Last week political blogs around the country focused on Journolist, an exclusive 400-member email list where political journalists shared ideas and thoughts. Following a few leaks of the off-the-record emails, the email list was shut down.
Since then, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart has offered $100,000 to anyone who could turn over a complete copy of the Journolist emails–hoping to see inside what he called the “Democrat-Media Complex.”
Today author Eric Alterman (pictured) admitted he was an actual member of the list and described it for The Nation. “Many of us could barely stand one another,” he wrote, dismissing those who saw the list as a liberal conspiracy.
What do you think? Here’s an excerpt: “Personally, the list offered me the opportunity to simultaneously sharpen my ideas, improve my expertise, locate knowledgeable sources and bullshit about baseball. The cost was occasional aggravation and a lot of lost time. (If I had a Proustian masterpiece inside me somewhere, J-List is to blame for its continued nonexistence.) As a collective we held people’s feet to the fire, encouraged excellence, bemoaned administration wimpiness and took numerous opportunities to remind New Republic editors and authors that they work for a reactionary racist lunatic.”