Monday, September 13, 2004
The Death Of Mainstream Media?
William Safire synopsizes CBS’s recent credibility problem. It’s not a long article, but he performs a journeyman’s task of wrapping up the current state of the CBS “documents” issue: Brief, efficient and damning.
In a world where Paul Begala and James Carville both work for CNN and act as informal advisors to the John Kerry campaign, perhaps it is time to ask the question, “is modern mainstream journalism dead?” In a world where CBS has quarantined it’s handwriting expert, Marcel Matley, not allowing him to talk to other news organizations, does not the same question come up? In a world where Dan Rather challenges others to debunk the documents, and claims he’ll continue to believe in them until someone does, is it not likely that mainstream journalism is at least needing a stretcher? An IV? Aroma therapy? Something?
Granted, and to their credit, the other mainstream outlets are savaging CBS, so perhaps not all is lost. But I do believe this is only true because they know that somebody else (ahem!) is now watching over their shoulder. Unlike times past.
Fine. Maybe the message has (at least temporarily) got through their battlements of arrogance. Don’t expect it to last. There will have to be repeated instances of the blogosphere, talk radio, Fox News, etc. catching the mainstreamers in blatant acts of spectacularly shoddy reporting before anything like a long-term change will happen.
The problem for them is that they’re already being passed up. The train hasn’t just left the station, still available for that last leap to get onboard. The damn thing’s a half mile down the tracks, and the mainstreamers are pummeling each other in a race to catch up.
If they do, then okay. If not, well, see ya!
William Safire synopsizes CBS’s recent credibility problem. It’s not a long article, but he performs a journeyman’s task of wrapping up the current state of the CBS “documents” issue: Brief, efficient and damning.
The L.A. Times also checked out a handwriting analyst, Marcel Matley (of Vincent Foster suicide-note fame), who CBS had claimed vouched for the authenticity of four memos. It turns out he vouches for only one signature, and no scribbled initials, and has no opinion about the typography of any of the supposed memos.
In a world where Paul Begala and James Carville both work for CNN and act as informal advisors to the John Kerry campaign, perhaps it is time to ask the question, “is modern mainstream journalism dead?” In a world where CBS has quarantined it’s handwriting expert, Marcel Matley, not allowing him to talk to other news organizations, does not the same question come up? In a world where Dan Rather challenges others to debunk the documents, and claims he’ll continue to believe in them until someone does, is it not likely that mainstream journalism is at least needing a stretcher? An IV? Aroma therapy? Something?
Granted, and to their credit, the other mainstream outlets are savaging CBS, so perhaps not all is lost. But I do believe this is only true because they know that somebody else (ahem!) is now watching over their shoulder. Unlike times past.
Fine. Maybe the message has (at least temporarily) got through their battlements of arrogance. Don’t expect it to last. There will have to be repeated instances of the blogosphere, talk radio, Fox News, etc. catching the mainstreamers in blatant acts of spectacularly shoddy reporting before anything like a long-term change will happen.
The problem for them is that they’re already being passed up. The train hasn’t just left the station, still available for that last leap to get onboard. The damn thing’s a half mile down the tracks, and the mainstreamers are pummeling each other in a race to catch up.
If they do, then okay. If not, well, see ya!
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