One For the Liberals

David Rovics talks about the "left gatekeepers" claims.

You don't have to know Amy Goodman or her producers personally to see what nonsense this "gatekeeper" stuff is. You needn't ever have met Amy to know that she has risked her life, and very nearly lost her life, in her decades-long efforts to report the truth. You needn't know her producers personally to recognize that these are all earnest young progressives working long hours to create a daily news program they deeply believe in. The notion that all of her producers are somehow maintaining a code of silence in exchange for the privilege of having their names mentioned at the end of the broadcast, or in exchange for their nominally middle-class salaries, is preposterous.

That's about right; Goodman certainly has risked her life and was beaten badly by Indonesian soldiers in 1991.

He does go a bit too far in a couple places, but essentially has the right take on the Troofers:

The people who are trying, with some degree of success, to undermine these basic endeavors of the progressive movement and the progressive media need to be exposed for what they are - whether they fall into the category of well-meaning but misguided fanatics or undercover government agents quite purposefully and systematically working to spread disinformation and sow confusion and distrust. And, beyond any reasonable doubt, the "Truth Movement" contains both of these elements.

I don't really think any of the goofballs are government agents, despite the fevered fantasies of Barrie Zwicker. And he repeats a falsehood or two, such as claiming that the CIA "armed and supported Al Qaeda and the Taleban", but basically this is a solid attack on the Troofers from the Left.