Posted on 02/12/2005 4:51:47 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
For those of us in the information business, this is truly an earth-shaking time. Who would have imagined that the downfall of one of the world's most powerful news executives would be precipitated by an ordinary citizen blogging his eyewitness report at Davos in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 27? It's simply stunning.
The courage of Rony Abovitz cannot be overstated. This ordinary American citizen raised his voice at an international forum of media and political heavyweights--also attended by Europe's most influential America-haters--and demanded that Eason Jordan back up his poisonous assertion about the American military targeting journalists. Abovitz's remarks prompted Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to press Jordan for details. Abovitz also received thanks from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) for standing up. After the event, Abovitz bypassed the MSM and exposed the controversy with a simple click of the mouse.
Fellow attendee/former CNN journalist/blogger Rebecca MacKinnon confirmed Abovitz's account, fielded questions from Hugh Hewitt, and added reporting with her e-mail exchange with Jordan.
From there, a few standout bloggers picked up on the story and refused to let it die. The MSM calls it a lynch mob. I call it a truth squad. Ed Morrissey, Hewitt, La Shawn Barber, Jim Geraghty, and LGF kept "baying"--which got the attention of the blogosphere's most powerful player, Instapundit. Bill Roggio quickly created the group blog, Easongate, to keep on top of the story. Legions of smaller bloggers, too numerous to mention, kept the heat on. N.Z. Bear pitched in with a helpful Easongate tracker.
The relentless Hewitt used his blog, radio show, and Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis to cover the story, observing, "You can't cover the press if you don't press the coverage."
On Feb. 4, intrepid blogger Sisyphean Musings contacted the World Economic Forum in an effort to obtain a videotape of the forum--which was eventually rebuffed. Rosen, meanwhile, went to work and contacted BBC journalist Richard Sambrook, who was on the Jordan panel, for a statement. Sambrook backed Jordan.
But what about the other panelists? Enter this blog.
I myself came "late" to the story--by blogospheric standards, not MSM standards. On Feb. 1-2, I was traveling and only had time to briefly glance at a on Captain's Quarters about Jordan's remarks. I noticed coverage on Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt when I returned home, but did not take the time to read up on all the background until the weekend. My first brief posts on Easongate weren't until Feb. 6, when I simply provided to others covering the story.
The next day, Monday Feb. 7, I thought it might be helpful to try and advance the story by calling up some of the panel participants. Rep. Barney Frank returned my call first thing Monday morning. David Gergen returned my call in the early afternoon. Sen. Chris Dodd's office provided a statement by late afternoon.
Powerline concluded prophetically: "Eason Jordan is finished."
And the dam broke bigtime.
On Tuesday Feb. 8, CNN employee and Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz finally published a story on the controversy, rehashing much of what I'd reported on this blog--except with a transparent coat of whitewash. Kurtz was roundly mocked by the blogosphere and has done permanent damage to his reputation as an effective media critic. Roger L. Simon said it best: "All in all, this is not an article, more of a place holder..." See also Kaus.
Among the MSM, the Toledo Blade's Jack Kelly, the Riverside Press Enterprise editorial page, and the Washington Times editorial page, and Investor's Business Dail were on the ball. So, too, the New York Sun. The New York Post published my column on Wed. Feb 9. That night, CNBC's Larry Kudlow had three senators on who agreed with the column's conclusion that Jordan had recklessly slimed our troops. Then came the rest, including a strange footnote from the WSJ op-ed page that will look even stranger in hindsight for ridiculing the "usual Internet suspects" that brought down a previously untouchable MSM giant.
The shock waves that have overwhelmed CNN started with a single blogger and reverberated worldwide. I agree with Rony Abovitz that there should be no joy in watching Eason Jordan's downfall. But there is certainly great, unadulterated satisfaction in seeing the collective efforts of the blogosphere--citizens and professional journalists among them--produce the one thing the MSM has for too long escaped in its walled-off world: accountability.
Cue the Carpenters music: We've Only Just Begun.
*** Other analysis...
Mark Coffey's take on The Lessons of Easongate.
The tireless Captain Ed on the moral of Eason's Fables.
Jim Geraghty says "we learned that a lot of people in major media institutions thought this was a tempest in a teacup, unworthy of even a paragraph of coverage." Yup.
Instapundit has more.
Jeff Jarvis, who will be on Kurtz's CNN show on Sunday, sez: "Oh, yes, and before we forget... Davos: Release the tape! You, too, can't stonewall or your little club will become known as the place where the powerful can try to lie."
Ditto to that.
Rebecca MacKinnon and Jay Rosen follow up. Most interesting comment on Rosen's site comes from a poster named "veteran journo:"
A few things strike me that I haven't yet seen others pick up on. The "mis-spoke" defence is all very well, but if there's anyone who knows or should know how to be quoted, how not to be quoted and how to avoid being misquoted it's a journalist with Jordan's experience.
If he were a "civilian" I could understand the "tempest in a teapot" view but this guy is a journalist who quotes people everyday.
Ditto, for telling stories that CNN hadn't aired. If they hadn't broadcast the story about the Al Jazeera journo forced to eat his shoes, it's because they couldn't get people to talk about it on the record. A news executive can't go passing on those rumours in a semi-public forum. If the standard of proof wasn't good enough to get it on CNN, it 's not good wnough to discuss at a forum in Davos. Maybe at Jordan's dinner table but not Davos.
To me, these two mistakes are inexcusable coming from a news executive. And they are indeed grounds for firing or resigning.
I still believe it would be better to show the tape because I think journalists can't possibly argue against that given the nature of the Davos forum.
...there's something very wrong about journos and power brokers attending huge "off the record" gatherings.
Honestly, I would never agree to be off the record at such an event.
Anyway that's my take -- inescapably bad errors of judgement. He had to go.
Having a major "Wish I'd said that" moment. Well done.
lol, the hardest part of reading that post was the itch to hit the links before the sentence finished! thanks for the links!
Thanks for your comments. I will have try to find my old Toffler "The Third Wave".
"If you've read Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave, he write in that book a chapter called "De-Massifying the Media," where as communications technologies improve the giant media conglomerates will wield less power. It appears that weblogs have made Toffler's prophecy come true."
Bump!
Do a search on The Shadow Party.
And of course FreeRepublic's very own Buckhead, with many non-bloggers contributing to the ground-swell of forum contributors... NOT BLOGGERS!!!
Let's just blow away the self-absorbed, self-annointed, self-serving "blogosphere!"
Forums exploding with knowledge flowing at the speed of light, like the unique in all the world... FreeRepublic.com, featuring fun-loving fans of constitutional conservatism is where it's at in my very strong and adamant opinion!!!
You've got a point. What I'm wondering? Was his comment supported in that room, and by whom. I doubt we'll get to hear the tape. But I wouldn't be surprised if others, with power and talents, have. And this then could lead to some very interesting "conversations" among and between "power brokers".
Asidum: I'm beginning to wonder if someone among the WH "pressies" did a little entrapment of Jeff Gannon in re "Plame" materials. I'm not tinfoil hatting here; just following an emerging pattern.
Good eye. Newt wasn't whistling Dixie when he brought up Toffler and "The Third Wave". Sure, one can say "eeeuuu... Toffler.. a "liberal" and shut down. But I read the book in the early 70s -- I got the gist. So, I was really clear about what Newt was on about. I find a lot of good ideas among liberals, etc. I disagree with their politics and proposals to "solve" matters; but! I'm open to learning. And yes, the blogosphere/freep have altered the nature of "news" reporting.
The stuff that happened re trashing America in the 1990's and the first 4 years of this century was probably due to the arrogance of the elite limo riding lunatics of the left.
They knew that they could say anything about America overseas and with other liberals in America and get by with it. They were in bed with the mediots of the MSM, and their mediot buddies would never report on them.
If we knew about it, we have tools get the word out. That has changed.
Fast forward to the days after 9/11 to now. There I agree with you that the super rich like $oreA$$ have probably been funding left wing bloggers, mediots and others to attack GW, Republicans, Christians, and real Jews.
I cited some of Toffler's concepts in my master's thesis.
The conservative professors had to be sold on his comments to get them to sign their approval.
Thank you both.
Too many of us get upset with the term blog. Save that energy and acid for the real bad people, the rats and their PR wing, the MSM.
OOPS!....</sarcasm>
My bad! ;o)
They're already crying that we're a "blood-thirsty bunch of bible-thumping knuckledraggers".
Well .. they better get used to it - because we are not going away anytime soon.
There was so much going on when Toffler's book came out. Future Shock -- was being shown via flick in schools (e.g., "shock issues" -- the earth was ending, recycling would save the planet, we were all going to be nuked off the planet, men evil/women good) - I can understand your conservative professors' concern. But OTOH, their demand of you; made you think good and hard, no?
They were good. I think that they learned that even the liberal Toffler had some things of value. Not all liberals do!
...and so you opened their minds, eh? That's what good, solid education is supposed to be about. Or rather, what it used to be about.
I'm not so sure Barney Frank's intentions were honorable. Methinks he thought he found a smoking gun with which he slime W and Rummy. Only the tape will tell.
Yeah, I'll build up that battery acid to store up alla that energy to help this forum send a jolt through both the VAIN MSM as well as the occasional VAIN BLOGGER!!!
I still say they're both just too self-serving... but whatever... someday I'll moderate my view... or, then again, maybe my view will be administratively moderated when I get too self-serving... ya think???
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