Hi Barrett - Nice to hear from you.  Michael emailed me a few weeks ago and we exchanged some thoughts about all of this.

Thanks for sending the transcript, which I will definitely take a look at.  I actually thought about doing a book somewhat related awhile ago -- it was going to be America's 10 Worst Pundits, or something like that -- and then get sidetracked on a couple other book projects, so this sounds great.  When will it be released?  If you want to do something surrounding it like a podcast interview or something, let me know.

And I'd love to hear about the journalism project you're working on.  I've actually been working on one myself with Dan Froomkin, Jay Rosen and a couple others about standards for newspapers to release all original source material online, so I'm interesting in hearing what you're doing.

Glenn Greenwald

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>
To: GGreenwald@salon.com
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 8:40:16 PM (GMT-0300) Auto-Detected
Subject: Thanks for the link

Mr. Greenwald- 


I'm gratified that you appreciated my Vanity Fair piece on Michael Hastings and felt inclined to link to it a few weeks back, most particularly since you happen to be the blogger whom I most often cite as indicative of how the blogosphere allows superior commentators who would otherwise be unlikely to reach a large audience to, uh, reach a large audience. In fact, I mention you twice in my upcoming book on the failed American punditry, along with Juan Cole, who has since joined up with the project that Hastings and I are spearheading in an effort to change the overriding media dynamic by way of a new methodology we have developed for the purpose. Incidentally, Hastings is also very grateful for the support shown by you, Sullivan, and others who have made the obvious case that "access" alone is useless to the body politic, and that the media at large is largely responsible for the events of the past decade. 


In case you're interested, I have attached the latest draft of the manuscript, which includes chapters on Thomas Friedman, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Cohen, Martin Peretz, William Bennett, and Robert Stacy McCain, while also attempting to make the larger case that in a society marked by accelerating change, the U.S. cannot afford to continue on its present path in terms of information flow. And if you'd like to learn more about our project and its potential viability, feel free to e-mail or call at your convenience. 


At any rate, thanks for the work you've been doing over the past several years. 

-- 
Regards, 

Barrett Brown 
512-560-2302