[HarryCaul]

I know it sounds all tin-foil hattish and so on, but one of my email addresses was mistakenly added to a mailing list for a "group" that meets regularly in Manhattan. The address apparently resembles one for an actual intended attendee.

Anyway, the mailing list organizer doesn't understand "BCC", and this group includes a number of names I immediately recognized as leading media and political types. Further research showed that they all were such figures. The group meets to discuss various topics that either are or soon become "hot". It's fascinating to get this glimpse of the machinery that manufactures what you hear about via the mainstream press. I have no doubt that this group is merely one of several that do this sort of crossover all the time. In fact, I've long been aware of the "cocktail party" circuit in places like Manhattan and DC, but it's really odd to see it plainly laid out.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but do you imagine that reporting and editorial decisions aren't influenced by this sort of thing?

[185JHP]

The novel "The Spike" lays it out pretty well. Agents of influence are pervasive and pernicious.

[js1138]

I know it sounds all tin-foil hattish and so on, but one of my email addresses was mistakenly added to a mailing list for a "group" that meets regularly in Manhattan.

So why not post these emails as threads, along with the list of attendees.