For better or worse (better, we think), the sausage-making process behind today’s journalism is well out in the open, particularly now that reporters can and do engage each other on Twitter. Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner caused a stir among her peers today by publishing a piece about an allegedly “secret” email campaign originating from Sen. Mark Kirk’s office opposing Chuck Hagel’s defense secretary nod.
A top aide to Sen. Mark S. Kirk, R-Ill., has been distributing anti-Chuck Hagel emails to a large, undisclosed listserv of staffers — including Democrats — beginning as early as Dec. 20, according to the more than a dozen emails obtained by CQ Roll Call.
Richard Goldberg, a deputy chief of staff in Kirk’s office who also focuses on foreign policy issues, has been sending as many as three emails a day to the list, which CQ Roll Call confirmed includes reporters, Republican policy staffers and some Democrats. The emails typically include links or text of articles that cast Hagel — a former Republican senator from Nebraska and President Barack Obama’s secretary of Defense nominee — in a negative light.
Shiner noted through a series of tweets that another staffer was responsible for the headline, “Has Kirk’s Office Been Running a Secret Anti-Hagel Campaign?”
I see a lot of twitter fighting about a story I wrote, so I'd like to weigh in: getting hung up on the word "secret" in the headline (1/?)
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 9, 2013
Which I don't even write misses the point. A staffer in an office of a member who is publicly undecided on a vote for SecDef has (2/?)
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 9, 2013
Consistently emailed an undisclosed group including GOP+Dem staffers, reporters, building a case against a candidate. It reveals some (3/?)
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 9, 2013
Recommended
About the confirmation process of an important administration official and what the next few weeks might look like. If reporters on (4/?)
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 9, 2013
The list did not feel like that was newsworthy, they are entitled to that opinion. (5/5)
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) January 9, 2013
http://twitter.com/RosieGray/status/289134787103428608
http://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/289135622352932865
What, didn’t everyone get them? Aren’t you on the list?
https://twitter.com/ananavarro/status/289143939867504640
No one in the journalist community seems surprised that D.C. staffers are emailing reporters behind the scenes; but is it news?
http://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/289138125576495104
No one sed controversial,just news RT @JeffreyGoldberg: Why is this controversial? Isn't this what they do on the Hill? http://t.co/HDTb0Map
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) January 9, 2013
It's so funny when reporters note that some things in Washington are routine as if exposing those things is not valuable.
— Ali Gharib (@Ali_Gharib) January 9, 2013
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/289149860777697280
@Yair_Rosenberg @Ali_Gharib plus the emails seem to go much further than Kirk's public stance, which is one reason it's notable
— Justin Elliott (@JustinElliott) January 9, 2013
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/289151574473863168
@Yair_Rosenberg @Ali_Gharib fundamentally, my point is just that I found the story interesting as a news consumer. behind the scenes stuff.
— Justin Elliott (@JustinElliott) January 9, 2013
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/289152748614729728
@Yair_Rosenberg @elliottjustin The writer didn't write the headline, as often happens. Beyond that the story seems to be pretty straight.
— Ali Gharib (@Ali_Gharib) January 9, 2013
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/289154376155660289
Secret or not, the word is out: there’s a lot going on behind the scenes between reporters and politicians in D.C. that doesn’t make the news. Shocked?
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