Morley, a native of Minneapolis, attended Yale University. He worked as an editor at The New Republic, The Nation, and Spin Magazine before coming to the Washington Post in 1992. In 2000 he became the World News Editor of the online edition. In 2004 he became a columnist on the international media. World Opinion Roundup appears every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Jefferson Morley is the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the CIA, demanding the release of records pertaining to CIA officer George Joannides. Joannides was called out of retirement in the 1970s to serve as liaison with the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Unknown to the HSCA, Joannides had in 1963 been the case officer for the Student Revolutionary Directorate, the Cuban exile group with whom Lee Harvey Oswald had multiple interactions in New Orleans.
In October, 2006, Judge Richard Leon upheld the CIA's right to block disclosure of records about Joannides's operational activities in August 1963.
******
Oct. 15 -- Jefferson Morley, a 15-year veteran at the Washington Post, has joined the Center for Independent Media as its national editorial director, with overall responsibility for guiding the center's fast-growing network of 40 journalists and overseeing the launch of a new Washington, D.C.-based online news site with 10 reporters in late 2007.
"After a thorough and intensive search, we are honored to have Jeff Morley join our team," said David S. Bennahum, the center's president and CEO. "With Jeff's magazine experience from the Nation and New Republic, daily newspaper experience from the Washington Post and track record as an editor of the Post's website, Jeff is ideally suited to help lead the way to the 21st century newsroom," Bennahum said.
The Center currently operates sites in four states: Colorado Confidential, Iowa Independent, Michigan Messenger, and Minnesota Monitor.
******
Dedicated to "balancing" what it deems "conservative dominance in traditional media," the Center for Independent Media (CIM) describes itself as "a not-for-profit organization that fosters diversity of ideas in the national debate by bringing talented and diverse voices and ideas to the fore of our nation's discourse, through its fellowships, conferences, and research. … The Center's fellowships and programs focus on blogs as a fast-growing exemplar of independent media that works to diversify the spectrum of ideas in the national debate."
Officially launched in April 2006, CIM states that it grew out of "a four-month intensive research study conducted by a progressive not-for-profit media watchdog organization." (An organization that fits this description perfectly is the George Soros- and Hillary Clinton-affiliated Media Matters, from which CIM rents office space in Washington, DC, but CIM does not identify the "watchdog" group by name.) "The research project's objective," CIM continues, "was to understand how blogs work to broaden ideological diversity in the media, and how to reinforce these positive effects. The study focused on how blogs advance original information and expert commentary that impacts the national debate. Fifty-three bloggers were surveyed in January-February 2006, providing essential empirical data on the demographics of blogging, and the specific needs, in terms of education and services, that bloggers require in order to be more effective. The results of these surveys and analysis led to the decision to create the Center for Independent Media as a progressive not-for-profit learning center … producing original news and information that augments the current media landscape of local newspapers, television, and radio …"