It is only THEY, the MSM feels, who should not have any auditor nor a checker of their facts or of their credibility and power.
Human nature is what it is.
They absolutely HATE it that they have now been assigned one and must now be held accountable, and held to higher standards by We, the People. We have seized technology that most of them could not even have DREAMED of when they were finishing up their undergraduate or graduate work in Journalism many years ago.
Tough luck, MSM. Cry me a frikkin river.
The writer of this article makes our point for us and doesn't even know it. The "blogs" are not going to take over the gathering of "news", they are only going to become the new editor and fact checkers for those that do.
In a funny sort of way, the Internet may actually save main stream media, or at least those that can adapt. And by adapt, I don't mean posting stuff to the internet, I mean change their bias to a more fair and balance approach to what they write.
What those that consider themselves journalist must come to terms with is that the days when you could tell an out and out falsehood, and have no consequences, are over. If you are going to lie, you better be very good at it, if not, it is going to be exposed, and not just to a few thousands readers, but to millions around the world.
A reporter has only one product to sell, their word that what he writes is a honest and true representation of what they witnessed. Over the years, most reporters have been willing to give away their integrity in the name of some higher good they may believe in, feeling that it is ok to "lie" if it makes the world a better place (as they have determined it should be).
Not only has there not been any downside to this view, but those that get good at it were rewarded. This is what is coming to an end. The revolution started a few years ago, but for many, Dan Rather brought it out to the open, and when the main stream media are forced to acknowledge our existence, we are well on the way to winning.
Dan Rather's problem is that after years of selling his soul to the cause of socialism, his "word" could no longer be trusted, and now when he wants everyone to believe that what he says is true even if he does not have the evidence, we have to base that trust on his character, yet we know he is willing to lie to advance his cause, and there is no reservoir of trust for him to call on.
I do not expect to see the end of this jorney we have begun here on FreeRepublic, I am in my mid 50s. Like the hippies and radicals, it took 20 or 30 years for them to move up into positions of power in the colleges and universities, and news media. The children of today, who are as familiar with computers, and are at home on the internet, will be the ones that finish this battle for us, I am just happy to see that the battled had begun, because I have no doubt as to the final outcome.
Most people lay it to bias on the part of Rather, that should not be used to cover his rabid hatred of Bush and all things American.
Proof??? One has only to look at the picture of Rather and Castro, brothers in blood, brothers in hate.