation, The American Prospect, ColorLines, a radical publication of the Communist Party USA connected to Applied Research Center.
*Holly Yeager – Columbia Journalism Review
*Rich Yeselson – Change to Win Labor Federation
*Matthew Yglesias – Center for American Progress, The American Prospect, The Atlantic Monthly, Blogger, POLITICO, Open Society Institute affiliation.
*Jonathan Zasloff – UCLA
*Julian Zelizer – Princeton Professor and CNN contributor.
*Avi Zenilman – POLITICO
JournoList was not just a bunch of “liberal’ journos with too much time on their hands.
It was a network of high level opinion makers, united by a “progressive” vision for America. They believed that their superior judgment and insight obligated them to present Americans with a view of reality that they would be too stupid and reactionary to grasp unaided.
At least a few, perhaps many, were committed Marxists who saw journalism, not as a profession, but as a revolutionary tool.
This disgraceful episode should dispel forever the “progressive” lie that the American MainStreamMedia and its “liberal” core, can be trusted to uphold the objective standards of their profession.
how do these “professors of Journalism” not lose their jobs after this?
Hey Spencer,
If you want to smash a rightwinger’s face into a window, I live in Alaska. Bring it on wimp. I’ll feed you to a griz about 5 minutes after you try.
When I was working on my poli sci undergraduate degree in the late nineties I was amazed when I frequently ran into unapologetic, self-identified young Marxists or “Marxians,” as they then liked to be called. It was as though I had run into a group DEVOTED to using the language of science to determine, once and for all, how many angels really could dance on the head of a pin. By time I got to law school (this decade), you would think I would have got over my surprise that so many of them were hanging out there as well, but no luck.
In my college experience, they were as numerous as they were uneducated or ignorant, surly, cynical, unforgiving, and condemning. What a bunch of prissy creeps; Hoffer’s “True Believers,” for sure! Also, as far as I could tell, all upper-middle class or above, silver spoon socialists.
Weren’t there any moderate or conservative journalists on that list at all? Were they excluded? Or just complicit and silent.
These journolists should be put out of business. Of course, they probably would be out of business if the taxpayer’s monies wasn’t going to prop them all up.
Barack Obama should be impeached for what he is doing to America. I wouldn’t rule it out. He’s stomping on the Republic and he cares absolutely nothing about the Constitution that he is sworn to uphold.
He is suing an American state for doing the job that he won’t do to secure the borders. All for political gain. He’s getting rid of the electoral college that was set up that way to make sure that the bigger states would not bully the smaller ones. He’s trying to add states to the union even though they have voted time and time against it, to ensure that he remains king of all.
The man will be crowning himself king soon, just like Napoleon.
These journolists are a disgrace to America and they should be tried for treason. They should be tried for not revealing the anti-American stance of this unknown man, Barack Obama, who rose up through the corrupt Chicago machine and is thoroughly tainted by it.
This man does not understand what makes America great. His apologizing and bowing tours are a disgrace to America.
Our Founding Fathers, who fought, bled, died and lost their entire fortunes for America must be rolling over in their graves.
Shame, shame, shame on Barack Obama and his cohorts-in-deceit, the journolistas, who kept all the sordid details of this man’s past a secret from the American people. All of Barack Obama’s past is still sealed.
God Bless America. The land of the free because of the brave.
i wanna watch tv and drink beer with your money. why should i work.im oppressed. so what’s wrong with socialism? you owe me
This group of so called journalists & scholars, professors think that the majority of Americans are stupid, well thee may be some bu anyone with a brain should know that the “left wingers have skewed the news to push their progressive agendas and to lie about just about anything and everything and what amazes me is that there isn’t more of a response from regular people who are well read. These people should never be allowed to write anything in any paper, book or op ed pieces they are a disgrace to people who want to report & relate the facts as they are the truth nno matter what. It is about time that the American people rise up & take a more active role in letting these scumbags no we are not going to tke anymore of their crap
The question is what is to be done now? There is enough evidence here to sustain a true bill for a conspiracy indictment, for election fraud, for wire fraud and possibly a RICO indictment as well.
Who will step up and do what has to be done so that our children will not have to live under the oppression of a state-controlled media? Who will be the guardians of the ideal of a free press?
They should all be put in front of a firing squad for the traitorist bastards that they are, I would like to be the first to pull the trigger
These traitorous communist assholes are just
like cockroaches. They will never go away.
You have to just step on them whenever you get
a chance and then scrape the scum off your heel
and go look for another one. But never rest
or quit looking. They also multiply like
rats if not kept in check.
I had been warned by a Professor Hughes, of what had been brewing in Ivy-League Colleges in the Northeastern States-! He said you won’t believe what radicals have been doing back in the 1950’s–all the Brain-Washing that had been going on–to convert young College Students to accept Soviet Socialist beliefs-!
ALL OF THOSE IDIOTS SHOULD BE SENT TO MOTHER RUSSIA AND SEE HOW LIFE IS IN REAL COMMUNISM
Though not a scientific observation, did anyone else notice something about the photo’s of the lefty-socialists above?
Why do so many of these male socialists share cheesy beards and thinning hair. Is it a throwback to the flower-child days, or is it simply due to the fact that they spend their entire lives atop the soapbox they forget to use its contents?
Lastly, why are so many socialist females middle-aged, white, pudgy and have crazy hair; whether syled crazy, or dyed?
Curious. No wonder these folks can only get jobs as journalists, professors, or health food store clerks.
Could this happen in America?
Here is one vignette from those years as it actually occurred. A District Party Conference was underway in Moscow Province. It was presided over by a new Secretary of the District Party Committee replacing one recently arrested. At the conclusion of the conference a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name). The small hall echoed with “stormy applause, rising to an ovation”. For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the “stormy applause rising to an ovation” continued. But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who rally adored Stalin. However, who would dare to be the first to stop? The secretary of the District Party Committee could have done it. He was standing on the platform, and it was he who had called for the ovation. But he was a newcomer. He had taken the place of a man who had been arrested. He was afraid! After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who quit first. And in that obscure, small hall, unknown to the Leader, the applause went on–six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for!Their goose was cooked! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could, of course, cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly–but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them? The director of the local paper factory, an independent and strong minded man stood with the presidium. Aware of all the falsity and all the impossibility of the situation, he still kept on applauding! Nine minutes! Ten! In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee but the latter dared not stop. Insanity! To the last man! With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on till they fell where they stood, till they were carried off the hall on stretchers and even then those who were lef would not falter…Then, after eleven minutes the director of the paper factory assumed a business-like expression and sat down in his seat. And oh! a miracle took place! Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone? To a man, everyone stopped dead and sat down. They had been saved! The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off the revolving wheel.
That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They pasted a ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him: “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding”
PS: Sigh! http://nangafakir.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
That’s only 106. Who are the other 300? And I might have known David Corn would be on the list. Remember the Plame fiasco?
The journOlistas….as ugly on the inside as they are ugly on the outside. SHAME SHAME SHAME. They should all be tried for TREASON.
Go figure……
None of them got the memo from the 20th Century that marxism/socialism doesn’t work.
Even the collapse of marxism-light in Europe does not faze these ideologues.
Some people aren’t equipped to handle freedom.
.
This editorial consists of some pretty engrossing info that one hardly ever finds out. And the point made is inescapable – but however I see no potential by any means of the essential radical shift in outlook !
Finally a reasonably comprehensive list of media traitors – each should be shipped out to Zimbabwe to explore the outgrowth of Socialism run amuck. It is one thing to bash capitalism and conservatives when you make great income and are not affected by the horrendous policies proposed by the Progressives; quite another to be forced to live in the dungheap such progressive policies create. Every one of these jerks should get stripped of their jobs; get shipped to an unpleasant place (how about Kenya?) and be joined by 95% of Congress, plus all labor union leaders. There you will jointly discover the error of your thinking and come fact to face with your astounding stupidity. All of this after all of you are tried for TREASON.
@ john said, We said Obama and his cabal were commies, Marxists, and socialists and they howled.
They scream when the light of day touches them.
What other creature does that? Marxists are parasitic vampires.
So that’s the army we have been up against, huh? That line between partisan operative and journalist is really blurry, isn’t it.
Now that we have flushed them out, let’s take them on. We have many on our side that will be glad to start posting the truth and convincing the American people to start doing their own research and never believe the lying media again!
These Marxists and atheists are moral and intellectual cul-de-sacs. They are Bitter Clingers clutching their little red books and Utopian mysticism.
They are nothing but a fusion of “Children of the Corn” and “Lord of the Flies”
If marxism/socialism is so great, why don’t they just admit what they are?
Why can’t they make an honest case why it would be so great?
Why have do they insist on wasting another 100 years of humanity on epoch fail?
If the mother ships China and Russia can get it, why can’t they?
It is time for them to renounce their atheist religion.
.
We said Obama and his cabal were commies, Marxists, and socialists and they howled.
Talk about knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. Did they not get the memo from the 20th century that marxism/socialism has been thoroughly discredited?
Even the communist-light version of their ideology is being now being dismantled in Europe because it is bankrupt.
Are they all going to finally go away quietly or not?
.
Probably nothing more than “pure racism” , on my part , but , somehow , I can’t help but notice how FEW obvious “Catholic” & “Waspish” names seem to appear on this list ….. Frank Kowalski (N.Va.)
Many have been saying for years that the media was not in bed with the Democrats. Now we know this is true and they are activitly subverting the principles that make this country work.
Yeah, shining the light of truth on a nest of lying cockroaches . . . surely a waste of time. At least for the cockroaches.
What a collection of colluding, ivory-tower asshats.
You know, if we just discuss it smartly enough, we can turn facts into an abstraction, and then they can simply be regarded as a matter of opinion.
Hey, we got away with it on Global Warming, didn’t we?
Yeah. Well, you almost got away with it.
As the vermin scurry from the bright light of scrutiny, you can hear them mutter to one another, “Damn it, Montague, you’ve committed the biggest sin of all! You’ve allowed us to be caught! Caught, I say! I’ve told you time and again: the only crime is getting caught!”
~~ AG
Among other things these journolistas have in common is that they are all hod carriers for
Among other things these journolistas have in common is they are all hod carriers for George
Sore’s movements.
g
Truly excellent post. I’ve been hoping somebody would get down to the nitty-gritty of connecting the dots.
Now, you should try to connect all these dots with ACORN, SEIU, STORM, HCANN, World Development Movement, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, MoveOn.org, Gamaliel Foundation, People Improving Communities Through Organizing (PICO), and Direct Action and Research Training Institute (DART) et al.
And what about Yosi Sargent, the punk who tried to coordinate through the NEA America’s artists to paint for ObamaCare?
Is there any doubt remaining just who the so-called “Mainstream media” really is and with whom they identify. Wake Up America, Wake Up!!
What can I say beyond, Oh, my God.
Imagine if all this work went into something, you know, useful.
Its about time they were exposed for the lying, propogandist, communists they are.