All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Each week we invite someone from outside PE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. This week we asked La Shawn Barber, a blogger and self-described "renegade supporter of conservative ideals" who has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Times, Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other outlets. As always, the opinions expressed and factual assertions made in “Outside Voices” are those of the author, not ours, and we seek a wide variety of voices. Here's La Shawn:

While reading blogger Glenn Reynolds’s new book, "An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government and Other Goliaths," I was disappointed that he made only the briefest mention of the CBS scandal known as “Rathergate.” This event, above all others, is the best example of the power of an emergent “Army of Davids.”

On September 8, 2004, the once-venerable “60 Minutes” ran a segment about President George W. Bush’s Texas Army National Guard service in the early 70s. Dan Rather produced four memos supposedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian in 1972 and 1973. These documents purported to show that the president received favorable treatment while in the service. The episode aired toward the end of a contentious election season, and CBS possessed what it thought was ammunition to blow the White House down.

Within hours someone posting on a news filter site called FreeRepublic.com noticed anachronisms in the documents’ typography and font. The memos appeared to have been produced on Microsoft Word software, not a 70s-era typewriter. The next day the blogosphere was buzzing, and we conservative bloggers had come to our own conclusion: the memos were obvious forgeries. But we needed evidence.

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