Blogosphere,  Media,  Media Bias,  Politics

Daily Kos Watch: Pay to Play in the Blogosphere?

Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos

“My only sources of revenue are this site (advertising and subscriptions), some freelance writings in places like the American Prospect, and CTG (eventually. It takes publishers ages to send out royalty checks). At some point in the future, SportsBlogs will be a source of revenue, but it’s nowhere near that point yet. No politician, campaign, issue group, nor any other organization has directly or indirectly paid me for anything.”

The New Republic: THE BLOGOSPHERE’S SMOKE-FILLED BACKROOM:

Are Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas (of the famous Daily Kos) engaged in a pay-for-play scheme in which politicians who hire Armstrong as a consultant get the support of Kos? That’s the question that’s been bouncing around the blogosphere ever since The New York Times‘s Chris Suellentrop broke the news last Friday about a 2000 run-in Armstrong had with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged stock touting. But Armstrong, Kos, and other big-time liberal bloggers have almost entirely ignored the issue, which is a bit surprising considering their tendency to rapidly respond to even the smallest criticism.

Why the strange silence in the face of such damning allegations? Well, I think we now know the answer. It’s a deliberate strategy orchestrated by Kos. TNR obtained a missive Kos sent earlier this week to “Townhouse,” a private email list comprising elite liberal bloggers, including Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, and Christy Hardin Smith. And what was Kos’s message to this group that secretly plots strategy in the digital equivalent of a smoke-filled backroom? Stay mum!

Read the rest here.

Glenn Reynold has THE BLOGOSPHERE’S “SMOKE-FILLED BACKROOM:”

As usual, I wasn’t invited, but then I don’t smoke that stuff. As for the scandal aspects, well, this seems to me like politics as usual. Perhaps, following Kinsley’s Law, that’s the real scandal, but — except to the extent, probably small, that this causes Kos’s readers to lose faith in him as something new and special — I don’t see a big
scandal in this, though I can’t help noting that if something like this were going on on the right, the bloggers of the “Townhouse” list would probably be somewhat less charitable.

But remember — it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up!

Well, it is typical and disclosures are important.

Is Kos being paid? And by whom?

Remember when Armstrong Williams, a syndicated columnist and conservative commentator failed to disclose that he was paid $241,000 by the U.S. Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. and all hell broke loose in the media world.

Is Kos ethically dishonest like Armstrong?

Hard to say ,yet. But Kos is sure attempting to “starve the story of oxygen.”

Why?

Blogosphere:

Ann Althouse

Outside the Beltway

Will Collier

Wizbang 

Another Rovian Conspiracy 


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2 Comments

  • St Wendeler

    Well, it’s clear that Markos “Screw ‘Em” Zunigas was on the take from the Dean campaign & Joe Trippi… It’s just hilarious that it’s now more extensive than that – perhaps involving much more of the progressive/moonbat blogosphere than we had suspected.

    And it’s also interesting that the “reality based community” has bupkis to say about the matter… “culture of corruption” seems to be a meme only as it concerns the GOP Congress.

    HALLIBURTON!!!!

    By the way, I keep waiting for my payola from Rove, but he just keeps telling me that the check is in the mail. Although he does send us the animals for sacrifices and everything, so I guess that’s something.

    😉

    Regards,
    St Wendeler
    Another Rovian Conspiracy