NPR: Talking Points Site Kept Attorneys Story Alive

[maddezmom]

Talking Points Site Kept Attorneys Story Alive
by Robert Smith

All Things Considered, March 22, 2007 · The story about eight fired U.S. attorneys is all over the front pages of the papers and on the nightly TV news now. But back in January, only a few journalists were paying attention, including a group of bloggers at the Talking Points Memo Web site.

Working out of a tiny third-floor walkup in New York City, the site's employees followed every detail in the story, gathering information from readers all around the country. Collectively, the bloggers and their readers steadily pushed the story forward. Their work has thrust a new-media outlet into the old-media spotlight.

The guys from Talking Points Memo have been working out of their Chelsea office for more than year, but there isn't a single piece of decoration in the room — not a picture, not a Post-it note on the walls. A half-dozen young men look at nothing but their computer screens — some of which are set up on card tables.

"We don't have the formality of a big newsroom," says the chief blogger and editor, Josh Marshall. "But we're professional journalists. We're a news organization."

more:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9083501&ft=1&f=1001


this guys deserve all the props they are getting :applause:

[EST]

1. NPR doing their usual half assed, poorly researched

speculation.
There were several blogs banging on the cable, including firedoglake, although TPM is certainly a big player and not to be diminished.
And then there was DU, whose mission is not only to do some original research but also to spread the news and results to the world.

[hlthe2b]

3. yes, but that's ok... TPM has really led and organized this effort

just as Firedoglake.com had the lead on the Libby trial and got good MSM notice, as a result.

Kudos guys! I'm pleased some of our standout bloggers are getting such notice.

[rodeodance]

7. I think npr is giving credit where credit is due.

The site and its readers are clearly driven by their political leanings. Marshall is open about the fact that he feels the Bush administration has done a lousy job. But there are some lines the site won't cross. Despite pushing forward the U.S. attorneys investigation, the site hasn't called for Gonzales to resign. Neither does it endorse or raise money for candidates.

But the site has gotten people's attention. New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen says that this is the direction some blogs are pushing in: original reporting fueled by the talents and efforts of their readership. How do you trust readers to do a reporters job? Rosen says you wait and see.

"If it holds up over time, we trust it. If other people looking at the same material get the same results, well, that suggests we can trust it," Rosen says. "If mistakes are made and are caught quickly and corrected by the same people who are making them, that says maybe this system can be trusted."

[EST]

8. You guys are both right.

Once in a while I find myself actually engaging in a quick little easily stifled hopeful thought.

[kstewart33]

2. Great, great kudos to Josh Marshall and crew.

He essentially broke this story, as he did the Trent Lott-Strom Thurmond disaster awhile back.

Great work, great concept.

[Straight Shooter]

4. TPM has done an incredible job on this unfolding scandal.

:toast:

I've noticed as the story has developed, JMM has become a bit more strident in his criticism of the bush administration and especially Gonzales. I wonder how many of our Congress critters read TPM. It's a great source and I always recommend it to Repubs, as well as DU.

[robinlynne]

5. cheers to TPM!

[cascadiance]

6. Onell Soto and Kelly Thornton here at the Union Tribune also deserve mention...

It was their January 12th story on Carol Lam getting fired that helped get this story get into second gear. They had all of the essential points of the questions on the Patriot Act, Dianne Feinstein questioning what the scope might be, etc. Onell Soto was also one of the writers who earlier got the pulitzer the previous year for doing the ground work on Duke Cunningham's real estate shady deals that helped that story break happen too and Cunningham to wind up where he is now.

The Union Tribune itself isn't a bastion for thoughtful and good progressive viewpoints, but every once in a while they have talented writers that have a story that leaks through the MSM corporate media filters.