Pajama Warrior BUMP! 
Posted on 09/22/2004 7:34:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The humiliating fall from grace this week of American CBS News and its star journalist Dan Rather hasn't made many headlines here. But the reverberations for journalism are being felt around the world in what could be seen as a victory of new media over old media.
It's a David v Goliath victory by "bloggers in pyjamas" over a $US7 million ($10 million) network anchorman and the most prestigious television news organisation in America.
Rather, the Ray Martin of America, finally admitted defeat on Tuesday and apologised for his US Sixty Minutes "scoop" two weeks ago, which relied on forged documents to allege President George Bush used family connections for favourable treatment in the Texas National Air Guard in the early 1970s.
In the middle of a super-charged US election campaign in which Bush has been polling ahead of his Democrat challenger, John Kerry, this was dynamite news, proof at last of the suspicion long-held by Michael Moore fans that Bush had been a rich-boy Vietnam War shirker.
But the memos, supposedly written by Bush's long-dead squadron commander, were such obvious forgeries that within hours of Rather's story going to air, the blogosphere - as the internet world of webloggers, or bloggers, is called - had declared them hoaxes, because they could never have been written on a 1970s typewriter.
Bloggers - private individuals with their own websites - had "blown the cyber-whistle", as the Washington Post called it. One of the first bloggers on the case was Charles Johnson of the little green footballs website (www.littlegreenfootballs.com), a 51-year-old Californian web designer who quickly demonstrated why the memos were frauds.
He downloaded them from the CBS website, retyped one memo in Microsoft Word format and then superimposed his version on top of the CBS one. Because it was an exact copy, with the same spaces between letters and the same word-wrapping between lines he concluded the downloaded memo must have been typed on a computer using a sophisticated program that didn't exist in 1972.
All sorts of forensic detail about typefaces and kerning and proportionate spacing was being supplied to bloggers by their readers, who number in the tens of thousands.
At the height of "Rathergate", the Instapundit website recorded 440,000 page views in one day. For instance, it was claimed that the little raised "th" used in the CBS memo couldn't have been produced by a 1970s typewriter. As Johnson told the Washington Post: "We've got a huge pool of highly motivated people who go out there and use the tools to find stuff. We've got an army of citizen journalists."
The mainstream media soon joined in, uncovering more evidence of forgery. Rather and CBS were forced to apologise. Bloggers gave each other cyber-high-fives and began gleefully calling themselves the "Pyjamahadeen", in honour of a disparaging comment during the week by a former CBS executive, Jonathan Klein.
"These bloggers have no checks and balances," said Klein. "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances and a guy sitting in his living room in his pyjamas, writing."
A small group of protesters, some in pyjamas, even rallied yesterday outside the Washington headquarters of CBS News.
Australian pyjamahadeen loved the story, too. Bulletin columnist Tim Blair, 39, whose three-year-old weblog (timblair.spleenville.com) has between 50,000 and 80,000 "unique visitors" a week, described it yesterday as "the perfect storm".
"Everyone's always thought Dan Rather was biased and the forgeries were so stupid and easy to [reveal]." Blair, a friend and former senior editor at Time magazine, says the mainstream old media can benefit from the blowtorch of the blogosphere in lifting its standards of accuracy. "As long as they don't dismiss people as wearing pyjamas. The garment isn't the issue."
Some of the most successful bloggers, such as 41-year-old Anglo-American former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan, boast of 100,000 readers a day, more than some newspapers. His four-year-old weblog (andrewsullivan.com) now makes a small profit, thanks to donations from readers. Their growing influence is leading to a reluctant revolution inside newsrooms around the world.
Relentless pressure from bloggers and their readers is credited with forcing The New York Times to sack executive editor Howell Raines last year after reporter Jayson Blair was found to have made up stories.
Earlier this year Tim Blair (no relation) raised suspicions in his blog about an article in the Chicago Tribune, quoting an Australian psychiatrist making racist remarks about Aborigines. "These people always complain," the psychiatrist "Graham Thorn" was quoted saying. "They want it both ways: their way and our way. They want to live in our society and be respected, yet they won't work. They steal, they rob and they get drunk. And they don't respect the laws."
Blair smelled a rat. The quote was too perfect, "almost a parody". So he wrote an email to the Tribune. Freelance writer Uli Schmetzer admitted to fabricating the name and the occupation of "Graham Thorn" and the Tribune "terminated" his contract - sacked him, in other words.
The Tribune's public editor Don Wycliff, thanked Blair and declared: "In the internet age, there are fewer and fewer places where the Chicago Tribune cannot be accessed and read critically by people about whom we write. And that is a very good thing."
Another case Blair cites is of the "plastic turkey". Last year George Bush flew to Iraq for a Thanksgiving meal with his troops and was photographed holding a platter of golden turkey. It was a real turkey, reported the Washington Post, dressed and primped for display at the front of the mess hall, in Army tradition.
Newspapers around the world called it a "plastic turkey" and a myth was born, which bloggers have taken delight in hammering ever since. Finally, nine months later, said Blair, the bloggers were victorious and The New York Times published a correction.
Back at CBS, Rather seems to think the pyjamahadeen are part of some vast right-wing conspiracy. By the end of last week, before he formally apologised, he told the Washington Post: "I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces."
Some newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, were also drawing import from the fact that some of the bloggers active on the Rather story were conservatives, Republican activists even. D'oh. But it makes no difference whether the bloggers were partisans or not. CBS and Dan Rather must have been blind to run a story based on such bogus documents. They have blown their reputations.
The good news for consumers of journalism is that journalists are increasingly on notice from the pedantic fact-checkers of the pyjamahadeen.
devinemiranda@hotmail.com
I personally am wearing a skirt and t-shirt to FReep, although I do have bedroom slippers on!
I love these stories, they're making the MSM look so silly!
Pajama Warrior BUMP!
Aw, cute picture!
Back at CBS, Rather seems to think the pyjamahadeen are part of some vast right-wing conspiracy. By the end of last week, before he formally apologised, he told the Washington Post: "I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces."
Some newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, were also drawing import from the fact that some of the bloggers active on the Rather story were conservatives, Republican activists even. D'oh. But it makes no difference whether the bloggers were partisans or not. CBS and Dan Rather must have been blind to run a story based on such bogus documents. They have blown their reputations.
The good news for consumers of journalism is that journalists are increasingly on notice from the pedantic fact-checkers of the pyjamahadeen.
What better image than "Curious" George?! :-)
If we had an authentic photo of the President in pajamas it would be perfect!!!...;)
Well, you still need to get clarification on slinky/skimpy nighshit vs. full-cover flannels...
Gads....I hope you're a woman....
>:P
Last I checked ...
headsonpikes wishes to assure all lurkers that he posts fully-clothed at all times!
And with snow creeping down the mountains, now wearing Stanfields as well.
I occasionally wear slippers instead of boots, however.
Ick. Not one of the day's better typso.
Viacom lie debunked here on Snopes.com
You're even getting mentioned in Australia, 'pod...
:(
Nevertheless, I stand by the accuracy of my post and the general thrust of its contents.
I think it's time we move on to a new issue before Kerry publicly claims he's an Anti-War-American and they throw a parade for him on the left coast. I'm not saying we should drop the Rather/Mapes/CBS/Dem connection debacle. That clearly deserves more investigating, but to concentrate a majority of the Blog resources into a story that is only going to engender amplified Bush bashing from the left is pure folly.
The Swiftboat Vets proved one thing for sure. Americans (particularly those Americans who claim to be undecided) do care about John Kerry's military record. I believe the MSM has taken the opportunity to focus on Rathergate to divert attention from their purposeful lack of interest in Kerry's missing military records. They know full well that there are enormous gaps in Kerry's service time line. They know it's highly unusual for a man who has not reported for duty for close to thirty years to get his honorable discharge just three years ago. They know that appearance of impropriety is extremely high when a man still listed as a Naval officer meets with the enemy of this country to negotiate an unauthorized peace plan. The bloggers have got the attention of the world. I think it's time we beat the drumbeat on this a little louder and change the headlines from Bush's phony documents to Kerry's dishonorable service.
Interesting point.
It's about the coverup...Kerry and the DNC are up to their eyeballs in this fake CBS story. There are too many unawswered questions to drop the coverup aspect of this story. Also, Kerry is the anti-war candidate just like McGovern who lost badly. Americans don't want an exit strategy. We want/demand a victory.
Yes. It was well done.
Bump to read after work!
10 minutes to Wapner ;0)
I'm actually decently dressed at the moment, thank you. But then it IS one PM.
There is a way that many of us can hammer the lunatic libs in charge of Viacom:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223638/posts
How to Hammer Viacom if you have a 401k or IRA with Fidelity
Money Central MSN.com, stock ownership | 22 September 2004 | Grampa Dave
Posted on 09/22/2004 9:09:39 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Two of Fidelity's big funds own a large amount of Viacom B shares or VIA.b stock shares. Those Funds are Fido's Magellan Fund and Fido's Equity-Income Fund.
If you have a Fidelity IRA and own these funds, you might want to sell them and buy a fund without ownership in Via.B. Then inform Fidelity why you sold your shares of the funds owning Viacom B shares.
If your 401k is with Fidelity, you might want to go to another fund. Then send a letter to Fidelity's chairman, stating why you sold the funds holding Via.b shares.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223638/posts
ROTFLMAO!! Just Great. I love it!!
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