American [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] good evening. Thank you for coming i just went from colorado. It is not often that i would rush for my mountaintop of the Rocky Mountains to come to this fall. As many of you know im a refugee. From the swamp, almost ten years ago i made a decision to leave after being here for nearly a decade to raise my family out in the Rocky Mountain west. I would pretty much crawl over broken glass to do anything that james okeefe asked me to do. He is, in my view one of the most important figures in modern american journalism. [applause] this is my copy of america as you can see i do something that most tv interviewers tonight to when they have authors side, i actually read the book from cover to cover. Im a homeschool teacher for my ninth grade son. One of the most important things i teach as a homeschooler and talk about public enemies one of the most important things i do as an english teacher is to teach the importance of reading closely and annotated. Among the journalism set reading a book in preparation of an author constitutes the washington read, those of you the business know that means looking in the index for your name. So, one of the questions i tackled in the 25 years that i have spent in both old and new media an old new media is who gets to defined a journalist. Perhaps the most important act that james okeefe has committed has been the gathering of an Incredible Group of citizen journalist who have smash the club. [applause] the problem with the beltway media and the j school minted credential media essay think theyre the only ones who get to defined who is a journalist. The thing i admire about james okeefe and his team and those who seek to follow in his footsteps as their goal is not to be a part of the club. Their goal is to smash the club. [applause] i did not go to Journalism School and i believe the modern j school is one of the worst of american life. There are two sides of corrupt coin that has caused so much of the problem with the dissemination and consumption of the new said information in the modern age. The two sides of that flip coin our identity politics and identity journalism. It is not a coincidence the most valuable journalist who happened to be conservative, libertarian or defy themselves along the spectrum from center to write were shaped in the corrupt space of american universities that have minted this corrupt coin of identity politics and journalism. James has many of you know first came into the public spotlight for his brilliance deconstruction of identity politics. As a student at rockers when he said he was triggered by lucky charms. [laughter] i had similar experiences. I was in english may brett oberlin college. I survived oberlin, they did not survive me at over one my introduction to the identity politics which im 14 years older than james, so i suppose i was talking about this with someone in the elevator. It made me feel very old. To try to identify which number our generation of conservative journalism were. I guess that would be second. Add oberlin we brought to nash to sousa to campus. That was but my First Experience of so a change that i have an, not only are we both jersey kids, i grew up in the shadow of the trump casinos in Atlantic City but the thing we have in common is see in the poison of identity politics up close and having to make a choice to either sit on the sidelines were confronted. When i embarked on my own journalism career and still to this day identify myself not as a journalist of color, but as a journalist who believes in telling the truth withoutsome boxes. [applause] did not have the same clever inspiration to do it change to which was to embark on this experiment worry you force the progressive and the identity politics purveyors to have to apply their own standards to themselves its fantastic. But i had a very nontraditional path to my identification is what i call an ink stained wretch. I love newspapers. In reading one of the things i share a passion so greatly with james is the history of american journalism. I was passing by on the way to the airport its in his issue of cosmopolitan. I dont know how many of you know this, read the National Press club so theres someone who does realize this but at one point in the golden age of muckraking and james okeefe is our textbook marks muckraker of journalism. Cosmopolitan was not just a collection of smart of sex position tips. It was a bible and a breeding ground for muckrakers. Some of james favorite word in this magazine. In one of the points that james makes it so important is all of the modern journalist the same way that when they always attack those of us is racist, with 20 vowels in their the journalist to question our journalism has no idea what james and his team are doing is restoring the greatness of american investigative journalism. Restoring it. One of my favorite journalists and writers was hl mencken. I want to read you something he wrote and its so relevant today and so relevant to james work, more than half of the matter newspapers rate is only interesting to relatively small minority. Thus its no wonder they only get into about four the other one believes next to nothing. Why should he read more. Every time he has anything that in hinges upon his own knowledge he discovers its inaccurate. Journalism requires a quick wit in the practitioner that is where the world are rare in a country give into the superficial. He should have the widest range of knowledge and not convoluted. Theyre not such men to go around. The best newspaper if its lucky might be able to muster half a dozen at a given moment. The average newspaper outlet seldom have one. Thus american journalism is paltry and worthless. His pretensions are enormous but achievements are insignificant. Given at its fundamental business of ascertaining the reporting what is happening in the world it fails miserably. Four fifths of the very large proportion is downright false. Cliff notes are in, hash take fake news. James and his team have garnered headlines and forced the false narrative purveyors to cover news they would rather coverup by fear she or force. When i first started out in this business there are very few outlets for getting the truth. It has been a miracle to see the proliferation of choices. These posts threats to the old monopoly. What i am hoping is james and his team spoke which should be assigned in every j school in america will continue this legacy are proud of america muckraking. I have a gift for james later. Its a newspaper that covered Theodore Roosevelts 1906 speech he actually did use the term muckraking but he alluded to childrens progress further phrase initially came from. Roosevelt had given a speech when he was laying the cornerstone and at once he acknowledged the importance of the muckraker in American Society but also cautioned and admonished not to always be looking downward at the mock because if thats all you did you get pretty depressed. What i love about james and his team is that in the spirit of happy warriors rather regular Andrew Breitbart the current generation of happy warriors into the future that one eye down to the ground and are doing the muckraking that the journalists refuse to do. But they do with an undercover camera as well as an eye toward the light. You pronounce that right . It is truth and light and it is my distinct honor to introduce to the man with the muckraker, a team of undercover operatives, someone who sheds light not only in the swamp but all the dark corners of the country. Please help me welcome james okeefe. [applause] thank you very much. And that was hard made a wonderful introduction. I like the reference to teddy roosevelt. Nothing is she said the routine. We have one of the most unbelievable teams of any Media Company youll ever see. Something to people with our organization included many agents inside and we have the best Media Production team you can possibly imagine. Our undercover people who dont have a byline are risking their skins to do this. Often times the risk fear. Im here that they have to say a few words about the book. Some news report this week, the chief Operations Officer of twitter has resigned. [applause] seemingly out of nowhere according to various reports that in the wake of serious videos into twitter is a lack of prepared replacements seem to take everyone by surprise. They rock Silicon Valley in the Technology Media companies that report on Silicon Valley. According to a website escaping video think about censoring the posts of the politically conservative and a Senior Engineer who wants to turn president trumps messages over to the department of justice. Interesting to see the reactions of twitter in the wake of a scandal. Also interesting is what they said to the media and how the media reported it. They would impact to skepticism versus what they said it hidden cameras, George Orwell who i quite extensively in this book and i believe one day the book will be required reading this is something you may have heard. Journalism is printing with someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations. I call it the political marketing industry. It lacks an investigative edge typical of the 20th century. Twitter responded by saying we dont proactively review direct messages. The headlines like buzz feed, said twitter says no, hundreds of employees are not ready please. Twitter denies claims their reading these twitter is back again and claims that their monitoring. The media is blindly reporting what theyre being told on the record when it doesnt engineers off the record or say the opposite. In my favorite media buzz feed reported Charlie Warner wrote twitter disputes the claim from okeefes video today. It wasnt my claim, it was the Senior Network community engineer. The Senior Network security engineer who said we have hundreds of engineers who look at take pics,. I do not say that or create the quote journalism has become a perversion a joke person interview richard peterson, you should watch it it has 5 million views on youtube and he exposes the foster economies credit false narratives, its become a joke. The only way we can circumvent the joke its only to expose the imagery of our society. Images have a power to transfer tax thats what the book is about. To quote Michael Goodwin had a great review of the book on sunday he said he changed his mind about me and what we do he said, this gets me to another reason im a change in view, reprehensible conduct of these organizations they too are guilty of perception by pretending to offer straight news when the function like propaganda outlets. He sent the real deception is not a what we do, we build trust with someone and try them up real deception is passing along information to the consumer that is not true. The twitter headlines are not grounded in reality. Sometimes its economic reasons because its not safe to rock the boat. There was a book about manufacturing consent about the very thing same thing. They may criticize ethics plus number one thing youll hear and read about me but oftentimes it creates a more pernicious effect on society. When journalists do not challenge what theyre told wheres the virtue of passing along the information . Is that not deception or worse for democracy than challenging what people tell us . So we go undercover because we want to tell the truth. Thats why these tactics are justifiable. Paul speech can produce trust the masses. Deception truth to the masses most paramount thing in journalism. Jose well youre not a journalists, will call me Spongebob Squarepants for captain kangaroo, where meat popsicle, it doesnt matter what you call me in matters that we do. Journalism is an activity not an identity. You are what you repeatedly do. Journalism is a way of being. By any measures had just as many results in the last 15 years than any journalists in the 21st century. [applause]. [applause] because video transmit a consensus if we patrol the boundary testing and affirming what is not an outreach so it is a way of being. We dug deep and tell a lot of stories. To break the rules of the game in order to disclose the poles of power, the journalist job is to get through the palace guard. Upton sinclair was hated in his day by the new york media so much that he had to open up the trust office and do nothing but battle the journalist who hated his guts. Upton sinclair had a bigger agenda than i did. He cared about workers rights. Its about whose side you are perceived to be on. Its about the facts. Rape victims, child victims, terrorists, russian drug mafia smugglers coming into those are the only ones you know about. [applause] they were denied a Pulitzer Prize because of how elaborate the deception was. Its not only the moral quandary it would have us believe. Its not an invasion of privacy you are talking to a stranger you can write down what you say and walk out of the room. Its not a form of eavesdropping and it does not constitute entrapment. We cant get people to say things. I dont put words into my mouth but i made it their lips move using cgi. I was using a borrowed copy on my macbook and didnt have the ability but that is what people say because they cannot accept the reality. They cannot accept the truth. Its not about the technique. Its about something deeper. Dissent the same as many people in media. We believe if they are given the basic facts about the world they live, they will make the right decisions. We want them to trust their senses. The founders of the Public Communications who wrote a book of propaganda in this type of people believe the average man is too stupid to trust census. The media has been vulgar and silly. There is a lot more where that came from. They said it constantly and didnt stop thats because the people that own them are vulgar and silly. We had a hidden camera catches producer saying its all about the ratings they told us to focus on the ratings and money. Its not the fact that journalists are bad people. I dont even think that they are bad journalists its just bigger part of a system that is a system of production that carries out propaganda function by reliance on Market Forces and journalists also move in packs. Its like soccer players on the field moving together chasing the ball. They move together and we challenge that narrative by putting out information. Lets talk about twitter. You want to talk about twitter, but that is what they are supposed to do is challenge the orthodoxy. One of the people on my board had a great quote, the son of a dissident in poland. He says the quality of the revolutionary is i impartial to the system he fights against and the more impressive, the more heroic and selfsacrificing. Undercover reporters have to appear in federal court against bob kramer who is close with president obama and ms. Within 47 times in the white house, a very powerful guy. He has clients including the teachers unions which allison herself went undercover to investigate and goes into federal court because he be signed at the height of the election and president of trump mentioned her videos in the debate between Hillary Clinton and donald trump. I dont even think that katie couric accomplished that. He resigned into the videos became the most trending videos in the world even forced Anderson Cooper to say what you see in these videos is very troubling. Shes in federal court and i dont even think that many people in this room knows that. That is what we face. That is david versus goliath, truth to power. Shame on these journalists for not giving her the credit that she deserves. [applause] i could go on and on but i will summarize it as the book does it better than i could or can right now. We tell stories of people being detained at the border and asked who we are voting for and what we are working on some stories where they go through our phone. Youre not a journalist you dont work for the new york times. Ive go got to sources on my ph. Sources on my phone. Let me open your phone i will arrest you. This is what people said to me at the border, tried to have been arrested becausmearrested t show my sources. Language matters, ladies and gentlemen, definition, identities have been a part of the establishment and they matter. Its the difference between freedom and jailed, information and true versus false. They detaine detained me at ther 12 times because i embarrassed the department of homeland security. There are so many stories. Criminal grand jury subpoenas, colleagues being threatened by power on a daily basis, the attorney generals of new york and california right now coming after us that there will be no columbia journalism review oped about truth to power, apples and bananas. What is an apple, what is a banana. There will be no discussion about these things. You dont need to go back to Woodward Bernstein or ben bradlee to find these type of stories. Just look among the citizens of the country and the things they do and that is the stories i tell in the book. That is the quality of the revolutionary system that he fights against. So the video has the power to break through and circumvent. One more story by the way regarding the criminal grand grd jurgrandjury subpoena sometimess stranger than fiction. The attorney general of New Hampshire tried to indict us, but the people of New Hampshire after the 2,012th voter fraud videos grows up and signed into law a voter id law based upon the fact they were showing dead people getting offered to vote. The guys name [applause] he tried to have us arrested but the people of New Hampshire rose up and overrode the veto. One of the names was actually richard ahead in New Hampshire. His name was actually dick head. [laughter] and in 2016 that was issued a subpoena, his name was richard tracy, dick tracy. Ive got a lot of dicks in my life. [laughter] this tragedy, irony. It is an amazing that you all should read it and we believe again you should trust the power of your senses. I have one more personal anecdote. A lot of people say would get you started. I try not to get emotional. My grandfather was good at improvising and using Recycled Materials and talked me you can make the status quo do the impossible if you put your mind to it. He would salvage a burst of shingles, find cabinets on the side of the road, unused copper pipes. He could take materials and build out of nothing. Better than those you get at home depot for a more ergonomic window that would fit. Fit. Whewe would drive around togethr and he would wake me up early and say lets go build something. He would build things out of nothing. It was an amazing thing to behold. So coming you cant fix that crooked garage. Its too crooked, but he fixed it. He did what people told him couldnt be done. My message to the Younger Generation is in this book, the baby boomers some of them have created this do not tell us it cannot be done. Do not only that this is impossible because im telling you right now we have already done it, weve built an army of guerrilla journalists. Five years ago it was me on the floor of my dads crooked garage and editing videos all night long. Now we have 50 people we are expanding and have a thousand applications for undercover people and this year we will have a few thousand. We are going to change the world, and you are going to be a long with us for the ride. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] youve been watching coverage for james okeefe at the National Press club in washington, d. C. If you want to watch this online, go to booktv. Org. Standing on the campus of Liberty Univer w