[dirtboy]

ping to post #49 and your honest feedback on what I said. I personally think that the last week witnessed one of the most fundamental power shifts in this country as we have seen in some time. Please chime in whether you think I'm right, wrong, or should just drool into my cup....

[SketchMD]

Well, good call, dirtboy. I for one have stopped watching the news for the most part. I mean, I watch it when there's nothing else on, but the MSM, including Foxnews only covers stuff that matters to them when so much passes under them that they don't even acknowledge. I tend to read ALOT of blogs. It's the nature of the blogger. I like to get left and right opinions because I find that it strikes a happy balance. And frankly, bloggers have the power of multiple opinions behind them. It's very simple to hit feedster.com and get information on anything under the sun covered from at least 50 perspectives. This is what makes America strong. America strong. Not just the left. Not just the right. It's true democracy where the voices of the people are heard. So I agree, dirtboy. Unfortunately, the widowmaker you refer to too often moves in to fill the void left by a fallen giant in one form or another and then they forget where they come from. But that is a different topic.

[neverdem]

I think we need more time to see how things develop.

[okie01]

I personally think that the last week witnessed one of the most fundamental power shifts in this country as we have seen in some time.

My wife made the same observation. Nailing Rather required bringing the MSM into the fight, in order to "validate" the errors we'd caught in Rather's charges. The MSM was out to lunch for this campaign.

Indeed, I recall that the Washington Post was one of the first to follow-up and develop the Rather story. Yet, when the Post finally got around to covering the Eason Jordan story, they assigned Howard Kurtz, of all people, and he performed a whitewash. Well, the story was on his beat, after all. But Kurtz and the Post pointedly did not alert their readers to the fact that Kurtz was also employed by CNN and, thus, highly conflicted.

I took this to mean that the Post had decided, for their own good (and, perhaps, the entire MSM), the Eason Jordan story was best buried. It was a tacit recognition of the power of the web -- and, this time, they weren't about to aid and abet the upstarts, Lovelady's "salivating morons" and "lynch mob".

Still, Jordan's position eventually became untenable...and he resigned. Neither the Washington Post nor any other MSM outlet ever so much as viewed his statements with "concern" -- much less "alarm".

The Eason Jordan story was begun by, sustained by and finished by the web community -- operating virtually alone. That is a watershed moment.

We're neither kingmakers nor kingkillers here at Free Republic. But we probably wield more power than we might think.

Would Rather have been discredited without Buckhead and Free Republic? Possibly...but the odds would have been measurably longer.

Would Bush have won Florida in 2000 without the efforts of FReepers on the ground, throwing a monkey wrench into the Democrats' efforts to manufacture votes? I'm not certain.

I'm convinced that, without Free Republic, William Jefferson Clinton would never have been impeached.

And I rather doubt Eason Jordan will be either forgetting or forgiving us. Howell Raines won't be sending us a Valentine's Day card, either.

With that power comes responsibility. The guy who runs this place has set the standards. So far, I believe, we've all been a good check on each other. At any given time, every "reporter" on Free Republic has a thousand-or-so of the toughest editors in the business checking his work, testing his theses, confirming his facts...and correcting his grammar and spelling.

All in all, it's an honor and a privilege to be here. And, yes, I believe we've done some very good work lately...and there is, indeed, a new paradigm in the news business today.

[LikeLight]

Right with you, dirtboy.