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![A Bouncary Crossed]](../assets/images/autogen/A_Bouncary_Crossed__NGlobal2.gif "A Bouncary Crossed]"){kind=small}
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The Death of Main Stream Media The past week has been enlightening to the American people. They could see, in a very dramatic way, that bulwarks of the news media have failed in the execution of rudimentary journalism. I first took what passed for a journalism course in the mid-60s. In-fact, my lovely bride and I served on the school newspaper. So, on that basis, let me offer some “expert” advice to the folks at CBS News (hey Dan, I waive my consulting fee), Boston Globe (ditto) and the New York Times (again, ditto) who so happily hopped on the CBS News bandwagon. Ms. Gillies and Mr. Stone focused on the basics for each and every story we reported on: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Let’s see how that plays out on the National Guard fiasco. Who? Who released the documents? Is this a reliable source? Is this a single source or multiple sources? Can these sources be corroborated? What? What are they releasing? Are these documents the originals or copies? If original, can they be dated in some forensic way? If copies, can they be dated in some forensic way? Are they official Texas Air Guard documents? If they are private documents, where have they been for the past 30+ years? When? When were they written? Can multiple experts verify the dating of the memo? Are there any dissenting voices in the world of experts? Does all the data match up? How can Gen. Hodges be the author of one of the documents when he retired a year earlier? How can Lt. Bush leave to work on a campaign for his father when George Bush senior was Ambassador to the UN? Where? Where were all the players at the time? Where are the medical documents demanding Lt. Bush’s attendance for a physical? Where are the hospital schedules for the time period in question? Why? Given that President Bush has run for public office for over a decade, why are these documents being released now? Why is there only a single source available to verify the documents? Why are there all these little discrepancies in the type face of the new documents? Why are there no original documents? Why is their no indication from the commander’s wife and son that these memos were a normal operating procedures for their husband and father.? It is my “experienced” opinion that if CBS News ( again, free advice Dan), the Boston Globe and the NY Times had utilized my vast journalistic experience, the outcome of the news headlines the past week would have been significantly different. Where does that leave the state of traditional media today? Significantly, it leaves them is a state where it is easier to believe each other than to act as an independent entities. There is little competition as well. In years gone by, any weakness shown by a competitor would have been exploited by a fellow news organization. Their drive to “get it right, get to the truth” would have held up the level of their journalistic quality. However, today there seems to be an amazing amount of similarity with their “competing” news stories. ABC, NBC and CBS and nearly exact, including the general flow of the evening news. Try it tonight. Write down the stories covered on each program and compare them. Do this for a week. I suspect the result will be eye opening. Gratefully, information is no longer simply in the hands of the “media”. The Texas document dust up clearly shows the value of the Internet as well as new competitors in the news arena such as Fox News. It is indeed the dawn of a new news era and the “old hands” will have to come up to speed or be lost in the dust. Bill Keller Editor – Conservative Outlook |