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A slew of bloggers were quick to criticize former hostage Jill Carroll’s statements in a propaganda video created by her captors – before she released a statement explaining that her comments were made under duress and are not an accurate reflection of her views. Ever The Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman has an exhaustive look at some of the knee-jerk reactions, which he views as a big black eye for the blogosphere.

The era of the shoot-your-keyboard-first and see-if-its-accurate later (and do it in a way that makes a political point you make on your site so it fits in with your ongoing narrative) is upon us.

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Each week we invite someone from outside PE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. This week's guest, Joe Gandelman, writes The Moderate Voice, a blog he started after spending many years as a freelance writer overseas and full-time reporter on the staffs of two newspapers. Gandelman is also a professional ventriloquist. Here, he writes about how the new iteration of the "Evening News" should adjust in the 21st century.
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. Now, here's Joe:



The fuss over what comes next at the CBS "Evening News" continues. So who’s going to fill in the anchor slot? And shouldn’t it be someone who represents seamless continuity with the way the news has been done in the past?



Maybe not:



The biggest issue facing CBS is whether -- and how -- it can adjust a venerable news institution to the reality that we‘re living in the 21st century and it may be time to explore changes in form as well as personnel. The same style, format and pacing that worked for the World War II and baby boomer generations may not be best for the MTV and iPod generations.



This is not to criticize Bob Schieffer, who has been a superb transitional choice. When you watch him, you regret he hadn’t had a much larger role in CBS earlier in his career. Schieffer is a welcome journalistic link to the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. Wouldn’t hiring someone who isn’t in the same mode as Schieffer, Murrow or Cronkite be a huge shift?



In fact, NO ... if you look at history.

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