It was the post that launched 10,000 stories — and a media firestorm
that toppled longtime network anchor Dan Rather and several of his CBS
News colleagues. It also showed the power of citizen journalism. And, I
was surprised to learn today, it wasn’t on a weblog.
The flap that came to be known as “Rathergate” began on September 8, 2004,
with a comment to a thread in a Web-based conservative discussion forum,
Free Republic. Using the pseudonym
“Buckhead,” Atlanta attorney Harry MacDougald posted his
observations debunking the authenticity of documents that CBS News
offered as proof that George W. Bush did not fulfill his military
service obligations in 1972. (See comment 46 in the thread, “THE
‘New’ CBS BUSH DOCUMENTS: Let’s do some investigating.” More information also is
available in my weblog today.)
Word of the Free Republic discussion spread quickly through weblogs. The
mainstream news media caught on, and the rest is history.
I think it’s interesting that Rathergate has become known as the big
story that first put weblogs on the news-media map. Indeed, weblogs
played a key role in publicizing that story, and in keeping it visible.
But Rathergate didn’t start in a blog.
Discussion forums are, I now realize, exceptionally fertile ground for
citizen journalism. In online discussion forums (e-mail lists), works of
citizen journalism often aren’t neatly packaged into article or coherent
stories. Nevertheless, these efforts are offered in the same spirit and
can accomplish the same goals as more easily recognizable works of
citizen or professional journalism.
On this anniversary, I offer congratulations to citizen journalists —
and condolences to Mr. Rather.
CORRECTION: This item originally said that the Rathergate flap began on September 8, 2005; the correct year is 2004.
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