Salon is opening up a new bureau in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Sidney Blumenthal:
“The country wants and needs unintimidated news,” says Blumenthal. “The Bush administration has put enormous political pressure on the press not to probe its radical policies and their consequences. Salon intends to be fearless.” Under Blumenthal’s leadership, Salon’s new Washington bureau will produce a flow of revealing stories about the Bush administration and the election.
How are they planning to penetrate the famously secretive White House? I mean, come on, this is Salon. It’s being run by the former press secretary of Bill Clinton. And they’ve clearly stated their intention to air President Bush’s dirty laundry. Any “senior administration official” caught talking to them will be disembowled, lightly seasoned, and fed to Karl Rove for brunch.
Maybe they’re hoping to find more people like this former Pentagonian.* Maybe Sidney Blumenthal will discover what Dana Milbank could not. At any rate, they must think they’re going to get something. I’m interested.
Also — dude. A new Salon bureau? But isn’t Salon dead?
Maybe I’ll fire off an e-mail to my buddy Sid and get to the bottom of it.
*Speaking of this story, it’s super-wonkish and not clearly written. It’s interesting in places, but half of it is spent listing off names of new Pentagon hires with ominous connections. It’s filled with cute but unhelpful asides like, “Neoconservatives are fairly easy to study, mainly because they are few in number, and they all show up at the same parties.” The author has a pretty exhaustive body of work, dotted with comparisons of Rumsfeld and Co. to characters from science fiction (e.g. the boys of Lord of the Flies and the Starship Troopers). Read this instead. Even if you already have.
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I’ve got to say — per a smart e-mail I received recently — that I’m leery of journalism predicated on a conclusion instead of a question.
But fine, so it’s the partisan press. Acknowledging that, we are free to admire the Voltron-like combination of Salon! Rolling Stone! The Guardian! Air America! “Our powers combined, we are… Captain Progressive!”
But seriously. How is Salon suddenly able to pay all these new correspondents? I didn’t click that many day-passes, dude. And the expenses! You know Sid has Yahoo! Plus (w/ SpamGuard), so that’s another $6/month right there.
(And, as an aside, the wonder of contextual ads: On my screen, Salon’s big announcement is bracketed by… an ad for the Republican National Committee.)