« 9/11 Essay: In praise of the Ordinary Life | Main | Of memos, measles and Mona Lisa »
September 13, 2004
CBS memo hoax and citizen-journalists
Well, if you've been any where near the net these past several days, you are aware of the blogsphere's amazing role in exposing CBS's 60 Minutes and Dan Rather's unconscionable attempt to palm off obviously forged memos purported from 1972/73 detailing malfeasance on the part of President GW Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard.
Starting out as an alert on FreeRepublic.com, the two blogs that ran with the story were Powerline and Charles Johnson's LittleGreenFootballs.
It's been a fast and furious ride, and it is not over yet. So many sites, so many experts have pooled their experience, professionalism and expertise, it has been breathtaking to behold.
However, it is not over. CBS is stonewalling. Dan Rather, in a fit of aristocratic pique, demands that us lesser beings take his word alone that the memos are "authentic." And now, the DNC is poised to start a campaign of viciously attacking President Bush on his Texas Air National Guard service, partly based on the hoax memos.
Many people have suggested writing CBS or contacting Viacom Institutional Stockholders. I'm sure many have already done that, in addition to writing to the FEC and the FCC and any local affiliate that carries 60 Minutes. I just want to add my own suggestion. I've written to Judicial Watch. I figure at this point, interesting a legal watchdog group to ferret out the collusion between the DNC, Kerry Campaign and CBS in illegal election engineering is critical. If you can, please add your voice.
This really is a war between the Old Media, jealous of its historical role as sole "gatekeepers" of information, and the new citizen-journalists of the Internet, who cooperate with one another in tracking down even the most esoteric of facts. The volume and scope of information that has been produced on these fake memos in such a short period of time is unprecedented.
It is now up to us, each and every one of us, to keep the pressure up and to live up to both the promise and the responsibility that this venue has provided.
Posted by Darleen at September 13, 2004 12:14 AM
Comments
Your comment in a blog I read concerning centering is more complicated than you state - Times New Roman is a proportional font - you can't just go to the middle and start counting to halfway with the backspace since each character has a different width. It's great to read these blogs and find out how much is going on - very knowledgeable people with a lot of interesting insights. The old news media is dying and that's a good thing. We don't need a few people telling the rest of us what to think. The Internet is bringing true freedom of speech to the world. It's wonderful. Thanks.
Posted by: Brian at September 13, 2004 09:20 PM