What was the tipping point where Rove story got MSM coverage?

[NancyG]

I was on DU when the first person reported about O'Donnell naming Rove as the leaker and have watched this unfold in slow motion ever since.

I saw it ignored by the Corporate Media, with Olbermann doing his typical first steps in the water covering it. I watched Andrea Mitchell discussing Miller going to jail and defending Miller's right to protect sources and Andrea deftly avoiding an oblique comment about Rove. I heard slight references to Luskin's comments, but still Tweedy and others were not touching the subject.

Suddenly, it has broken out all over. Even Fox has covered it, albeit slimily. Was it the news conferences the last two days (where as Jon Stewart said "they've replaced the WH press corps with real reporters")?

What tipped things over so now coverage is widespread? Can someone pinpoint when and what did it?

[thinkingwoman]

1. the release of the emails

by Time to the Grand Jury, and the leaking of same memos to other media outlets.

Proof was the tipping point.

[NancyG]

2. Ah.

That makes total sense. I was delighted to see it breaking all over. We were sitting here trying to figure what gave reporters the fortitude to actually report, ask questions. Almost seemed like the British yelling at Blair.

[Swamp Rat]

3. It was wonderful to see!

:)

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Tommymac]

9. They know that Rove cannot

easily punish them now because he is under a legitimate investigation condicted by the Criminal Justice System....he has been at least temporily neutered.

[thinkingwoman]

12. I think reporters

have been so bullied and cowed by these thugs that they were afraid to report what they knew.

[jsamuel]

4. It was when cooper said he would testify and time handed over the docs

that is when the media really started covering it. They apparently needed to wait for Cooper for some reason?

[Zynx]

5. When the testify/jail choice for the reporters came up.

[Pirate Smile]

6. I think is was the Newsweek article on the Saturday night or Sunday

morning after O'Donnell said it was Rove on Friday night - It would have been July 2-3.

Michael Isikoff had a Newsweek story stating that Rove was Cooper's source.

I was out of town (without the Internet) and didn't even know about O'Donnell's statement but on Sunday morning I flipped on MSNBC and they had Jonathan Alter on talking about Isikoff's story.

That was when I thought it really broken into the Corporate Media.

[KharmaTrain]

7. It Was The Non-Denial Denial To O'Donnell

Think about the risk Larry took in speaking out when he did and how he did. He knew damn well this was going to set off a shitstorm and if he didn't have it right he was going to be drawn and quartered by hate radio and the corporate media. A funny thing happened on the way to the inquisition, Rove's lawyer popped up. That was the tipping point IMHO.

If this had been nothing and this regime knew it, Rove or some talking head would have come out, the rumor mill would have said O'Donnell was some lunatic jag bag and the character assination would be on (anyone remember Dick Durbin...seems so long ago). By trotting out the lawyer, it put the question in some minds that there might be a there there.

The other tipping point that day was Time acquiessing and releasing Cooper's notes. This opened the door for O'Donnell to walk through (and I suspect he had some other good sources as well) and started shining the light on Turd Blossom.

[illflem]

8. I feel Miller going to jail tipped it

when one of their own goes down it gets them off their butts

[mcctatas]

10. I think it was threefold...

the runaway bride came home, Michael Jackson's trial ended, and nothing new was happening with the missing girl in Aruba. Maybe I'm cynical and jaded, but after 5 years of watching the MSM act like ADHD kids who need their Ritalin increased, I tend to question their motives on anything.:shrug:

[Zen Democrat]

11. When Rove was revealed, the lies of the White House were revealed.

The lies of Simple Scottie to the press corps were revealed. The press corps do not like to be humiliated. It's a personal thing.