-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SPJ PressNotes smears Kos
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 14:08:32 -0500
From: Jules Siegel <siegel@cafecancun.com>
To: matt.cecil@gmail.com
CC: kos@dailykos.com, NEWSROOM-L@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG
With reference to the following item from today's SPJ Press Notes:
[1] His family name is Moulitsas, not Zuniga.
[2] He's a Democrat. If you examine the website, you'll see that it supports Democrats, not leftists. This is a very serious accusation you're making here and one that echoes right wing tactics. It has no place in a supposedly objective journalism newsletter. I think that you should published an apology immediately. If not, I plan to make a complaint to the SPJ board about this. It's a smear. You should be ashamed of yourself for pulling a stunt like this.
SPJ PressNotes for Thursday, August 19, 2004
Compiled by Robert Greene
Ward Neff Intern
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The University of Oklahoma
POLITICS/BLOGOSPHERE
Papers print Bush campaign letter template
Left-leaning blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga discovered that dozens of newspapers have been duped into printing a Bush campaign letter-to-the-editor template. Bush supporters copied the template, available on the GW04 Web site, word-for-word and sent it to their local newspapers. Zuniga did a Google news search for an entire paragraph of the letter-to-the-editor template and found it had run, exactly as written by the Bush campaign, in 60 U.S. newspapers. Called "astroturfing," this technique of deliberately seeding public relations messages to create the false impression of a grass roots reaction, is commonly used by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Source: The Daily Kos
http://dailykos.com/story/2004/8/17/17029/2550
PressNotes is edited by Matthew Cecil, Assistant Professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Cecil can be reached at: matt.cecil@gmail.com
SPJ PressNotes is an e-mail newsletter produced every business day by the Society of Professional Journalists. It is made possible through a grant from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Send subscription requests or changes to pressnotes@spj.org.