Free Republic

Posted Sunday, September 27, 2004 Having caught the scent of a juicy story from the MSM (mainstream media) to bite into, the bloggers were waiting to pounce like a pack of hounds behind the butcher shop. On Sept. 7, the day before the CBS broadcast, left-leaning blog talkingpointsmemo.com announced that 60 Minutes was to air "documents that shed light on Bush's guard service or lack thereof." The following afternoon, bloggers at freerepublic.com, a conservative website, began anticipating the coverage with comments such as, "CBS should have to register as a Democrat [campaign organization]." Minutes into the broadcast, another Free Republic...

Back in March, American journalists and news organisations celebrated a special anniversary. Exactly 50 years before, CBS broadcaster and TV news pioneer Edward R. Murrow took to the airwaves with a blistering indictment of Red-baiting drunk and Cold War smear artist Senator Joe McCarthy. As the feared prime mover behind the anti-communist witch-hunt and Hollywood's blacklists, the credibility of the man who made paranoia the guiding principle of American politics was out of bounds until Murrow began his broadcast, which coolly and methodically exposed McCarthy's lies, distortions and moral corruption. That was the end of "Tailgunner Joe", who would never...

WASHINGTON — It was the first public allegation that CBS News used forged memos in its report questioning President Bush's National Guard service — a highly technical explanation posted within hours of airtime citing proportional spacing and font styles. But it did not come from an expert in typography or typewriter history as some first thought. Instead, it was the work of Harry W. MacDougald, an Atlanta lawyer with strong ties to conservative Republican causes who helped draft the petition urging the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Times has found.

<p>WASHINGTON — It was the first public allegation that CBS News used forged memos in its report questioning President Bush's National Guard service — a highly technical explanation posted within hours of airtime citing proportional spacing and font styles.</p> <p>But it did not come from an expert in typography or typewriter history as some first thought. Instead, it was the work of Harry MacDougald, an Atlanta lawyer with strong ties to conservative Republican causes and who helped draft the petition urging the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Los Angeles Times has found.</p>

I Am Buckhead": Newspaper Exposes Blog Folk Hero By E & P Staff Published: September 18, 2004 NEW YORK It was the scoop of the day in the presidential campaign (which tells you something): The Los Angeles Times found Buckhead. The paper reports that it has solved the mystery of who exactly posted the very first (and in some minds, very suspicious) blog blast at the credibility of the "60 Minutes" Killian memos. But as the Times put it, "it did not come from an expert in typography or typewriter history as some first thought." Buckhead, as he was known...