i was just thinking about "Media Whores Online"

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

That's how i came to DU, when it shut down. Has anyone come forward and taken credit for it?

[Fridays Child]

1. I've always wondered why it shut down.

[Lex]

2. I don't think so but I always strongly suspected

that it's the same guy who later started Media Matters.

http://mediamatters.org/

[Canuckistanian]

13. I don't think so...

David Brock was well known as a conservative hitman turned liberal/progressive watchdog. He was already a famous writer ("His Cheatin' Heart", "Blinded by the Right", "I Was a Conservative Hit Man", etc.).

Somehow, I don't think he had the energy to produce a site like Media Whores Online and still be an active author.

Read this interesting piece from Bartcop, "Salon Whore". It doesn't solve the mystery, but Brock isn't even mentioned:

http://www.bartcop.com/salonwhore.htm

[Tactical Progressive]

19. I don't think it was David Brock

He just wasn't in the same position, with the same attitudes at the time. Plus he has a different writing style.

He was very seriously trying to recant his politics and regain his credibility at the time. MWO had an entirely different attitude.

[SidDithers]

3. Wiki link...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Whores_Online

They say JennyQ never came forward.

Sid

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

8. thank you for the link, sid

[madrchsod]

22. there was a poster here that claimed they knew the woman

that ran the site, she said that the website was taking to much time for the lady to keep it going. if one remembers the site was down for several weeks at a time so i`d say that it may be true. i have no idea how long it would take to search the du archives about this and i have`t the time right now.

[Ms. Clio]

4. I remember that site so well; it played a huge role in my online politicization

No one ever claimed it, AFAIK.

[Tactical Progressive]

5. That's when I got here too

MWO was always very secretive about who did their writing. It was believed that they were Washington insiders, maybe in the media themselves.

I always felt that they were close to being outed, and so closed down instead, but we'll probably never know.

[Dr.Phool]

10. I think that's how I found DU also.

So obviously, Skinner was running it!

[mitchum]

6. MWO is also what brought me to DU

so all of you guys can blame the mysterious person(s) behind it for my presence here :)

[illinoisprogressive]

7. being late to blogs - what are you talking about

what was this site.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Media Whores Online

Did a bang-up job exposing media half-truths and lies. And named all the perps. Then just suddenly disappeared. Then Media Matters suddenly appeared.

[rusty charly]

12. mistakenly called "Media Horse" by some MSM idiot

they embraced it and had their mascot

[Cleita]

18. That was James Carville, but to be fair, he led me to them.

I was new to the internet then and finding my way.

[Sparkly]

27. Actually, as I recall, it was written that way in a transcript...

Carville picked up on that on "Crossfire," I think.

[Cleita]

30. It was "Crossfire". Carville openly advertised it but I guess he

couldn't say THAT W word on CNN.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

41. I remember that Carville mentioned MWO on crossfire.

The transcriptionist wrote it has Media Horse Online & from then on MWO referred to themselves as "horse".

Carville said that everyone in Washington read it daily to see if they were mentioned.

[Bryan]

14. I don't remember it disappearing suddenly

For months before it was closed down, updates were less and less frequent (and what updates there were were increasingly focused on plumping for Gen. Clark). I feel fortunate that I too was steered to DU by MWO, because DU more than helped to fill the gap.

[Tactical Progressive]

11. Media Whores Online was the first really smart

snarky blog, before they were called blogs, site to get sick of the media's wholesale support of the disgusting perversion that Republicanism has become in this country. They would watch he pundits and ridicule them mercilessly. They were really good writers too. It is why the term media whores is still used today.

It was like there was finally someplace to go where the world you saw wasn't through the looking glass. It was shortly after the media's full-on support of the phony impeachment of Clinton, and their burgeoning full-on support of the lies against Gore and protection of Bush. The stunning levels of media hypocrisy were just too much to even believe. It was like a bad dream that we were waking up TO.

I believe Atrios and Roger Ailes among other bloggers, came from there. I'm proud to be an alumnus of their bulletin boards.

MWO used to take sabbaticals of a few weeks at a time, then one time, they just never came back. I keep hoping they will return, and check the site about once a year just in case. But the explosion of online progressivism provides more than enough flame that even if their spark came back, it would be just one of many. The evolution of progressive thought on the internet over the past few years has been more than I could have ever hoped for.

[Ms. Clio]

17. yes, one of my favorite features was the wingnut stuff that people sent in, with their own comments

So smart and funny and just brand new, to see that level of media analysis from "regular folks."

[Tactical Progressive]

37. Yes, it was like half-published, half-blog

or maybe an open blog. They helped people 'get it', and people who got it helped them. It was a nice mix.

Along with it's own bulletin board, which got to be pretty contentious pretty quickly.

[blm]

57. Anyone who thinks the corpmedia has not been complicit with the GOP the last 10 years

is a complete fool, and I certainly DON'T want them strategizing for Democrats in any way, shape or form, because they already prove they don't GET IT.

You have to shape strategy KNOWING that the corpmedia is the enemy of the Dem party and the strategists have to put themselves out there front and center to expose the complicity. The candidates can't do it all.

[Tactical Progressive]

58. Absolutely, on both points

"You have to shape strategy KNOWING that the corpmedia is the enemy of the Dem party". Yup, there is a built-in antagonism towards the left now, and it is broad and deep. And it will get worse as media corporations slowly push their writers, producers and on-air 'talent' farther and farther right. I predict Brit Hume will be the most progressive face you'll see in twenty years. So you can't just say 'This should play like such-and-such with the average person, unless some really twisted spin manages to torque it around.' Now you have to assume that whatever it is you do will be propagated in the most unflatteringly rightward spin they can manage to put on it right from the start. You have to plan with that in mind. You have expect that dismantling Social Security will be called Saving Social Security in the 'conventional wisdom' of today's right-wing whoring media.

And yes, the candidates are almost helpless against it. That's where the grassroots net media has become so very important. The media is shell-shocked that they are being attacked from BOTH SIDES now. They don't understand it. They had finally found a comfort zone of spinning as hard right as they could to allay the anger of malicious Republicans, and now doing that isn't safe for them any more. They don't like it at all.

MWO opened alot of eyes. Actually, they provided grounding for alot of eyes that were already open but just couldn't believe what they were seeing.

[Beausoir]

15. I miss it. I remember when Fineman was Media Whore Of The Year.

An excellent choice.

[devilgrrl]

49. I loved how they would rip into Sally Quinn...

cracked my shit up! :rofl:

[Cleita]

16. I loved the "horses". They brought me to DU too, but long

before they shut down. They even published one of my rants about Jonah Goldberg.

[TomInTib]

20. I always thought that bartcop was somehow behind it

And I spent a ton on Chinaco trying to pry it out of Terry to no avail.

I do believe that MWO sent me to DU.

[Canuckistanian]

21. That was a great site when there was nothing else out there

There was Buzzflash, Bartcop, The Smirking Chimp, KOS and Atrios.

And The Horse.

I always waited for those "flashing siren lights".

on edit: I forgot Bartcop! Mea culpa.

[Ms. Clio]

23. I think it was The Smirking Chimp that sent me here

but it might have been Buzzflash.

[Canuckistanian]

29. Buzzflash always had a link to "The Top 10 Conservative Idiots"

And I never missed it. Only later on did I see those clever post titles on the right column.

As soon as I read a few posts, I signed on to DU.

[Ms. Clio]

34. I think for me it was The Smirking Chimp, and a post about DU just starting

I think I wandered over a few times and read the front page before I found the forums.

[electricmonk]

24. Archive.org has some MWO pages

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mediawhoresonline.com">http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mediawhoresonline.com

[Tactical Progressive]

40. Thanks alot for that site

It's fun just going back and reminiscing.

[stanwyck]

25. Loved that site! It really twisted the tails of the media

those folks can dish it out. But they sure can't take it. I got angry emails from Aaron Brown and Mona Charen after I posted negative comments about both at Media Whores. If you criticize someone in the media, watch out. What whiners.
Aaron Brown made a nasty comment about Clinton when Clinton's dog Buddy died "the wrong dog died". HaHaHa. I was one of the many who criticized Brown at Media Whores. Brown got my email address and wouldn't stop his whining. He was just being funny. He apologized. And how dare anyone refer to him as a "whore".
And Charen? I took her to task for her constant bitchiness toward women. Really. I loathe women like Charen who never have a good word to say about other women. According to Charen, all the problems in the world are because of women. Just not her. She's perfect.
And she sent me really ugly emails.
Yep. There are no people more thin-skinned than poser journalists.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

28. aaron brown - i've forgotten about that whore

lol, i wonder what he's up to these days.

[Ms. Clio]

35. I could swear that sounds familiar

I sure remember Brown being a favorite target.

[benddem]

38. the thing that amazed me

about Charen was her statement that she would have gotten where she was without the woman's movement. She said that on Capital Gang. She just shook her head when Margaret Carlson pointed out the hypocrisy of her statement. At best she is a mediocre writer.

[Sparkly]

26. I LOVED MWO!!!

I wonder, too, who owned the site.

[JI7]

31. that was one of the best political sites, the person told it like it was

[SeattleGirl]

32. MWO was one of my favorite sites to read. I was bummed when

it shut down.

[PoiBoy]

33. I came to DU thru MWO too...

that was a great site.. I remember checking back daily for months hoping for an update... then the announcement that they were shutting down the site... MWO and DU got me started on my small measure of activism, writing LTTEs and contacting my congresscritters...

:hi:

[PlanetBev]

36. I liked the "Inferno of Whores" section...

You could write about your favorite whore and what you'd like to do to them. Some of posts were very funny and very crude.

I'd liked the atomic bomb and the flashing lights whenever a big story broke. I also liked the horse with the hat and press card in the band.

I sure miss that site. Biting wit, taking no prisoners.

[Tactical Progressive]

39. Here' a couple of pics from 'MWO Graffiti'

of twelve of the whores, from the archive.org, thanks to electricmonk. Hopefully they transferred.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010920003825/

http://web.archive.org/web/20010920003825/


If not, here's the archive.org page:

http://web.archive.org/web/20010920003825/www.mediawhoresonline.com/toons.htm

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

42. I would be curious who here posted on MWO.

I know that I did. It was the first site I ever posted on. I loved posting to the blog spot where you could post outrageous shit the press said. I remember when tweety said that dumbya reminded him of Truman. After I was done hurling & throwing stuff at the TV, I ran upstairs to post.

[Ms. Clio]

43. I never posted there or anywhere else; took me months to post here after joining

But MWO did inspire me to start my own very short-lived news blog that was wiped out when Grok Soup just dumped all its free blogs in the electronic trashcan after their site was hacked. Everything was just gone without so much as a warning. I still hate those bastids for that, but I think that's when I started posting here.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

44. i posted once about george will's high school pipe bombings.

taken from "the clothes have no emperor" by paul slansky.

[WiseButAngrySara]

45. stanwyck did; See post #25. Oddly, I think I read her post on

Aaron Brown!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

47. I remember that! It was great. AB totally lost it.

:thumbsup: to stanwyck.

[Batgirl]

54. I used to participate in "documenting the atrocities"

MWO was the place where I learned I wasn't just imagining the anti-Dem, pro-Bush media bias.

[mitchum]

61. I posted on MWO under my real name...

obviously something I don't do here

[ljm2002]

46. Now that is a trip down memory lane!

They were the greatest! I used to religiously read MediaWhoresOnline*, Bartcop, SmirkingChimp, and then DU when I found it. Too bad it shut down -- but you know what, they really served their purpose, they got a lot of commentary going where there had been a vacuum before.

Whoever was responsible for that site -- if you ever happen to read this -- THANK YOU!!!


*The site also came up if you typed MediaHorseOnline -- don't know if they did that from the beginning, or only after people started mistakenly calling them that. Can't tell the difference when you say it, of course.

[devilgrrl]

48. I use their "Media Horse" as my avatar

See?

[UTUSN]

50. I was "Yellow Dog" as opposed to a REALLY cool poster, "YellaDawg"

I think Bartcop knows who MWO was. One Xmas holiday weeks when the freeper college kids had plenty of time, they were spamming the MWO board. The MWO people had announced they were on break. I e-mailed Bart, yelling HELP. He replied that I should contact (I forget the name, Jennifer?).

Yes, you can blame MWO for my activity here. The discussion board was very small. We were always being attacked by one particular female freeper named something like "Sugah" or "Mound of Sugar" or something. Other MWOers would try to "debate" her, which, as we all know with flamers, is a no-win situation. I would go for the personal jugular, saying, "Let me handle this," and call her LONELY and ENVYING of our MWO fellowship. That often worked and brought her to a standstill for awhile till she would start up again.

[blm]

51. I NAILED SugarMountain - she was a moonie, and I could always spot a moonie.

She used other names, but there were always a few moonie operatives at work at various sites.

[UTUSN]

53. :hi: :loveya:

:hi: :loveya:

[conscious evolution]

60. How do you spot a moonie?

That sounds like some useful info to know.

[Bunny]

52. Yes, her name was Jennifer something. I think she also had a

female partner in crime at MWO, not sure what her name is (was).

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

59. Gloria. Gloria went to school

with peggy noonan & posted a tell-all about how noonan got the nickname 'nooner'. I roared laughing.

[gratuitous]

55. The site that sought to bring the media to their knees

"Then found out they were already there."

Those perceptive folks even printed one of my screeds. MWO will live forever in my hearth.

[Yavin4]

56. Anyone Ever Hear of The Ron & Fez Radio Show? JennyQ Use to Call In

I'm a big fan of Ron & Fez. It's a guy-radio type of show, somewhat like Opie & Anthony, but they have a much different style. Anyway, in their early days, JennyQ of Media Whores Online use to call in a lot, esp. during the 2000 presidential campaign.

I found Bartcop through MWO, and from there, I found DU.

[scarletlib]

62. MWO was my very first favorite website

Boy was I angry back then. (Really, really angry) The election stolen from Gore, the attack on Clinton as he left the White House, the immediate sharp turn to the right by bushco. We were (or at least me) just finding out the depths of the evil that had transpired.

MWO was my first interactive web site. I did read it religiously everyday and wrote letters to the Horse. But I was/am also a big Bartcop fan from that time.

Interestingly the rumor I heard floating around was that Al Gore was the Horse. This was bolstered by the fact that the Horse was frequently down and inactive when Gore was more prominent in the news.

I really only got into DU bigtime when the Horse went down for the count and the war on Iraq was starting to become a reality.

I still miss the Horse.