Tom Brokaw Just Can't Help Himself

Me No Like Bloggers!
While I was browsing about the house yesterday morning, I had CNN's Reliable Sources on as "background." I wasn't really paying attention, but when I heard host Howard Kurtz ask Tom Brokaw about his Jihad comment that he made regarding Bloggers, I ran for the VCR control.

I didn't get to it in time. However, after some thought, and a few hours time, I went over to CNN's site and, much to my surprise, discovered that they had a transcript of the show.

According to the transcript, host Howard Kurtz reminded Brokaw that he had said that Dan Rather's critics on the Internet were mounting some kind of Jihad against Rather. Kurtz then indicated that many thought that Brokaw was "dissing" [sic] the Bloggers.

Brokaw Responded: "No. Not at all. I am a big student and admirer of this new universe [blogosphere] and the choices that it provides us, but what I am troubled by is the double standard. I think that CBS made a very big mistake and in that appearance, before I got into the description of what I thought was a jihad, I said that CBS had made a mistake and I said that to Dan." [Rather]

Brokaw then said, "But what too often happens now on the Internet is that someone gets accused of not checking their sources carefully enough or trying to impose on the country some kind of a political agenda, and as part of the critique of all that, there is an equal carelessness with the facts or another kind of agenda that is being pushed. And that is what I was referring to, Howie, is that I think that there should be standards about veracity and about fact, and there should be transparency about motivation on the blogs as well as there is in the mainstream media."

At first blush, Brokaw's remarks seem reasonable. But if we put them into the context of how he said the original statement of October 4th, then it is apparent that Sunday's comments were little more than damage control. When he made the Jihad remarks, Brokaw was angry. I know, I saw and heard it myself. As for his referencing of "transparency," we think that the networks could use a healthy dose of it.

When Brokaw advocates that Bloggers be held to the same standards as mainstream media, he forgets that most Blogging efforts are, literally, "one person operations." There is one person that is doing the work of writer, editor, proof-reader, printer, and distributor of his or her "product."

Brokaw has had "people" to do that type of work so long that he is out of touch and can hardly relate.

Of course a "one person" operation is going to push a certain agenda. That is why most people that choose to Blog politics do so. They write in order to promote his or her viewpoints. All media, Bloggers or not, do that to a certain degree.

Maybe if Brokaw is in need of a crusade against media bias, he might take up the cause of bringing The New York Times back from the brink of the looney left.

And besides, Mr. Brokaw with his $10,000,000 annual salary, (see transcript) can easily afford to start a first-rate Blog of his own in order to get the Brokaw Viewpoint (See? We even gave it a name for him.) out there. What do you think are the chances of Tom giving us a link on his Blogroll?

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.