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MDE EXCLUSIVE: MINNESOTA MONITOR & CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA EXPOSED
By Michael B. Brodkorb | October 2, 2006
Last week was an amazing week in the liberal blogosphere in Minnesota. I don't think any blogger in Minnesota has been the target of such a coordinated assault like I was with over 15 posts attacking me on 6 different blogs.
The majority of the attacks focused on a one-time payment I received from Michele Bachmann's campaign. This payment was properly and legally disclosed on Bachmann's FEC report over three weeks ago.
I will remind my friends in the liberal blogosphere that I am under no legal obligation to disclose a professional business relationship with a campaign on my personal blog.
But my ethics are not governed by legal interpretations. This is why I have gone through the unprecedented efforts of creating a disclosure page on my blog. I'll have more on my disclosure page later in this post.Last week I wrote this on Minnesota Democrats Exposed:
I believe there are liberal bloggers with undisclosed professional connections to campaigns. I know there are liberal bloggers who fail to post disclaimers on posts discussing their clients. I strongly believe there are numerous nervous liberal bloggers tonight who are worried about similar posts attacking their lack of disclosure. Don't worry, you won't be reading any posts attacking you Minnesota Democrats Exposed.
I changed my mind. I flip-flopped on a previous decision for the following reasons:
- Liberal bloggers contacted members of the Minnesota and national media and claimed I was being paid to blog. They strongly suggested that my blog should no longer be considered a reliable source of information.
- In a video posted on a liberal blog, a blogger harassed a member of the legislature and repeatedly asked him to repudiate the tactics used on my blog.
I have never contacted the employer or professional associate of a liberal blogger with the goal of discrediting their work. I have never harassed a legislator or election official on or off camera and asked them to refute the conduct of a liberal blogger. I may dislike a particular blog, but I don't hate any liberal blogger enough to act in such a reckless and rude manner. Minnesota Democrats Exposed is all me and always will be, but some liberal bloggers won't believe the truth.
So I decided to shine a flashlight on the tactics and activities of certain liberal bloggers.
After this post, we'll see who in the liberal blogosphere is actually interested in disclosure and whose using disclosure as a way to attack the messenger because they can't attack the message.
##
MINNESOTA MONITOR & CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA EXPOSED
According to Minnesota Monitor's website (“All contributors listed here are Fellows with the Center for Independent Media"), the following 10 bloggers are contributors (called fellows):
Abdi Aynte: Hiiraan Online, tcdailyplanet.net
Andy Birkey: Eleventh Avenue South, Metroblogging Minneapolis.
Joe Bodell: Minnesota Campaign Report
Craig Cox: The MInneapolis Observer, Twin Cities Daily Planet
Jeff Fecke: Blog of the Moderate Left, Minvolved, DFLSenate
Matt Martin: MN Publius
Robin Marty: The Power Liberal, Drinking Liberally, DFLSenate
Leigh Pomeroy: Vox Verax
Sara Reller: Broken Nails
Paul Schmelzer: Walker Art Center blogs
According to the New Journalist Fellowship Application, "fellows" are paid a stipend of $4500 over 3 months to blog. I'm not aware of the bloggers listed above disclosing on their blogs they are paid to blog. This disclosure is also noticeably absent from Minnesota Monitor's website.
The Center for Independent Media is spending at least $31,500 (7 paid bloggers x $4,500) to pay liberal bloggers in Minnesota.
This begs the question: who is funding Minnesota Monitor and the Center for Independent Media?
In the interest of full disclosure, I attempted to find the answer.
Minnesota Monitor's website lists no address or a contact phone number. But an address and phone number is listed on the bottom right-hand corner of the New Journalist Fellowship Application. The address is 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Washington D.C. 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 300 is the location of Media Matters.Who is Media Matters?
"Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c) (3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Source: Media Matters
I spoke with a representative of the Center for Independent Media and she informed me they are renting space from Media Matters and they do not receive any funding form Media Matters. I asked for information about their funding and she refused to provide me with any information about who is funding the Center for Independent Media.
If Media Matters is like the Center for Independent Media, it may be difficult to find out who is funding Minnesota Monitor:
"Media Matters has not always been forthcoming about its high-profile backers. In particular, the group has long labored to obscure any financial ties to George Soros. But in March 2003, the Cybercast News Service (CNS) detailed the copious links between Media Matters and several Soros 'affiliates'—among them MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress, and Peter Lewis. Confronted with this story, a spokesman for the organization explained that 'Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros' (emphasis added), a transparent evasion.
Nor were groups cited by CNS the only connection between Media Matters and Soros. As investigative journalist Byron York has noted, another Soros affiliate that bankrolled Media Matters was the New Democratic Network. In addition, Soros is reported to be involved in the newly formed Democracy Alliance, a partnership of some 80 affluent financiers who each have vowed to contribute $1 million or more in order to build up an ideological infrastructure of leftist thinks tanks and advocacy groups. News reports list Media Matters as a main beneficiary of the Alliance's funding. By August of 2004, Media Matters' operating budget had already doubled to $4 million.
Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization's roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters' chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock's personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards' unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign." Source: Discover the Networks
So who is paying for Minnesota Monitor and the Center for Independent Media? I challenge the liberal blogosphere to disclose this important information.
Last week, many of the bloggers who I discovered are paid by to blog attacked me for failing to disclose a professional business relationship with a campaign on my personal blog, a relationship I am not required to disclose.
"One might look at all Michael's posturing, disclosures, and general interest in transparency and think: 'Well, at least he's honest about where this is coming from…'. Only one problem with that, he's not." Source: MN Publius
"Any reporter covering a 'Michael Brodkorb story' should feel obliged to reveal to their audience that Brodkorb is a paid functionary on the Mark Kennedy U.S. Senate campaign." Source: Power Liberal
"Why is any of this important? The media needs to recognize that not all bloggers are equal in their sources, the fees they charge for their efforts, and their level of involvement in the campaigns whose opponents they attack. It is the responsibility of the media, bloggers and newspaper writers alike, to clearly demonstrate for their readers the source of information we relate. To do otherwise is simply dishonest." Source: Minnesota Campaign Report
"Nasty? Riddled with errors? Mike, that’s the pot calling the pot a pot. As for this being a whole month old, not all of us are getting paid thousands of dollars for side work for campaigns so we can spend our days trolling FEC filings for dirt. Given that your latest series of posts is on a three-year-old printing expenditure from a rural DFL county unit, I wouldn’t be casting aspersions." Source: Moderate Left
I emailed five of the bloggers who contribute to Minnesota Monitor and invited them to comment on this post before it was published. I didn't receive a response.
The bloggers who wrote post after post last week about my disclosure suddenly refused to comment on my request for information about their paid blog activities.
To ensure I was being fair, I personally called Matt Martin from MN Publius and asked him why he didn't disclose he was paid to blog. His response was "no comment."
I challenge the bloggers who contribute to Minnesota Monitor and claim they are truly interested in disclosure and transparency in the blogosphere to do the following:
- Disclose on your blog that you are paid to blog.
- Create a disclosure page similar to the page I created on Minnesota Democrats Exposed.
- Disclose who is paying you to blog and provide links to public records where people can verify the amount you are being paid and find out who is contributing to the organization that is paying you to blog.
What my friends in the liberal blogosphere fail to recognize is that since I have chosen to work in politics I can't hide how I make a living. My life is one big disclosure. I know that I was an anonymous blogger and that I chose to reveal my identity because of lawsuit filed against me by a prominent Democrat consultant. But I decided to keep on blogging.
You are able to attack my work for Mark Kennedy, because FEC rules require expenditures to be publicly reported. You are able to see that I was paid a one-time fee from Bachmann's campaign, because it was publicly reported. You are able to attack me for my work with the Campaign for St. Paul's Future, because it was publicly disclosed. You can attack my previous employment with the Republican Party of Minnesota because it was properly disclosed.
Is this fair? Yes, it is and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'll fight a disclosure war with the liberal blogosphere any day of the week. I've got nothing to hide - do you?
Please check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for information on this developing story.
Topics: Uncategorized |
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:30 pm
[…] I thought George Soros quit politics. As it turns out, he is helping bankroll liberal Minnesota bloggers via Media Matters, the parent of the recently minted Minnesota Monitor. […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:33 pm
[…] Ha ha, Busted! […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:33 pm
“No Comment.” Outstanding. Way to go lefties. As if we needed any more proof that the local DFL blogs are nothing but a sad echo chamber. I’ve heard Dems scream for years about anything connected to Richard Mellon Scaife and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, and now we’ve got our own local connection to the left’s pathetic attempt to copy that playbook. Nice work Michael.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:34 pm
[…] Ha, Ha, the Liberal DFL bloggers got busted for being hypocrits! […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Poor, poor Mikey… yeah I can’t understand why people don’t think your stuff is from the heart? I mean you recycle GOP talking points, get paid by GOP Senate and House candidates, how can any one imagine you don’t give a balanced view of those dirty Dems? We should really have a feast in celebration of how you are such a breath of fresh air and lift our state to such new heights.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:50 pm
If you stand behind what you publish, you shouldn’t worry about attempts to hurt your reputation. Only those with things to hide will go to these levels to piss in their own bathwater to make the other bathers seem dirty.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:56 pm
GOTABP — you DO understand the difference between being PAID to blog, and blogging on your own? If any of the Lefties get paid by a campaign and blog on their own, nobody cares.
It’s being paid to blog — and not disclosing it — that’s the issue here.
Or is that too recycled for you?
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:10 pm
By attacking those who ‘attacked’ you last week, you are only enabling a bigger battle of words that not unlike your blog will do nothing to actually debate and discuss the issues and stances of the candidates running for election this year. Instead of digging so hard to uncover details of blogs, do some work and cover the issues, not those who are discussing the issues.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m bankrolled by Google Ads. I hope you’re happy.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Maybe a little more truth in your blog would go along ways. You’re like the Scott McClellen of Minnesota.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Michael, I applaud your efforts to disclose the true workings of the Democratic Party. The elitist club with a love of socialism. The hypocrisy of the left is truely asstounding, and the duoble standards endless. Keep fighting the good fight.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Mike, good catch….They are a sick bunch of psychos!
For some reason, I think this will make it to all our honest radio stations here and other respectable blogs.
I’ll enjoy spreading the news myself!
What i’d really like to know is how long these Dim bloggers, bought and paid for by the Dimocratic Corrupt Campaign for Truth and Justice , knew about these IM’s intended to smear the GOP leadership? If you listen to talk radio and talk to conservatives, this has only rallied our troops. Money is being poured into the GOP campaigns because good people have had enough of your commie tactics.. The FBI might be knocking at your doors already!
Doug, stay away from those microwaves. Atleast now, you and your friends have a reason to be paranoid.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Some of your best work yet…
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:46 pm
http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=432
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Mike,
Suddenly, I can’t post on those lefty blogs. I know i’m not using abusive language and i’m right on topic. What could the problem be?
I thought they supported free speech?
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
ps -
Fellowship:
#
#
1. The financial grant made to a fellow in a college or university.
2. The status of having been awarded such a grant.
3. A foundation established for the awarding of such a grant.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Where would I look for the MDE code of ethics?
Minnesota Monitor has one.
How exactly does a blogger who is struggling with enormous conflict of interest issues and a growing lack of credibility for his willingness to attack with dubious claims believe that anyone will take his efforts to raise the ethical issues of others seriously?
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:14 pm
See rew.
See rew dance.
Speak rew, speak…who is signing your checks?
October 2nd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Hugo Chavez (aka Raving Repeater): nice try. Between you and Brian Hanna, it’s a race to the bottom in terms of lacking credibility here. I again ask the following question: how many stories has MDE had to retract because they weren’t true? Compare that to MNPubilus and other left wing blogs. Hell, compare MDE’s record to that of the Star Tribune, the New York Times and CBS Evening News. I recall plenty of retractions from those outlets. I recall no such retractions here.
Those with no credibility (that means you, Hugo Chavez) should not accuses others of sinking in the same ship.
October 2nd, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Roving,
I take Mike’s efforts very, very serioiusly!
October 2nd, 2006 at 7:04 pm
*Crickets*
The money rew, where are you getting the money?
It’s a very simple question that anyone who purports to have signed a “code of ethics” should understand.
Doesn’t your code say something about integrity? Let’s see…sure, here it is:
“New Journalist Fellows should inform the public of news stories and issues without letting improper relationships compromise their integrity.”
Huh. “improper relationships” eh? Like partisan special interest groups?
Oh! What’s this?
“Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, and disclose unavoidable conflicts.”
Conflicts, like being paid by partisan special interest groups??
Oh, wait…that can’t be, because you honest new journalists also pledged to:
“Maintain integrity by resisting pressure from advertisers and special interests to influence news coverage.”
So I guess taking money from left-wing special interests is out, out, out..right?
And, and wasn’t there something in there about accountability? I’m sure there was…let me look again..yup, it’s right here:
“New Journalist Fellows are accountable to their readers, critics, advocates and each other as well as to the public at large.”
There we have it.
So now, to maintain your integrity and live up to the accountability you owe the public please tell us…
WHO IS PAYING FOR ALL OF THIS HONESTY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTEGRITY?
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:53 pm
[…] October 2nd, 2006 • 8:53 pmDemocratic Culture of Corruption Exposed Again MDE’s Michael Broadkorb has exposed many a liberal dirty trick but none more revealing than this one: Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization’s roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters’ chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock’s personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards’ unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.” […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Democratic Culture of Corruption Exposed Again
MDE’s Michael Broadkorb has exposed many a liberal dirty trick but none more revealing than this one:Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former…
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:02 pm
[…] Filed Under: Elections, Internet, Crime, Author: Gary Gross, Corruption MDE’s Michael Broadkorb has exposed many a liberal dirty trick but none more revealing than this one: Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization’s roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters’ chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock’s personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards’ unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.” […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:27 pm
[…] Culture of Corruption indeed. […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:25 pm
My take here…
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2006/10/breaking-nooz-lloydlettas-nooz.html
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Chris-
You are right. Michael Brodkorb has never retracted a story. That is kind of my point though. He has made mistakes. He has been outright wrong. But he fears what a retraction would do to his credibility, so rather than do the responsible thing and fess up to his errors, he simply hopes we all forget. This is not an ethical way to exist.
Anne-
You have just provided me with a great deal of insight into your ability to serpate partisan blather from reality. Thank you.
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:58 am
You have just provided me with a great deal of proof that you can’t spell “serpate”.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:19 am
Leasing space from a non-profit is an underhanded way of admitting that space isn’t the only thing they share. Minnesota Monitor can literally lease a desk placed right next to employees of Media Matters. The short short is that information sharing is an obvious advantage to space sharing.
A couple of questions you should pursue.
Do any of the Minnesota Monitor fellows work out of the Media Matters office?
From what location do the fellows blog? Are they in D.C.?
Furthermore, examine the creation of “Center for Independent Media”. It doesn’t appear to be anything more than an attempt to organize bloggers to support political campaigns. It’s field organizer for Minnesota was Ali(Alexandra) Savino. Ali was Frank Pallone’s blogger up until August 2005. That’s likely around the time that the Center was created in order to do blogger outreach in Colorado and Minnesota to swing elections.
Savino was at the Vegas Kos. She was on C-Span. She was paid salary by “Dean for America” in 2003. She wrote a piece for “The Leader”, a paper in New Jersey, about Dean’s race to become DNC chair without disclosing to readers, nor the newspaper, that she was paid salary by “Dean for America”.
What you’ve got here is a professional astroturf organization led by dishonest people. I’d advise you to gather the facts and send them to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo and tell him you’ve got another astroturf operation that he loves to talk about.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:23 am
You’re in shooting blanks trying to focus on funding. Unless you can put together a case that Minnesota Monitor of the Center for Independent Media is engaging in campaigning on behalf of a candidate, then it is unlikely you can get the IRS to file a complaint against them for abuse of 501(c)3 status.
However, are the orgs even 501(c)3s? They might be (c)4s.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:29 am
Another hit, Alexandra Savino was paid salary by the Democrat Party of South Carolina.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:34 pm
All the lefties are essentially Hessians. Soros is funding dozens of these efforts and Craigslist is full of come-ons from labor unions and other ostensibly non-partisan organizations that are paying lotsa Yankee dollars to defeat Republicans. No surprise at all that lefty bloggers would be on the take. It’s who they are and what they do.
October 10th, 2006 at 6:13 am
[…] In an October 2 post, Brodkorb notes that all ten contributors to the leftist blog Minnesota Monitor are described as “Fellows with the Center for Independent Media.” From the Center’s fellowship application, Brodkorb learned that CIM offers bloggers a three-month, renewable fellowship which includes such perks as “a stipend of $4500 to be paid over 3 months”, “editorial mentorship from experts in the field of blogging and/or journalism”, access to expensive databases such as Lexis Nexis, as well as free legal advice, training and technical support. (2) (hat tip, Macsmind) […]
October 18th, 2006 at 7:41 am
[…] Media Matters is the group that is funding the local DFL bloggers at Minnesota Monitor. Democracy Alliance was formed last year with major backing from billionaires such as financier George Soros and Colorado software entrepreneur Tim Gill. The inspiration, according to founders, was a belief that Democrats became the minority party in part because liberals do not have a well-funded network of policy shops, watchdog groups and training centers for activists equivalent to what has existed for years on the right. […]
February 11th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
[…] (And loathe though I am to drudge up that brouhaha again, according to a post Michael Brodkorb did at MDE last October, the group that funds the Minnesota Monitor blog, Center for Independent Media, rents space from a group called Media Matters, which is also funded by the Democracy Alliance. At the time, Minnesota Matter said the CIM does not receive funding from Media Matters, but they wouldn’t say who does fund them.) […]
October 11th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
[…] The scandal heated up when Republican blogger Michael B. Brodkorb of Minnesota revealed that a piranha-like swarm of leftist bloggers who had been assailing him were getting generous cash “fellowships” from an outfit called the Center for Independent Media — an organization which Brodkorb discovered worked out of Washington, DC, in offices owned by the Democrat front group Media Matters for America. (3) […]
October 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
[…] One of the best insights on this is found at Minnesota Democrats Exposed […]
November 1st, 2007 at 7:54 am
[…] CIM tax filings bear the same address as Media Matters in Washington, DC. […]