Disagree.

The 'sphere is examining the minutia - the debate is how trustworthy is the Fourth Estate. Strike that, the real question is how much deceit is the media prepared to foist upon the public in order to predetermine an election.

Right! The issue is that we have a mainstream media that is willing to lie to us, or at least engage in gross negligence wrt truth, spin and distortion.

We know they have bias and spin by a slander based on a forgery crosses the line.

CBS Said: "the documents in the 60 Minutes report were thoroughly examined and their authenticity vouched for by independent experts." This is clearly not the case. They lied. They found witnesses to vouch for what they wanted, not for the truth.

Conclusion: CBS has no credibility. They fail to report honestly. They accept faked documents without vetting them properly. They are not a serious news organization, just Careless Bush Smear-artists.

Mis-stated 2nd para:

"We know they have bias and spin, but a slander based on a forgery crosses the line."

The point holds: This is a scandal about CBS, mainly. Dan Rather should resign!

http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com

Does someone have an idea how those of us sitting at home and reading this stuff can help? Does emailing or writing advertisers do any good? How about contacting members of Congress? What are the names and addresses of people who are above Rather at CBS? Does it help to contact local CBS stations? I'm mad as hell about this and I, and I suspect, a lot of others need some direction.

We'll know how big a deal on the talking heads shows tomorow. I would not be surprised to see a blogger interviewed, though I think we'd have heard about that by now.

bains,

But if the argument doesn't make it out of the blogosphere, all the minutia in the world won't matter.

kjo,

I suspect letters or calls to CBS affiliates would probably be most effective, but I'm not really sure. CBS News appears determined to brazen this out, and I don't think it's really an appropriate issue for Congress.

Wrong. It is not minutae to have CBS displaying forgeries. It is not minutae to have the Boston Globe twisting words of an expert to support their lies.

Here's why -- this goes directly to the credibility of a major news organization. Nothing new, certainly. The difference? 500 or 5000 or 50000 guys "sitting in their basements" "wearing pajamas" or "bathrobes" (your preference). All with an audience of *something*. Two-three-four years ago, this never would have happened. Now, at an absolute minimum, my buddies down at the courthouse or at the track or in the coffee house will at least THINK about what they're seeing on CBS when Dan Rather does his limbo. Some, like you, might have more than a few little buddies that read this. It expands the scope of knowledge WAY beyond a few guys "yapping" at each other.

Ginger is just flat out wrong. Maybe not totally wrong about this go-round, but the next one? It won't get past first base. Bill Ardolino opened up the floodgates -- "hey, I can call this dude as easy as that guy over there can."

Scott, perhaps you're just not understanding my point. Until there is a smoking gun people can point to that proves definitively that the CBS documents are forgeries, then this story isn't going to take off. I understand that you're already convinced that they're forgeries, as are many others in the blogosphere, but those aren't the people who have to be convinced.

Well, you're right. I'm not (pointedly not) talking about the political impact here. I'm talking about the effect on the media. The fact that Dan Rather had to spend time on his newscast stonewalling is a homerun. It directly belies Ginger's implication that 500 yappy bloggers in their basement don't mean nothing to nobody. Does anyone believe that every other news agency in the USA would have started talking to CBS sources or typewriter experts if 500 yappy guys hadn't done their thing? I'm just not willing to cede the point that, on their own, ABC and others would have followed up in the manner that they have.

Anyhoo -- how lame is it for me to be commenting about blogging about blogging? And I'm in my pajamas!