[editor's note, by Zapata28] FYI, a couple of people have informed me that there is a study group from Kos that is handling this very issue, and that they have been having conference meetings and things. They are apparently going to unveil some organization very soon. So I told them that I would wait for that before doing any follow-up work on this. So, we watch and wait ....
Update [2005-2-23 13:36:33 by Zapata28]:
I believe the largest threat against this democracy is the disinformation campaign that has been implemented against the people of this nation. It is the single-most dangerous and damaging element in the neocon heist. As information specialists, bloggers are by definition the anti-venom for disinformation.
Incredibly enough, the blog world is having a "15 minutes of Fame" moment. We are at a fork in the road. The microphones that are set before us right now that are being pumped into every home in this nation - for this minute in time - is an incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
We have a choice:
1. We can simply allow the mainstream press to play out this `soundbyte' story ("Who do the bloggers think they are?") for our 15 minutes until we go back to the netherworld of the internet.
OR:
2. We can transmute and amplify our 15 minutes of fame to demand/force the mainstream press to abide by its duties and obligations under the Constitution: ensuring a free press as the cornerstone of democracy.
Face it, the only reason the Gannon story has hit the mainstream press is out of shame. We made the press look bad because they sat there in complicity with the White House disinformation campaign. Ah, the weakness of the press in this country: vanity. Karl Rove would not hesitate to exploit their weakness of vanity; that's his MO.
Gannongate is an incredible story that keeps growing legs, but the big issue IS not only the subversion of the free press by actions of the White House, but also by the press' own desire to be subverted (whether that be for money profits or laziness or whatever...but the White House Disinformation Campaign work for them).
By shaming them the press into a semblance of action, the press has nebulously covered the Gannon story. But has ONE mainstream journalist taken one minute of his day to do ANY investigation outside of what they are getting from the bloggers? No. Nada. Zilch. They are just `playing the story', and that is no different that what they have been doing all along - repeating soundbytes.
I propose that one of the most fruitful moves we can make right now while we are in the spotlight is to turn the focus ON the press itself. In a big way. We need to create a coalition of bloggers and make a demand on the press: demand that they uphold their end of their constitutional obligation. They have turned the right to a free press into a sham - making it all about their rights to publish and say whatever they want. That is NOT the framers' intention. The right to a free press lies with the people. I have no question that "we the people" have the framers support in saying that IF the Fourth Estate fails in its obligation to the people (and boy has it!), the people have not only the right but the duty to hold their feet to the fire. It makes no difference if the press has failed because of government intervention or through the press' own complicit actions, of which we have an heinous dance of both.
Can the left blogosphere unify to hammer out a list of demands to the press? Can it transmute its 15 minutes of fame into real change? Can we unite on this one issue? To call out the Press for what it is? (That being, agent provocateur for the highest office in the USA, the presidency). The more I think about it... the Gannon story is not so much a question about the White House as it is a battle between `the people' and their so-called Free Press. This battle needs to be fought and the time is ripe to launch it.
So, this is a call to action to the Daily Kos community first, in the hopes that we can call out to our friends in the blogosphere for them to join in a formal demand of the press.
I want to draft something like a Bill of Rights of Press Consumers... but that doesn't frame the issue correctly. Seems like a List of Demands is the tone I am thinking of.
Can we come up with some bullet point items for this List of Demands?
I would appreciate a recommend of this diary, if you think worthy. I feel in my gut that we have merely a minute to make some major headway in regard to the number one problem that we face in our struggle to save this country: freedom from disinformation. If we ally the blogosphere, we can move mountains. But we only have a few minutes of our 15 minutes left in which we can be heard.
In my fantasy world, I see such a movement moving beyond the internet to Main Street. Who knows? If the people can wake up to the disinformation campaign that the presidency and the press have duplicitously unleashed upon our people, perhaps it can lead to the takedown of this criminal cabal that has infested our great nation. And we have a man of ill-repute as our friggin cover story to launch the real fight against disinformation. Not too many gifts like that are going to come down the pike. We need to seize this.
The press' vanity is our best friend in this. Let's use it. Bullet points for our list of Demands???
(Can we also name the coalition of bloggers?)
update:
I am looking through all of the great responses and ideas -- particularly the devil's advocates out there. I see our opportunity right now as being so very fragile and malleable (by the press). 15 minutes is what we've got. How are we going to use them.
I think we need to turn some tables over... bar room brawl. The disinformation leaders have far more resources than us. And, god, can you feel the palpable coup that is in turbo mode by those who have most to gain? Fascism is here. I don't want to pussy foot around this to 'bring the people around' at some point in a few years. We have the spotlight today. Tomorrow? Who is to say?
We need to stop this terror train in its tracks. And I don't think we will be given a gift like Gannon again. Rove is spinning...