Alleged Landrieu Phone Bug Crew Emerged From World Of Conservative Campus Journalism

[Emit]

Three of the four young men charged in the alleged bugging attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office Monday were involved in the well-funded, opportunity-rich world of conservative campus journalism in recent years, a link that provides potential clues about how the men knew each other and why they came to hatch the alleged plot.

James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, and Stan Dai each founded or lead the alternative conservative newspapers on their respective college campuses.

After graduating, O'Keefe, the filmmaker behind the ACORN stings, actually worked for a year as a recruiter for the Leadership Institute, one of a handful of conservative organizations that provide seed money to students who want to launch alternative newspapers.

Fostering the growth of alternative media on campus -- publications that are more often National Review-style opinion journals than reporting-intensive newspapers -- has been a tactic of the conservative movement for decades. The Collegiate Network, for example, was founded in 1979 and supports over 100 papers per year. CampusReform.org, the campus component of the Leadership Institute, employs 16 staffers.

~snip~

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/alleged_landrieu_phone_bug_crew_emerged_from_world.php

[phaseolus]

1. Conservative newspapers need ... funding?

You'd think that magic free market would make them all self-supporting, even profitable, but I guess not.

Buncha frat-boy welfare queens...

[grasswire]

2. Scaife rears his ugly head again

Leadership Institute is funded by Scaife, Coors and Amway money.