The Common Purpose Project was another Media Matters–related attempt to coax the news narrative to the left, this time in coordination with the Obama White House. Started in 2009, it was a politically oriented tax-exempt 501(c)(4). Organizers held weekly meetings on Tuesdays at the Capitol Hilton with officials from a variety of familiar left-wing

We [also] build our sense of civic identity and opinions about government through social interactions. […] Our social capital — which Putnam defines as the overarching belief about society that facilitates co-operation — diminishes when we lose opportunities to engage with people outside of our regular social networks.