The Fourth Estate Is In Trouble

"You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of check and balances [at '60 Minutes'] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."

--Jonathan Klein, former CBS News executive and current head of CNN News

Now that Eason Jordan's head has been stuffed and mounted on a wall right next to Dan Rather's, it's time to take account of this phenomenon known as the blogosphere. Just to recap, Two weeks ago in front of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Eason Jordan stood up in front of an international audience and pronounced that he knew of twelve, count 'em, twelve journalists that had been deliberated targeted by the United States military. The inference was that the military, and by extension the Bush Administration, were so disgusted by the truth telling of these journalists regarding the conduct and progress of the war that they had them assassinated. He subsequently enjoyed the congratulatory comments of a number of anti-American members of BBC, Agence-Presse, and a number of Arab journalists for his "truth telling". One problem: he couldn't prove it....at all.

Last night, Jordan was forced to resign for his comments. In fairness, partial credit must go to two liberal members of Congress, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, who were in the audience when Jordan made these comments and were clearly distressed at the assertions, and made their distress known. But the bigger credit must go to the denizens of the blogosphere, who kept this story alive and brought the pressure down on CNN. To date, WEF has released nary a transcript, much less an audio or video recording of Jordan's turn at the lectern in Davos. Jordan's resignation proves that he made the comments (he initially denied that he had made the assertion and watered down his initial statements) and that he had no proof to back them up. It's one thing to slime the men and women of the United States military. It's quite another to do it without any proof.

In conclusion, the blogosphere is here to stay, and there's nothing the mainstream media establishment can do about it. Gone are the days when a battle like the Tet Offensive, clearly debacle for the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, can be turned into a resounding victory for the opposition by the likes of Walter Cronkite and CBS News. This is the new journalistic landscape, and the Fourth Estate would be wise to take note. Far from "sitting in pajamas writing", the blogosphere is made up of very sharp, very astute, and ominipresent people.

After Klein made his snotty comment, some bloggers took to calling themselves the "pajamahedeen". Indeed, the journalistic resistance has arrived. More trophies will be mounted on the wall if they don't toe the line of honest and fair journalism.