Oh, Mr. Rather

In 2004, Dan Rather got a raw deal. By trusting his producer who her trusted her source, he basically got scape-goated in the "Memogate" scandal. He presented what later turned out to be questionable documents outlining President Bush's lackluster National Guard career. When angry viewers started writing out against the episode, events descended into a mud-slinging circus. The entire situation leaves me angry and very, very frustrated, not only at CBS but at the bloggers and the other media covering and creating the scandal.

As a new journalism student, CBS's sloppiness irritates the hell out of me. In rushing the story they damaged not only their own credibility but that of news media at large. Airing a story before they could collect and defend their facts only gave rabid bloggers fodder for their anti-media biases. Suddenly CBS had an "agenda" and were horrible partisans, if the blog were to be believed. Which brings me to the other group I'm disappointed in and angry at: the bloggers themselves.

“NOTE to old media scum . . . . We are just getting warmed up!”
— “Rrrod,” on FreeRepublic.com

A quote like that doesn't come from someone seriously concerned about the state of news and reporting in America. It comes from an irresponsible mob member who enjoys the smell of blood in the air. This sort of rabid chest-beating is part of a close-minded circle-jerk that leads nowhere. People looking for a conspiracy found it, as they always do. This sort of sensationalism is even more frustrating when you consider the potential of citizen reporters to cover issues the mainstream media can't or won't. Instead of a great forum of freedom, the internet more often resembles a soapbox for any one with an opinion and a set of lungs.

Mainstream media on both ends of the political spectrum have messed up, lied, been unclear and generally mucked up a lot of the political process. No one has a clean record. We can all admit that. Reporters and producers should get raked over the coals when they make such a schoolboy mistake as rushing a story. It's bad reporting. However we should also look at the real reasons those mistakes happen, not rush to point the partisan finger. Media is a business, and like any business it has customers. If they trip over themselves trying to please us, who's really to blame?

Both of us, of course. Us for holding them to a double standard (give us what we want, but don't pander to us), and them for compromising themselves in trying to live up to it.

"Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe." --Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816

The press may be free from the government, but as Memogate showed, it's still a bound servant to market forces and popular influence. It's asking a lot to demand the media be responsive to the people's needs but not swayed by mob mentality, but that's what we need. If accomplishing that were easy, we wouldn't need media professionals.