It truly is a new world. Eason Jordan’s resignation is an incredible victory for the blogosphere as it demonstrates that the MSM can no longer set the agenda on what will be considered news.
Jordan’s exposure as a biased anti-American hack would never have occurred ten years ago. Through the power of the Internet and some incredible first rate reporting by Michele Malkin, Ed Morrissey and many, many others this story became a news event that ultimately could not be ignored. Even now the MSM’s grudging acknowledgement of what occurred at Davos fails to fully report the depth of Jordan’s transgressions over several years, instead spinning the story as Jordan being a victim of bloggers bloodlust. As Captain’s Quarters notes, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post reports:
Gergen said last night that Jordan’s resignation was “really sad” since he had quickly backed off his original comments. “This is too high a price to pay for someone who has given so much of himself over 20 years. And he’s brought down over a single mistake because people beat up on him in the blogosphere? They went after him because he is a symbol of a network seen as too liberal by some. They saw blood in the water.”
Which of course completely ignores similar remarks Jordan made in Portugal last November:
Eason Jordan, chief news executive at CNN, said there had been only a “limited amount of progress”, despite repeated meetings between news organisations and the US authorities.”
“Actions speak louder than words. The reality is that at least 10 journalists have been killed by the US military, and according to reports I believe to be true journalists have been arrested and tortured by US forces,” Mr Jordan told an audience of news executives at the News Xchange conference in Portugal.
Apparently, the MSM still doesn’t get it, which is sad. But in the end that does not matter. Because in this brave new world in which we live, thousands of bloggers will report the news traditional media wants to hide or ignore. And with each passing day more and more viewers of the networks and major newspapers are discovering that alterantive news sources are available that are proving to be more reliable and fair. Which is not to say that bias does not exist in the blogosphere, but that bias is acknowledeged up front. The traditional media’s insistence on maintaining the charade of impartiality will only serve to diminish what remains of its crediblity.
It is good that Jordan is gone. It is exceptional that the tide has turned in the power struggle for fair and balanced reporting. How many more frauds like Dan Rather and Eason Jordan will it take before the MSM understands the peril of bias?
The big blogs did the heavy lifting here. But all bloggers can take pride and satisfaction from their part in spreading this story and keeping it alive until it had to be reported by the mass media outlets. The pajamadeen have prevailed in this battle. And the taste of victory is sweet indeed.
cross posted at The Wide Awakes