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.