Last Saturday, The Cable Gamer posted this item, coming in the form of an unsolicited e-mail from Truthout.org, which TCG at the time described as a "Media Matters Wannabe." That is, another lefty group taking a swing at Fox to try raise its profile and maybe raise some money, too.
Well, if Truthout wants to be better known, maybe TCG can help. But a quick look around the site tells us that Truthout, which declares itself to be "fearless, independent," is in fact, just a bunch of lefties, with at least fiction-writer on the payroll.
Let's start with the fiction-writer. That would be its deputy managing editor, Jason Leopold, best known for falsifying a 2006 story for Truthout that Karl Rove was about to be indicted--it was completely untrue, of course. For that and other similar incidents, Leopold was dubbed a "serial fabulist" by the blue-chip Columbia Journalism Review. Here's what CJR writer Paul McCleary had to say back in 2006:
We wonder if the folks over at Truthout.org are rethinking their affiliation with reporter and serial fabulist Jason Leopold. Leopold, you may recall, is the freelance reporter who was caught making stuff up in a 2002 Salon.com article, self-admittedly “getting it completely wrong” in pieces for Dow Jones, and had his own memoir cancelled because of concerns over the accuracy of quotations.
Leopold’s latest addition to his application for membership in the Stephen Glass school of journalism came on May 12 of this year, when he got what appeared to be the scoop of a lifetime. Now writing for Truthout.org, Leopold reported that Karl Rove “told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials,” that he was about to be indicted in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, “according to people knowledgeable about these discussions.”
Leopold claimed that multiple sources “confirmed Rove’s indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove’s situation.”
Well, today we learned that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he would not seek charges against Rove.
I am sure that McCleary--and all other upholders of ethical journalism--are bemused and bewildered to know that Leopold is still working at Truthout. Says a lot about the place. Maybe Joseph Lindsley can work there.
As for the rest of the staff and board of directors, they are all leftwingers and green zealots. The managing editor, Maya Schenwar, for example, has written for publications such as "Bitch," and lists as her interests, "Squash Glenn Beck." And Robert Naiman, president of the Truthout board of directors, lists his political party as "Green." And then there are the usual bunch of leftists, also on the board, including Robert Reich and Dina Rasor.
And then there's the obligatory long list of lefty foundations, incuding the Litowtiz Foundation, the Park Foundation, the Susan and Ford Schumann Foundation, the William B. Weiner, Jr. Foundation, the Wilcox Family Foundationt, the Bill Muster Foundation, the Brightwater Fund, the Litowitz Foundation, the Omega Point Institute, and the Harold & Marion Gordon Foundation. TCG wonders if all these fatcats undertand what their money is going for. Sigh. The reality is that they probably know exactly what they are getting from Truthout, and are happy with it.
