12/05 WSJ story: Who is Kaloogian? What is Move America Forward?

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113572887635032543-MBBcaDkXJAQBlIrm5UujD1fj5qw_20061227.html?mod=rss_free


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Similar to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- the advocacy group that helped derail John Kerry's presidential campaign -- Move America Forward has magnified its reach by making small television and radio ad buys and then relying on cable- and local-television news outlets to give the commercials heavy coverage. Move America Forward has no discernible formal ties to the White House or the Republican National Committee, and the group says it operates independently from the Republican Party establishment. Still, the organization provides a clear benefit to the administration by spreading a pro-war message that goes beyond what administration officials can say publicly.

The effect of the ads hasn't been measured. Amid a simultaneous flurry of speeches by the president and a ramped-up RNC effort aimed at boosting the war, polls show that Mr. Bush's job-approval ratings, specifically his handling of the Iraq situation, have risen this month from all-time lows.

"The White House has really done a poor job of getting the message out, which is why we've had to step into the breach," says California-based Republican political strategist Sal Russo, one of the group's three founders. "They should do a better job of coordinating with those willing to get out and tell the story. We shouldn't be the only ones out here fighting."

The White House didn't return several calls seeking comment. A Republican National Committee spokesman declined to comment.

Move America Forward has raised more than $1 million, mainly in small donations, over the past two years. The group grew out of the successful 2003 effort to recall Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis. It was officially founded in 2004 by Mr. Russo, whose company provides office space for the organization; Melanie Morgan, a conservative San Francisco radio host; and Howard Kaloogian, a Republican former state assemblyman seeking the congressional seat of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned recently after admitting to taking bribes from defense contractors.

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http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000218.php

But the NYTimes improperly credits them with taking the lead in the story:

"The unraveling of the error began on the Web log of Joshua M. Marshall (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) and a related site, www.TPMmuckraker.com."

In fact, dailykos.com got the ball rolling, DU contributed with research of its own showing strong evidence that the photo in question was of a Turkish city, then dkos scored a big goal by ID'ing the locale of the photo.

I think they knew where it started and gained the most ground, but TPM is the closest to a traditional news source so they used that. Why? Because they don't want to encourage people to start trusting grass roots media.

In fact TPM really didnt do anything. His first post on the story was one talking about how DU and DKos were talking about it, but that he didnt think it was true, and each new post merely reported what other people had found, either here or at DKos. I think the only part of the story TPM contributed was the first "official" statements by Kaloogian.

The mainstream media is trying to protect itself by ignoring the role played by what I am calling the grass roots media. They do not want "We, the people" getting the idea that not only can they become part of the media, but that they can do it better in many cases because they are not beholden to traditional power structures.

We (and by this I mean ordinary people) can not be bought off or controlled, and so we can not be allowed to be trusted as a source of news, no matter what the story. I also believe the whole "You can't believe everything you read on the Internet" stuff was pushed by the mainstream media. The reality is, the mainstream media is no more trustworthy, and maybe even LESS trustworthy as a source of news than the Internet. At least on the Internet, lies can be and are countered with truths. In the media, certain lies are untouchable, and even though the entire media knows they are lies, they will never allow them to be challenged in their pages or on their shows.

I must say, that it seems to me that for the last few years to a decade, lies in the mainstream media that are exposed, are ALWAYS exposed on the Internet, not in some other mainstream news source. We, the people, are holding them to account, and they do not like it. Not one little bit.

It may just be that their mind frame hasn't shifted with the paradigm, that they're behind the curve and just don't get it.

I love this!

Kos to DU, back to Kos, to Blogosphere, to world...

We know, We were there...