TigerPrwn
07-27-2010, 06:04 PM
I would bet that there are people in the media that are members of both of these lists, but I think TownHouse is the more influential of the two. I was wondering where all the big Propaganda artists hung, so now we know. I think Journolist might shape more media, but TownHouse, I bet they shape policy and politics and pump their "candidates" on the TownHouse listserv. I bet that is where they gather the real dirt. I think that JournOlist is just the tip of the iceberg. I would guess that policy/talking points is handed down through the different list servs as well through the members who are on both list servs. These media list servs are a giant octopus.
Greenwald surprises me.
Here is some information on the TownHouse listserv:
Meet the New Bosses
After crashing the gate of the political establishment, bloggers are looking more like the next gatekeepers.
— By Daniel Schulman Wed Jun. 20, 2007 12:00 AM PDT
Last June, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, former soldier, one-time Reagan Republican, and proprietor of the wildly successful liberal blog Daily Kos, sent an email to an invitation-only listserv known as Townhouse. Consisting of some 300 liberal bloggers, journalists, activists, and consultants, the list was an outgrowth of weekly strategy sessions held at a D.C. bar—a forum for brainstorming on issues and tactics, and a means of creating a "unified message," as Moulitsas later put it. Its members were bound by one main rule: Nothing from the list was to be quoted or distributed, which, this being politics, meant that a leak was bound to happen.
In the message that would end up putting Townhouse, briefly, on the outside world's radar, Moulitsas asked list members to "ignore" a blog item by the New York Times' Chris Suellentrop that revealed that Jerome Armstrong—founder of the popular liberal blog MyDD and a close friend and business associate of Moulitsas—had once been implicated in a stock-touting scheme. Suellentrop noted parallels between stock-hyping and bloggers' touting of candidates such as Howard Dean, who had hired both Armstrong and Moulitsas as consultants during his 2004 presidential campaign. Moulitsas, who had recently coauthored the book Crashing the Gate with Armstrong, told Townhouse members that these revelations were "a nonstory." "So far," he wrote, "this story isn't making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn't do anything to help make that happen." He urged participants to "starve it of oxygen."
As if JournOList isn't bad enough, the TownHouse list serv is run by Alan Grayson's Senior Policy advisor, Matt Stoller:
Townhouse provides the online equivalent of a political backroom for Democratic Party-aligned advocates, consultants and lobbyists. On this closed listserv selected liberals — including bloggers Glenn Greenwald, Markos Moulitsas and Atrios; film maker Robert Greenwald; leaders of liberal think tanks such as Robert Borosage of Campaign for America’s Future; Wes Boyd, Tom Matzzie and other leaders of MoveOn; and other Democratic campaign and PR consultants — can confidentially discuss and debate their issues, strategies and tactics.
http://bigjournalism.com/sahiller/2010/07/27/journolist-2-the-townhouse-listserv/#more-99510
Bloggers' double-super-secret smoky room
Kos declares war against the New Republic, after a secret society of liberal bloggers is revealed.
Here was the next generation of would-be D.C. power brokers, kids in their 20s and 30s who planned to mold the political future. At some point, Matt Stoller, the preppy enforcer of liberal blogging, helped organize the group into a formal e-mail list. (An earlier version of the group was even called "Knights of the Round Stoller.") Over time, the e-mail list and the Sunday afternoon boozefests grew. Matt Bai, a reporter for the New York Times, was granted permission to attend on an "off-the-record" basis. People worried that there were Republican spies in their midst. Through it all, Stoller controlled the membership. If you stayed in his graces, and met the group's qualifications, you got yourself a ticket to both the electronic and the alcoholic conversations. At all times, the whole enterprise was declared off the record, to be spoken of in hushed tones only with others who knew the proverbial secret handshake.
In the short term, I expect things will change. The Townhouse wall of silence has been officially broken. The Internet is in a tizzy. My money is on Stoller and company creating a new list in the near future. I am sure there are several Washington watering holes that would be willing to lend their name to the enterprise. Wonderland? Bedrock? Toledo? We shall see.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/townhouse
:eek::eek:
Ironically, the author of the old scortching column above is none other than Michael Scherer- member of Journolist! HAH
Knights of the Round Stoller- jeeebus.
Greenwald surprises me.
Here is some information on the TownHouse listserv:
Meet the New Bosses
After crashing the gate of the political establishment, bloggers are looking more like the next gatekeepers.
— By Daniel Schulman Wed Jun. 20, 2007 12:00 AM PDT
Last June, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, former soldier, one-time Reagan Republican, and proprietor of the wildly successful liberal blog Daily Kos, sent an email to an invitation-only listserv known as Townhouse. Consisting of some 300 liberal bloggers, journalists, activists, and consultants, the list was an outgrowth of weekly strategy sessions held at a D.C. bar—a forum for brainstorming on issues and tactics, and a means of creating a "unified message," as Moulitsas later put it. Its members were bound by one main rule: Nothing from the list was to be quoted or distributed, which, this being politics, meant that a leak was bound to happen.
In the message that would end up putting Townhouse, briefly, on the outside world's radar, Moulitsas asked list members to "ignore" a blog item by the New York Times' Chris Suellentrop that revealed that Jerome Armstrong—founder of the popular liberal blog MyDD and a close friend and business associate of Moulitsas—had once been implicated in a stock-touting scheme. Suellentrop noted parallels between stock-hyping and bloggers' touting of candidates such as Howard Dean, who had hired both Armstrong and Moulitsas as consultants during his 2004 presidential campaign. Moulitsas, who had recently coauthored the book Crashing the Gate with Armstrong, told Townhouse members that these revelations were "a nonstory." "So far," he wrote, "this story isn't making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn't do anything to help make that happen." He urged participants to "starve it of oxygen."
As if JournOList isn't bad enough, the TownHouse list serv is run by Alan Grayson's Senior Policy advisor, Matt Stoller:
Townhouse provides the online equivalent of a political backroom for Democratic Party-aligned advocates, consultants and lobbyists. On this closed listserv selected liberals — including bloggers Glenn Greenwald, Markos Moulitsas and Atrios; film maker Robert Greenwald; leaders of liberal think tanks such as Robert Borosage of Campaign for America’s Future; Wes Boyd, Tom Matzzie and other leaders of MoveOn; and other Democratic campaign and PR consultants — can confidentially discuss and debate their issues, strategies and tactics.
http://bigjournalism.com/sahiller/2010/07/27/journolist-2-the-townhouse-listserv/#more-99510
Bloggers' double-super-secret smoky room
Kos declares war against the New Republic, after a secret society of liberal bloggers is revealed.
Here was the next generation of would-be D.C. power brokers, kids in their 20s and 30s who planned to mold the political future. At some point, Matt Stoller, the preppy enforcer of liberal blogging, helped organize the group into a formal e-mail list. (An earlier version of the group was even called "Knights of the Round Stoller.") Over time, the e-mail list and the Sunday afternoon boozefests grew. Matt Bai, a reporter for the New York Times, was granted permission to attend on an "off-the-record" basis. People worried that there were Republican spies in their midst. Through it all, Stoller controlled the membership. If you stayed in his graces, and met the group's qualifications, you got yourself a ticket to both the electronic and the alcoholic conversations. At all times, the whole enterprise was declared off the record, to be spoken of in hushed tones only with others who knew the proverbial secret handshake.
In the short term, I expect things will change. The Townhouse wall of silence has been officially broken. The Internet is in a tizzy. My money is on Stoller and company creating a new list in the near future. I am sure there are several Washington watering holes that would be willing to lend their name to the enterprise. Wonderland? Bedrock? Toledo? We shall see.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/townhouse
:eek::eek:
Ironically, the author of the old scortching column above is none other than Michael Scherer- member of Journolist! HAH
Knights of the Round Stoller- jeeebus.