search-engines-web.com/ sends a couple of stories, ” here and here at the CS Monitor about the role blogs played in blowing apart the CBS story about the allegedly forged documents relating to the service records of George Bush.
On Sept. 9, the morning after CBS aired its report about Mr. Bush, Johnson updated his blog with comments from readers who believed that the documents – allegedly written 32 years ago – were forgeries. Questioning everything from the memos’ military jargon to whether a 1970s typewriter could have produced the “proportionally spaced fonts” on the documents, the blog (short for web log) soon drew the attention of other bloggers – and the mainstream media.
Twelve days later, after intense research by print and TV journalists, CBS conceded that it couldn’t vouch for the documents’ authenticity.
Its Monday admission deals a blow to the credibility of CBS News and anchor Dan Rather, who had defended his “60 Minutes II” report. But the episode has jolted the media establishment in another way: It served notice that there’s an aggressive new watchdog in town, in the form of thousands of bloggers willing – even eager – to question, nitpick, or attack reports in the mainstream media.
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