Victory for the Blogosphere

This week has been a big change for the new media and, indeed, the tides of journalism and influence have turned.

Eason Jordan, the head of CNN, was forced to resign over a comment made in Geneva, Switzerland. Not surprisingly, the MSM chose not to report, or even hold to account, the outrageous comment which pointed to the U.S. Military as “targetting journalists”.

The uproar did not begin in the MSM because, naturally, they defend and cover themselves. The uproar begain the blogosphere, was powered by the blogosphere and culminated in the blogosphere.

Even Rathergate, which began in the blogosphere (actually at FreeRepublic.com which is not actually a blog) and was escalated by the FReepers, many of whom are blog writers themselves, quickly became the story of the MSM who smelled blood and tried to distance themselves form the scandal. In that case, the new media looked to the old media to take the story and reach the audiences that the new media did not yet have. Now, with Easongate, the old media never picked the issue up until it was over and Eason had resigned his post at CNN.

Here are some quotes behind the power of the takedown:

From Captains Quarters:

The moral of the story: the media can’t just cover up the truth and expect to get away with it — and journalists can’t just toss around allegations without substantiation and expect people to believe them anymore.

From La Shawn Barber:

But wait. There�s more. Charles Johnson at LGF is reporting that Jordan has made similar statements before, and so has another CNN executive. And Ed suggests you to contact Time Warner, which owns CNN, if you want to see Jordan�s head roll.

Michelle Malkin looks back:

For those of us in the information business, this is truly an earth-shaking time. Who would have imagined that the downfall of one of the world’s most powerful news executives would be precipitated by an ordinary citizen blogging his eyewitness report at Davos in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 27? It’s simply stunning.

The courage of Rony Abovitz cannot be overstated. This ordinary American citizen raised his voice at an international forum of media and political heavyweights–also attended by Europe’s most influential America-haters–and demanded that Eason Jordan back up his poisonous assertion about the American military targeting journalists. Abovitz’s remarks prompted Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to press Jordan for details. Abovitz also received thanks from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) for standing up. After the event, Abovitz bypassed the MSM and exposed the controversy with a simple click of the mouse.

And then there was the ultimate MSM response. Howard Kurtz, of tha Washington Post says:

Eason Jordan resigned last night as CNN’s chief news executive in an effort to quell a burgeoning controversy over his remarks about U.S. soldiers killing journalists in Iraq.

Even as he said he had misspoken at an international conference in suggesting that coalition troops had “targeted” a dozen journalists and insisted he never believed that, Jordan was being pounded hourly by bloggers, liberals as well as conservatives, who provided the rocket fuel for a story that otherwise might have fizzled.

The New York Times had this to say:

Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who was responsible for coordinating the cable network’s Iraq coverage, resigned abruptly last night, citing a journalistic tempest he touched off during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late last month in which he appeared to suggest that United States troops had deliberately aimed at journalists, killing some.

At least the Times gives us respect enough to call us journalists. That’s a change. Granted, we all are not necessarily journalists by trade (no journalism degree from GWU!) but we are by function.

They continue:

Almost immediately after making that assertion, Mr. Jordan, whose title at CNN had been executive vice president and chief news executive, “quickly walked that back to make it clear that there was no policy on the part of the U.S. government to target or injure journalists,” Mr. Gergen [Editor of US News & World Report] said.

Cover your asses, guys. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It’s not like this was the only controversial statements Mr. Jordan has ever been a part of. It wasn’t “just a mistake”. There’s a pattern. Quit excusing it.

And I love how the Los Angeles Times decides to fill in its readers on all the gory details after it’s all said and done (Feb 12th). Good goin’, guys.

So yeah. This is a big time for the new media. The winds of change keep blowing. The MSM is become the LMSM (Less Mainstream Media) and the blogosphere continues to shine through. I only wish that this blog had chosen to get into it. :)

Update: The Unpopulist weighs in

Update: Ace of Spades, who apparently needs a secretary, has quite a bit of insight and other links.

Tagged as: Blogging, media, military, politics