Overview
White House-credentialed fake news reporter "Jeff Gannon" from fake news agency "Talon News" was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing.
These facts have led the Kos community to research the following questions:
- Who/what is Talon News?
- Who/what is Jeff Gannon and how did he get credentialed for the White House?
- How is this "reporter" and "news agency" being used to disseminate information?
- What exactly is the relationship between all the various outlets/GOP groups/individuals?
- What does all this information have to do with the Plame leak?
For a more in-depth overview/summary, go to the Part IV thread here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/30/9415/11717#300
Process
Yes, folks, it's time to talk about organizational process. You all are doing such a good job of researching, I'm not going to research anymore. I am going to spend my time summarizing, collating, dropping in on the specific diaries dealing with specific topics and see if I can help/clarify there. I'll ask for volunteers on the most current meta-thread as well and send willing volunteers to projects that need more eyes.
In addition, I'll post a morning diary and evening diary with an update culled from the specific diaries and the previous meta-diary. Most importantly, I will serve as your resource, going back through the long threads to find out any information you all think you need and vaguely remember. The long threads don't bother my computer at all, a search is fast for me and because I've gone over and over the diaries I've created to get summary and overview information, I'm pretty familiar with them. So if you just know you saw something somewhere, ask me on the current meta-diary and I'll go find it for you. No sense in having a great research team get bogged down when I can find the answer pretty quickly.
What to Post on the Most Current Meta Diary
If you run across a piece of significant information with significant data, post it to the most current SusanG meta diary. Chances are, with how convoluted and inter-related everything is, it will affect how someone else is proceeding in their chosen area of research.
Also post needs for specialists or just volunteers there, or just use it to bitch about how bogged down you're getting or how tightly our tin foil hats are fitting or how wonderfully exciting it is to be creating a whole new community journalism together.
Every time a new meta-diary goes up, I'm going to try and post who is officially working on what, with links to the specific diaries. If you've volunteered for a specific project and I don't list you, let me know so I can get it straight in the next diary. Also, if a new specific research diary starts, post it to the meta diary. And every time I am working on creating the body of the next diary, I'll be reading the most current one to get any new research diaries, volunteers or spectacular info everyone needs to be aware of.
If I forget something crucial in any area, nag me in the current meta diary so I'll add it to the next and so that at least it will be in view of the community in current condition and not lost back in the older diaries.
Current List of Assignments:
1. Tomatoobserver is researching Time of Grace Ministries
2. Mnemosyne is checking and running phone numbers
3. conntexdem is researching Bruce Eberle
4. baltimoretim is looking into Leadership Institute (diary here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/30/193243/265)
5. fauxreal and ladydawg are researching morning gaggles (fauxreal, 5/04)
6. sean mykael is looking into Free Speech Foundation (diary here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/30/14024/9923)
7. mlk is constructing a sort of "family tree" of relations, groups and individuals. This is a big project and someone might want to volunteer on that diary: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/30/152558/079
8. spiderleaf is creating a timeline about the CIA memo leak/Novak/who knew what when, references to it in press, etc.
9. Marisa (God bless her!) volunteered for a huge project, creating a sort of "visual database" of relations between everything/everyone.
Anyone who doesn't have something to do, grab one of these folks or diaries and get involved. And diarists: please put up your pleas here if you need more help, and what kind of help you specifically need.
A Note of Caution
One thing I'm thinking is that because information is clearly being altered and web pages swiped as we proceed, it might be best if you find something great to save the web page itself to your computer before posting about it. Maybe I'm being too paranoid though and this is too much to ask of everyone? Thoughts?
Previous Plame Diaries:
Diary I: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/28/203014/655
Diary II: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/29/152730/137
Diary III: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/29/233122/523
Diary IV: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/30/9415/11717#300
Talk to Me, Dudes
Am I missing some obvious thing in the organizational process? Is there something I'm overlooking in the grand scheme of things? Am I seeing the forest? Am I seeing the trees? Am I going nuts?
And guess what ... I just basically gave myself most of this coming week off so I can deal with all this. So let's have fun!