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Press Release

SpeakOut.com Launches 'Boys on the Buzz'
Cyber-Column Team Hits the Campaign Trail

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 18, 2000 - SpeakOut.com, the leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site, today launched three new political cyber-columns covering the full range of the political spectrum. In a first for Internet content, SpeakOut will feature a daily column from behind the scenes of the political campaign, and inside the workings of the political news media.

Collectively called the “Boys on the Buzz” and scheduled to appear at least through the November elections, SpeakOut’s Rich Galen will continue to write his three-column a week “Mullings”. He will be joined by SpeakOut’s Joshua King writing two columns a week called “Wanderings;” and SpeakOut’s Bob Somerby who will write up to four columns a week called “Howlings.” Galen will write from the Republican perspective, King will write from the Democratic perspective, and Somerby will analyze how the media is covering both sides during the political season.

SpeakOut.com features original reporting from its team of writers alongside feeds from a variety of news outlets ranging from Associated Press to Salon.com. The “Boys on the Buzz” will provide a unique new perspective to SpeakOut’s vast library of partisan-free political content and issue briefs that provide insight and information on subjects from welfare reform to Harry Potter.

“This is yet another way that the Internet is changing politics,” said Ron Howard, Chairman and CEO of SpeakOut.com. “Journalists, whose role we greatly respect, have traditionally kept an arm’s length distance from their subjects, and from reporting on each other. SpeakOut will break that mold by having Rich, Josh and Bob tell readers what’s going on behind-the-scenes, with the goal of creating an overall balanced perspective on the political season.”

Borrowing from the title of Timothy Crouse’s 1973 book, The Boys on the Bus,“The Boys on the Buzz” aims to chronicle events on the Democratic and Republican campaign trails – and the media that cover them – from the inside out, in regular daily columns on SpeakOut.com.

“The Boys on the Buzz” are not journalists and don’t pretend to be. Galen, the Republican, and King, the Democrat, admit to being biased and partisan, political operatives with no patience for the opposing camp.

Rich Galen, a senior GOP strategist and Publisher of Mullings.com, is a former press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. He will go where no reporter would ever be welcome - into the backrooms and fundraisers of the Bush campaign to comment on the inside spin in a way that no journalist ever could.

Joshua King, a veteran of the Democratic presidential campaigns of 1988, 1992 and 1996 and White House image meister from 1993 to 1997, will author Wanderings from aboard Air Force Two to the working-class political watering holes throughout the battleground states.

Bob Somerby, comedian, media critic, and publisher of Dailyhowler.com, will keep his eye trained on the papers and T.V. screens, scrutinizing the hidden slants of journalists and the exaggerations of their interview subjects. When you think you’ve heard it all on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News Channel, check with Howlings the next day to read the story between the lines.

“The Boys on the Buzz” will be hard at work at the upcoming conventions. At the Republican convention in Philadelphia, Galen will be eating shrimp and spinning out the talking points for Mullings; King will be munching on pizza and getting the dirt from the DNC Truth Squads for Wanderings. In Los Angeles, two weeks later, the roles will be reversed.

Check-in daily at www.SpeakOut.com to get the who, where, and “what the hell were they thinking?” from the “Boys on the Buzz.”

About SpeakOut.com

Based in Washington, DC, SpeakOut.com (www.speakout.com) is the leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site and online opinion research company. Launched in February 2000, Speakout.com’s primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to have a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Users enjoy a wide variety of news and information tailored to their interests and activism tools allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business and news executives.

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