Blogging Truth to Power

Blogging Truth to Power:
How Progressive Bloggers Can Break through the MSM Blackout to Get Coverage for our Exposes
Bob Fertik
Last Update: 2/15/05

Most of the mainstream media (MSM) is now firmly under the control of the Bush administration and the Republican Party.

The few outlets that are not entirely under GOP control are afraid to challenge the GOP because right-wing media activists are so vicious.

Right-wing bloggers can get instant national attention for their "exposes" - no matter how bogus - through their allies on cable TV, especially Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Joe Scarborough, and Pat Buchanan. Their successes include:

  • The Swift Boat Liars, who played a crucial role in stealing a second term for Bush
  • Dan Rather, whose report on Bush's National Guard failures was fundamentally true
  • Eason Jordan, whose complaint about U.S. troops killing journalists in Iraq was fundamentally true

By contrast, progressive bloggers have no allies on TV, so our exposes - no matter how important - usually get blacked out.

  • Al Gore's victory in 2000 has never been reported in the MSM, despite the MSM's own $1 million recount proving he won. (The story was killed by the NY Times after 9/11.)
  • Bush's 2-year AWOL has never been reported in the MSM, despite overwhelming proof. (The story was first killed by the NY Times just before the 2000 election, and was killed again in 2004 after the Killian memos were attacked.)
  • Bush's use of an earpiece in all 3 debates with Kerry has never been reported, despite substantial evidence confirmed by a top NASA scientist. (The story was killed by the NY Times just before Election Day.)
  • The exit polls proving John Kerry won Ohio, Florida, and other key states has never been reported, despite undisputed statistical evidence.

Despite the general blackout, progressive bloggers have had a few breakthroughs.

  • Trent Lott was dumped as Senate Majority Leader after his praise of Strom Thurmond was exposed by blogger Joshua Micah Marshall
  • The unreliability of touchscreen voting has created a powerful grassroots opposition movement, thanks to blogging led by Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org
  • Sinclair Broadcasting's plan to promote the Swift Boat Lies was stopped by a blogger-led campaign targeting Sinclair's advertisers
  • The suppression of black voters in Ohio led to Congressional hearings and the first voting rights challenge to a state's Electors in American history, thanks to blogging led by Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, and Steve Rosenfeld of FreePress.org.
  • White House reporter "Jeff Gannon" was revealed as a fraud, thanks to blogging led by John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.org.

Still, progressive bloggers need a more effective way to get serious coverage for major exposes.

(I am defining "bloggers" broadly as civic-minded investigators who do original research to expose wrongdoing by corrupt government and corporate officials - and share their exposes with the public in order to inspire grassroots activism and change. This broad definition embraces traditional investigative reporters and serious talk show hosts. We invite such reporters and hosts to join this effort as long as they are willing to operate their own blog, so they can benefit from the further discoveries - and occasional corrections - of their audience.)

Since God helps those who help themselves, I propose that progressive bloggers hold regular conference calls to share important exposes.

Our goals would be:

  1. To spread important exposes among progressive blogs, and to enlist more bloggers in getting to the bottom of an expose
  2. To attract journalists and producers from the progressive media
  3. To create firestorms that the MSM has to cover

Of course, large conference calls are a challenge. I propose the following structure:

  1. 2 calls per week (Tuesday and Thursday) starting sharply at 1 pm EST / 10 am PST (arrive early to avoid missing anything)
  2. each call features a hot expose by a progressive blogger chosen by the Program Committee
  3. open to progressive bloggers, journalists, and producers; others by permission of the Credentials Committee
  4. 45 minutes total
  5. 15 minute presentation by the featured blogger (with supporting witnesses or experts invited by the blogger)
  6. 20 minute Q&A with anonymous questions submitted by e-mail to the moderator
  7. 10 minutes for quick announcements on other important topics, with speakers sequentially "activated" by the moderator
  8. tape and transcript (identifying featured blogger and announcements but not questioners)
  9. follow-up publicity by the Publicity Committee to get as much coverage as possible for the day's expose

The content of these calls would be fact-focused, not opinion-focused.  All of us can rant brilliantly (of course!), but we should do that on our blogs, not on these calls.

Criteria for selection would include:

  • Scandalous conduct by a rightwing politician, activist, or government official
  • Dedicated blogger(s) doggedly pursuing the truth
  • Credible witness(es)
  • Credible document(s)

Possible topics would include:

  • John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.org discussing the story of "Jeff Gannon," the possibility of a gay prostitution ring in the White House, and the connection to the Valerie Plame investigation
  • Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com discussing the story of computer programmer Clint Curtis, who was asked in 2000 by powerful Florida Republican Tom Feeney (now a Congressman) to write vote-flipping software for electronic voting machines. Curtis would participate in the call, answering questions from Friedman and the moderator
  • Al Franken of Air America Radio discussing his campaign for Brit Hume's resignation after he knowingly misquoted FDR on Social Security
  • Dave Lindorff discussing the story of Bush's bulge (being fed the answers to the questions during his 3 debates with John Kerry), including the admitted suppression of the story by NY Times ombudsman Dan Okrent
  • Danny Schechter of MediaChannel.org discussing his documentary WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception and his evidence that U.S. troops in Baghdad deliberately fired on journalists at the Baghdad Hotel - the allegation that cost CNN executive Eason Jordan his job.
  • Russ Baker of RussBaker.com discussing Janet Linke, the widow of Texas Air National Guard pilot Jan Linke, who was hired in 1972 to fill Bush's vacant slot after Bush's commanding officer Col. Jerry Killian decided Bush was "unfit to fly."
  • Mary Mapes of CBS 60 Minutes discussing the "Killian Memos" that buttressed the evidence Bush went AWOL

The effort would be sustained by three ongoing committees:

1. Program Committee

  • Monitor breaking exposes by bloggers
  • Contact bloggers about participating in an upcoming call
  • Work with blogger to nail down crucial details about the story, including witnesses and evidence
  • Assign moderator for each call
  • Prepare tape and transcript of each call

2. Credentials Committee

  • Maintain an e-mail list of known progressive bloggers, journalists, and producers who get standing invitations to all calls
  • Approve or reject requests from others (including new bloggers and blog-activists) for standing credentials or one-time guest credentials
  • Distribute conference call details before each call

3. Publicity Committee

  • Work directly with bloggers to get more coverage for their stories and to polish their presentations
  • Arrange appearances on radio & TV talk shows (and help prepare concise answers to likely questions)
  • Arrange articles in large-circulation publications (and help edit)

To cover the costs of this effort, we will set a monthly user subscription fee. We are requesting competitive bids from large conference call services to keep costs as low as possible.