Cluster of conservative stars in Malaysian public relations scandal
2013-03-03
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
We often accuse the leftist media of being whores in service to their masters such as Media Matters and Think Progress.
With that in mind Rantburg proudly presents a group of conservative writers who contracted out their journalistic services for positive coverage of the Malaysian government and collected fat payments in return.
Did I mention that none of the listed writers disclosed their paydays when their work was published?
Whew!
Good thing I mentioned that because in fact they failed to make mention of that nexus in opinion articles which appeared in a number of US media.
I found out about this from a blog post at theothermaccain.com, when the proprietor, Stacy McCain waxed sarcastic about the revelations, at the same time failing to name some of the others involved in the racket. I know at least one of the writers is a friend of McCain's, thus the sarcasm.
Among the publications which included the bought and paid for positive coverage were the Huffington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, Redstate.com and National Review. Names included are some writers you may recognize such as Ben Domenech (USD $36,000), Rachel Ehrenfeld (USD $30,000), Seth Mandel (USD $5,000) and Brad Jackson who cleared USD $24,700.
Josh Trevino was the paymaster who collected USD $389,724.70, and who farmed out some of the work to other writers.
The PDF of the federal filing required of lobbyists is here. The document was filed in 2013, almost three years after Trevino's media company which contracted for the positive news articles was dissolved, five years after it was formed and two years after Trevino had apparently vehemently denied the nexus between his work and pay for play in a UK Guardian piece in 2011.
The most interesting thing about this story is Ben Domenech. He had been hired by the Washington Post to be their star conservative writer in 2006 when liberals from the news outlets as well as from Media matters complained about he was too conservative.
He went to Redstate.com, from which I know of him, and then to Human Events and the Washington Times. He was fired from the Washington Times when he apparently disclosed the new relationship and he lost his column with the UK Guardian. At the time he lied about his relationship in an article about him. I have no idea if Human Events has made a decision on his employment fate with them. The Washington Post incident was one of the incidents which brought me to Redstate.com.
I have zero problem with a person who goes into public relations. It can be good money, and all you have to do if you are beautifying an individual or organization who wants to look better in the public eye, is to place your personal feelings aside and write the damn article.
The way public relations is supposed to work is that a firm will go to an editor of a news outlet, someone he knows socially, may have had dinner with and pitch an idea for an article which sounds interesting enough to be pitched. If the editor thinks it's something his or her readers wants to see, a writer is tasked with the story. The firm or PR guy never figures into the work. They are ready to state their case in a "news" article.
But this is something different. The Malaysian government blew right past PR firms and editors and went straight to the writers and dumped a butt load of cash on them, and told them to get busy. And no one thought that maybe something might be a little askew enough that maybe they should disclose the source of their income to the news outlets that published them.
And we see all the time how easily news outlets such as the New York Times moves political people between the President Barak Obama administration and the newsroom. Other examples probably exist right now that have not been disclosed. Those moves are to bring writers into the newsroom who can get access to government officials and have the kind of access that other news outlets can't afford. It is the state of modern journalism.
But this is something completely different and it has a sinister air about it. I do not believe that the whole story has been disclosed, not even the seediest element. Just the parts they could disclose still feel not quite bad about it were anyone to find out about it.
And to think. Myself and others at BorderlandBeat.com who write constantly without compensation about the Mexican Drug War must be driving Mexican PR firms batty. A lot of those people on the ground in Mexico proper, what I call in the shooting gallery, get the additional bonus of being in nearly constant fear for their very lives from the drug cartels. I have never even had an offer of money to write something good about drug traffickers or even of anyone in the Mexican government.
Saturday morning a Pajamas Media writer, Steven Crowder wrote a piece complaining about men who complain about their wives; this as yet another political issue to beat other conservatives over the head with. The poster at theothermccain, someone named Smitty chimed in that maybe men who complain about their spouses should stop being so immature.
So, I can just hear this echo of similar disdain of former fans who hear that their once favorite author is now a media whore no better than the worst conservatives believe is happening in the current American leftist government.
"Grow up, sweetheart."
"This is how the world works."
"I'm no worse than anyone else."
But what I have heard since the election of 2012 is how the media has never held conservative's enemies to account for their crimes.
And now we know why.
The conservative media were too busy collecting fat paychecks from elsewhere.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderland Beat.com
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