David Kurtz of the aptly-named left-wing activist site Talking Points Memo complains that RedState has “no interest in being journalists. That’s not what they’re about and that’s not what they see as their primary function, which is advocacy.” His basis for this complaint is emails from Erick to the office of Governor Mark Sanford during Sanford’s now-infamous absence, seeking comment and offering to help get Gov. Sanford’s side of the story out. Those emails resulted in RedState getting a response from the Governor’s staff responding directly to the story, which led to a front-page post. Two points should suffice to respond to Kurtz:
(1) RedState has never hid the fact that we are an activism and advocacy site first and foremost. That’s no barrier to doing real reporting, as was done here, and unlike the South Carolina newspapers, we published immediately what we learned. Any reporting is only as good as the source, and when the truth came out, our site’s responses made clear our dissatisfaction with the fact that Gov. Sanford lied to his staff and to us. But we offer no apologies for the fact that we seek to advance a cause.
(2) What is laughable is the implicit suggestion that Talking Points Memo is not an activism site. It’s a left-wing blog bankrolled by left-wing donors, run by left-wing activist Josh Marshall, and dedicated to spreading left-wing talking points; even Kurtz’s post admits that it is “on the left.” If Talking Points Memo wishes to disclose its communications with the left-wing interest groups and politicians that feed it its talking points, or with the left-wing listserves and back-channels that ensure message coordination on the left, we would be most amused to read them. We will not hold our breath waiting.
Serious?
Darin_H Wednesday, July 15th at 11:52PM EDT (link)I mean the name of their site is Talking Points Memo.
The horror, the horror, sorry got mixed up with another Kurtz… Anywho, he’s just a kettle in a pot world. Point and laugh, just point and laugh. What an idiot.
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The first principle of left-wing blogging
Dan McLaughlin Thursday, July 16th at 12:22AM EDT (link)is the ability to keep a straight face through *anything*
“No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong.” - Winston Churchill
The zeroeth principle of left wing blogging
civil_truth Thursday, July 16th at 12:25AM EDT (link)is to have no shame.
And Rightly So!
Journolist
Jlerner Thursday, July 16th at 12:27AM EDT (link)nuff said…
I'm stumped - please explain what you mean -nt-
civil_truth Thursday, July 16th at 12:30AM EDT (link)And Rightly So!
I think it is a pun
lthurwitz Thursday, July 16th at 1:37AM EDT (link)“no” at the center. Just not that punny.
Actually...
discerningconservative Thursday, July 16th at 1:44AM EDT (link)I think he was talking about this
Only Leftists Are Allowed To Be "Journalist"
IJB Thursday, July 16th at 1:21AM EDT (link)Seriously. That’s how they see it.
If you’re not a Commie, then you’re “tabloid” (at best).
These guys have massive inferiority complexes driving their pathological need for job titles and affirmation.
They lied to RedState?
lthurwitz Thursday, July 16th at 1:35AM EDT (link)I didn’t realize that the Sanford Staff lied to RedState. I thought they were also in the dark about the Governor’s whereabouts. He did pack his sleeping bag, etc. in the state car, so I thought the staff was acting in good faith.
Perhaps I was imprecise
Dan McLaughlin Thursday, July 16th at 9:59AM EDT (link)Sanford’s staff passed his lies on to us. I assume they were acting in good faith, and I don’t hold them responsible, only him. They seem like good people.
“No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong.” - Winston Churchill
Upon rereading I was mistaken
lthurwitz Thursday, July 16th at 12:27PM EDT (link)Dan, actually you were quite accurate. I misread the post. I agree, the staff was being truthful to the inquiry. In the grand scheme of things, the trust that was most significantly breached was that to the Govenor’s closest allies - his own staff. Much like Clinton’s army of supporters or Edwards supporters who took them at their word before their respective scandals. The lesson - always do the right thing and these messes don’t mushroom into innocent people.
The funny part is, the answer to the question "Why is there no right-wing equivalent to TPM?"
Moe Lane Thursday, July 16th at 7:21AM EDT (link)…is very simple: funding. Absent reliable backers, TPM would go back to Josh Marshall and maybe a couple of other people blogging various and somewhat overlong left-wing opinion pieces within six months.
But “Where’s the funding?” is the traditional cry of the Online Right*, so I’ll stop now.
Moe Lane
*The Online Left’s? “Why won’t you listen?” I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide which problem that they’d rather have.
Check out my new blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (blogging-related) wish list.
Excellent point. Donations are key
lthurwitz Thursday, July 16th at 12:31PM EDT (link)It’s time these donors wake up and realize TV and Radio are holes to throw their advocacy dollars into. The real movement of opinion happens online, is trackable, immediate, and leads to real action. TV ads are a great way to get my tivo going.
I thought the funny part
bk Thursday, July 16th at 7:44AM EDT (link)was that you dug and tried to get the other side of the story. That’s more like what a journalist would do, as opposed to most of the MSM today who get their stories from journolists and see no need to ask the people on the other side of the story for their version. These are the folks who read something on DK or HP or DU or FDL or whatever and that becomes accepted as a “there are those who say that” KnownFact - no further investigation or verification needed.
He can't be serious.
NeoKong Thursday, July 16th at 7:52AM EDT (link)““no interest in being journalists. That’s not what they’re about and that’s not what they see as their primary function, which is advocacy.””
With a completely straight face and my hand on a stack of qurans I could say that almost every single MSM ” news” source. Maybe Mr. Kurtz will offer that same sort of criticism to ABC, NBC ,CBS and others for their shameless hawking of the Obama’s administration health care plan.
That would be just one example out of a thousand.
The fact is today is that is the new standard for …ahem…”journalism”.
Everybody seems to slip their opinion into every news story in one way or another and that is all fine and well. The difference being however is that many news sites offer up only opinion sometimes and in many cases they only offer DNC propaganda.
I think that most people are able to filter through the opinion and pick out the nuggets of information and truth and they go to sites that reflect their views but the MSM journalists of today are clearly doing the bidding of the White House and will sing and dance at the command of their Dear Leader.
I think contemporary history will show that one of the most truthful and poignant catch phrase coined in this decade will come from Rush Limbaugh and his phrase ” the state run media” because it certainly applies and is filled with more truth than you will ever get from CBS or MSNBC.
The opinion of a wise whitino male.
Selective Idiocy
Skanderbeg Thursday, July 16th at 9:09AM EDT (link)Well, this is what people like him do:
1) State desired conclusion;
2) Discard any facts which contradict it;
3) Publicize conclusion.
I’d submit my coverage of the ICCC events as good journalism - not out of ego
but because I was told after the March NYC event that your humble correspondent did the best **journalism** of anyone there, even better than the supposedly professional journalists.
" Activists at RS"
olsmithie Thursday, July 16th at 10:16AM EDT (link)If Kurtz means that we have a goal to achieve a desired objective, that we desire to put the country back on a sane track, and take action to achieve same, then yes, I guess we are.
So far as journalism is concerned, Redstaters are somewhat prolific writers and of a quality not to be found anywhere else that relies on a volunteer army.
We just deal in non-fiction while the left deals in fiction of a checkout counter magazine rack variety.
What a pinhead!
Regards
Oh, I like that comment ols. I think they get all their news
penguin2 Thursday, July 16th at 11:30AM EDT (link)from the tabloids at the check-out counter. And about being an activist, most of us are just regular people, but not quite as ignorant and dumb and uneducated as the “chattering classes” like to believe mainstream America is. Hard working Americans have more common sense then these elitists journalists. Yes, some of our education came from government schools, but also from parents, spiritual sources and being out there actually working.
Maybe this last election caused people to have short memories on what’s really important, i.e. since 9/11. But I hope and pray that memories will be stirred up and we will put these people out of business.
I’ve have several jobs in my life, “activist” would be a new one for
me, kind of like the sound of it!
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin
Try it on, I think you'll like it!
olsmithie Sunday, July 19th at 7:58PM EDT (link)Thanks for being part of the solution, not the problem…
Regards
Erick's hit the big time!
LibRick Thursday, July 16th at 10:22AM EDT (link)He’s got “journalists” doing stories on him.
It’s rather ironic that David Kurtz calls into question the motivations of Redstate with regard to journalism yet fails to perform the most basic middle school journalistic due diligence.
Here’s a clue, Mr. Kurtz. Go to the Redstate and click on “About” (first thing on the homepage) and read it. Mastering this type of complex investigative reporting will do wonders for your journalistic credibility. You may even get on the short list for a reporter position on the school paper.