A moment, not a revolution (Free Republic in first sentence!)

The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | September 22, 2004 | Ben Wasserstein

[2banana]

Early morning last Sept. 11, a poster on the conservative Free Republic Web site 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 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. On Monday, CBS said it could not prove that the memos were authentic and that it should not have used them. Bloggers cheered that the new-media David had slain the old-media Goliath.

[GOPJ]

It is the death of the old time media, especially old time liberal print newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer...

It's the death of sloppy propaganda. It's the death of journalistic "mistakes" that always target conservatives. It's the death of the reign of brain-dead celebrity journalist. It's the death of easy liberal elitist positions pushed as objective journalism. But, it's not the death of the old time media.

[Teflonic]

Once a story breaks all a reporter has to do is come here to get informed enough to compile the follow-up report. It seems they've been doing that over at DU for years.

So that's where reporters find all of their false witnesses!

[dalereed]

"Yes, "Pajamahadeen" has my vote, too."


I think "Pajamahadeen" makes us sound like a bunch of Muslims.

[Lancer_N3502A]

CBS UGLY STICK

[Tribune7]

In Philadelphia, nearly everybody does not read the Inquirer.

[Tribune7]

ping

[longtermmemmory]

the -azzi name makes us sound frivolous like the paparazzi.

Pajama People is good too.

[meema]

3 cheers for FR and Pajamaazzi{s}!

[Lijahsbubbe]

Peter Jennings in a beanie hat! LOL!

[Tribune7]

Think of last month's spurious attacks on Kerry's military service in Vietnam.

Dinosaur Media (DM) lurkers consider this:

If 250 former Texas Air National Guard comrades of Dubya signed affidavits saying he was a craven liar and complete incompetent would you have ignored the story? No fn' way.

Notice how I spelled out Texas Air National Guard. I'm really expecting DMers to read this.

[Tribune7]

Pa dinosaur-in-the-tarpit ping

[spodefly]

Ben Wasserstein wrote this piece for the Los Angeles Times.

That explains the snotty, condescending tone.

No one but the most niave thinks that 'new media' is going to replace traditional media. We are not out on the streets with note pads and camera crews chasing down sources and stories. But we are in a position to do exactly what we did in the CBS incident ... call them on it when they intentionally lie or slant or, as Dan Rather would have us believe, make an 'honest mistake.

[The South Texan]

"[A]ll of us can say we were there when a few people from Free Republic kicked CBS and Kerry ass."

Sounds like a new motto for FR.

[Nathan Zachary]

Think of last month's spurious attacks on Kerry's military service in Vietnam. Though decried by lefty bloggers, the charges were not adequately debunked until newspapers such as the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune reaped the reward from Freedom of Information Act searches of decades-old military records and published eyewitness testimonials. Old-fashioned reporting won that round.

Thats a load of B.S., These charges have NOT been "adequatly debunked" by anyone. In fact, they have only ben covered up. They are still there, and the only way the can be "debunked" is for Kerry to sign the 180 and release his records, which he won't, because they are true allegations.

[longtermmemmory]

This is DNC talking points. Juan Williams has been saying the same DNC talking point.

If anything the vets points have now been OVER proven.

[pepperdog]

I note it took them 11 days to come up with this striking prose. Things move a little faster out here in the blogsphere, guess they still haven't figured that out.

[HenryLeeII]

'Tis but a flesh wound! Come back and I will smote you!

[agrace]

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 majority leader's post.

Oh please, the MSM was on that one two seconds after he said it.

But writers are getting ahead of themselves by asserting that the CBS memos represent the death knell for traditional journalism.

Maybe not the death of the old media but CERTAINLY the death of their unquestionable control.

First, it's worth remembering how many other news stories - basically, er, all of them - have not been broken by the blogosphere. Think of last month's spurious attacks on Kerry's military service in Vietnam. Though decried by lefty bloggers, the charges were not adequately debunked until newspapers such as the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune reaped the reward from Freedom of Information Act searches of decades-old military records and published eyewitness testimonials. Old-fashioned reporting won that round.

Huh? They keep saying this, but never say why it's true.

[MissAmericanPie]

Sure bloggers don't have the money and resources to travel the world gathering news stories. What has ended for elite media is their brand of corruption of the stories they gather, and much of the spin they attach to stories they gather.

The decision the citizen makes about who they want for President is far to important a power to be played with by corrupt journalists with an agenda, vote fraud, and the lax requirements of some states about who is allowed in the voters booth. The power of the citizens of this nation to elect is not to be toyed with by anyone, no matter what their ego's tell them.

I think we should demand standardization of federal elections to be followed by every state. If a state wants to use sloppy voting procedures for state and local elections that's their citizens problem. But when it comes to something as important as federal elections, states should not be allowed to hold the polls open later than allowed, and the citizenship of the voter should be clearly established along with a data base to show how many times in one election one person has voted.

One man, one vote has been misused in the rush for the Democrat party to prop up it's failing power. Their corruption of the voter process must be rooted out and destroyed. There is no telling who is sitting in the Senate, Congress, and state legislative bodies who attained their seat via fraud.

[Mo1]

We are not bloggers .. WE ARE FREEPERS!