Posted on 09/19/2004 5:42:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK — Early morning Sept. 11, a poster on the conservative Free Republic website exulted, "[A]ll of us can say we were there when a few people from Free Republic kicked CBS and Kerry ass."
The John Kerry part may or may not come to pass, but there is little doubt that a few people using their computers certainly gave CBS News and anchor Dan Rather a beating. Right-wing blogs — "blog" is short for web log — and forums such as Power Line, Little Green Footballs and Free Republic were the first to question the authenticity of four memos released by CBS News, purportedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, who supervised George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard unit in the early 1970s. The memos were part of a "60 Minutes" story reported by Rather, questioning President Bush's fulfillment of his Guard service. The buzz created by the blogs became deafening and the story moved like lightning onto the Drudge Report, and from there to talk radio, cable news and newspapers' front pages — and it's not over yet.
Bloggers cheered that the new-media David had slain the old-media Goliath.
Michelle Malkin wrote a column, titled "The Death Cry of Snob Journalism," that she described (on her own blog, natch) as an "Old Media eulogy." Rather may become the second kill for bloggers; two years ago, bloggers' steadfast attention on Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's comments expressing nostalgia for segregation led to old-media coverage and, ultimately, Lott's resignation from his leadership post.
Now right-wing bloggers have tasted blood — and they like it.
But Malkin and other bloggers are getting ahead of themselves by asserting that the CBS disputed memos represent the death knell for traditional journalism.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
BINGO!
And that's precisely the reason we must keep the Internet running and sites like FreeRepublic funded.
I believe that it is the death knell for snob traditional journalism. Or Rather elitist left wing snob traditional journalism.
Watergate is exactly what I was thinking of when I posted that. If they thought they could pass those lame forgeries off, it is absolutely no telling what they got away with in the past.
People aren't spending their time watching lame sitcoms anymore...they have options. And fortunately, unfortunately for the MSM, most of us are not whiling away the hours at game and porn sites. They'd give anything if that were the case.
Great observation!
I was beginning to believe I was the only person less than impressed with J-school grads. I recall my university days were my student house was next door to a house full of about six J-students...they whined loudly about having to take survey course science electives and were mostly concerned on arranging their schedules so they had no classes on Fridays, leaving them free to hit the ski slopes.
There wasn't one of them that could find Vietnam on a map if the name was in bold type. Not only were they not especially bright, but were lazy as well...traits that most have carried on through their professional careers.
Hey Mr. Wasserstein:
We know that you are reading this thread and we only have one simple question.
Would'nt you be more comfortable reading this in your pajamas?
#85 Thanks for the info.
I truly wish that this article had been published in a place other than in the LA Times because this writer is making some good points. Yes, it's ok to be proud, but many folks here and elsewhere are being more that a little vainglorious. In fact, the other day I heard Laura Ingraham make one of her typical thoughtless remarks when she said that the bloggers were the real journalists.
Time for a fresh air break, folks.
It is IMPERATIVE to keep sites like FreeRepublic running! (I will keep doing my part) The MSM needs the eyes of truth constantly glaring back at them.
Bump to your post #97, it's spot on...too bad that you ruined it by writing "HUGH" instead of "huge"...the sophomoric "humor" therein denigrates your otherwise mature, excellent points (and won't be understood by the legions of lurkers here, anyway).
The AWB Has Expired - Gun Owners Have Won Again For All Americans!
No longer can you just throw up a bias piece of trash and count on your liberal co-harts to back you up and force feed it to the American public.
As for that MSM machine you have been driving into our homes via the tube and the newspaper for the last fifty years, you might want to consider adding a right turn signal to go with the left one you've always had.
Oh, and by all means don't forget to add a rear-view mirror.
The message the MSM got was something we have always understood. On a level playing field, the vast knowledge and experience of the public easily trumps the bias of the MSM. What has happened is that the playing field has finally been somewhat leveled, and some players don't like it.
Bloggers do not have the money behind them to travel far and wide rounding up the news. What has died is the ability of the elite and snobbish news media to use it's absolute power, that it has corrupted absolutely, to lie, slander, distort, and spin a story without being called on it. Hopefully even to the point of the guilty serving jail time.
Who ever promoted this story, typed up the documents, and presented them as fact broke about ten Texas laws regarding government documents.
I don't detect fear in this article. What I do detect from just sampling FR this morning and this afternoon, is a launching of a "media" cluster bomb by the liberal media.
The Old Media is dead. Long live the New Media.
Ben Wasserstein, aka Baghdad Bob
Good points. Thanks so much.
He is right. Lying, manipulating, subversive propaganda is what they do for a living. They are professionals ... like Michael Moore. Just because their credibility is shot, just because they have been exposed as partisan propagandists, doesn't mean the war is over. We won a battle. Every day, with every story from the NY Times, LA Times, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Boston Globe, etc., etc., there is another battle.
Every story they publish will have to be examined with a fine tooth comb. Every utterance will have to be dissected and scrutinized. They will not stop lying and manipulating. They will get better at it. The CBS incident was amatuer-hour, both from the standpoint of the "journalism" involved, but especially on the part of the anachronistic forgeries. Their techniques will improve. Their forgeries will get better. Their verbiage more subtle, nuanced, "progressive".
And we will be here, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from now until the left-wing withers and dies in this country, having told their last lie.
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