It started in DC . . .

We do read the e-mails. Jennifer e-mailed regarding "Editorial: What's your acceptance level?" and Elaine and C.I.'s response when Jim pulled up the Wikipedia entry on Liberation News Service and read to them that it LNS was "based in New York City". Jennifer ended up doing research on the issue and found a ton of information including Thorne Dreyer and Victoria Smith's "The Movement and the New Media" (The Rag) which notess the following:



In the fall of 1967, when LNS started sending sporadic packets of news out of a chaotic commune-office in Washington, D.C., major changes were advancing on the movement from without and within. Large scale ghetto rebellions in Detroit and Newark had infected America and the movement with a sense of violent apocalypse. The inescapable presence of repression, breathing down the necks of white radicals as well as blacks, stimulated the birth of a “new militancy” among youth.



[. . .]



But, almost in spite of itself, LNS began to attract movement journalists who were able to see the dynamic possibilities of the news service. Allen Young, a refugee from the Washington Post, was greatly responsible for keeping LNS together as he gathered in good people and churned out consistently readable and reliable copy. By the time LNS decided to move its headquarters from Washington to New York in the spring of 1968, a politically diversified group of writers, editors and photographers was working full-time with the news service.
It was soon after the move to Manhattan that a bitter factional dispute developed among the staff. The split was far too complex to adequately deal with here (or, perhaps, anywhere) but there were two major issues: democratic control of the news service, and more political content in the news packets. Personality clashes were also at play in the fracas. After several bitter all-night meetings, a vote was taken: ultimate decision-making power for the organization would be given to the entire working staff.



So, yes, LNS did not originate in NYC. What Jennifer found most interesting about the article quoted is that it's linked in Wikipedia's "External Links" for the LNS article. She found MSM coverage as well but we're highlighting the above because The Rat was one of the underground papers and both authors were part of LNS which, as the note at the top of the article explains, distributed their piece.



You can also check out Kat's Monday post where she noted that community member Susan had also done reference and found an article in The New York Times from 1968 noting it started in DC. Jim and Dona, who work the e-mails along with Ty (who does the bulk of the e-mails), are on vacation and we're not sure if this is the sort of e-mail that would be included in a "Mailbag" or "Roundtable" feature. But if you read Jennifer 37K e-mail with multiple citations, you'd realize she really worked her butt off on this and we're noting it.