January 11, 2005

"No comment on the Rathergate report?"

An emailer asks that question, which I'll answer here in case other readers have the same question. I noticed Glenn Reynolds is chiding a few political bloggers for not posting on the subject, but I don't consider myself the type of blogger that is saying something by saying nothing. In fact, I regret posting this because it seemed to take on the obligation to note other things (and because it causes people to email me and say things like "Come on! You can do better!").

I didn't post on Rathergate because so many other people did so quickly. No one needed to be pointed to the story. And what are you going to say? Is everyone supposed to check in and say "that's enough" or "that's not enough"? If anyone's counting up the votes on the subject, you can add me to the "not enough" column. I don't really have the time to comb through the report itself, but from skimming, my general impression is that it tries to portray various people as too enthusiastic about getting a hot story out fast, which is a much nicer cause of error than intending to make the presidential election come out the way you want. Also, I felt that the proposed remedies had to do with saving CBS from ever getting caught in the act like this again. The report certainly didn't make me think that CBS was going to do anything about the way the people who produce the news use it to pursue the political outcomes they prefer.

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