COORDINATION: Obama Campaign Advisor Participated On JournoList. “One question that has arisen in the last week is how closely JournoList members, not only discussed how to shape the news to advance the fortunes of Barack Obama, but coordinated with the Obama campaign. Jared Bernstein’s position as an unpaid adviser and surrogate shows that there was at least one direct link between JournoList and the Obama campaign.”

UPDATE: Reader Matt Miller writes:

It would appear that the behavior of the JournoList group supports the arguments against the most recent attempts to regulate campaign finances. Why should media organizations have special privileges to participate in campaigns when they clearly are acting in a partisan manner. How much money would it cost to purchase equivalent advertising to match the columns and “news” stories that these journalists provide for their favorite candidate.

A lot.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Barry Dauphin writes:

It is interesting that a list of left wing journalists discusses creating a “line” on Palin (or anything for that matter). Even if the members mostly agreed on something like who they would vote for president, they were still competing with each other for readers or viewers. In a funny way, by operating on a party line, they reduce originality and the need for people to read more than one of them. It was a lousy business strategy, as the marketplace has shown.

When competitors collude this way, it’s also an antitrust violation.