The DSM and the Revenge of the Bloggers (Juan Cole...must read!)

[Career Prole]

When Michael Smith of the London Times wrote about a further leaked British cabinet document on decision-making about the Iraq war in July 2003, he did not simply report the revelations in the document.

Most commentators on the Smith story have missed his open acknowledgment of the role of the blogging world in turning the Downing Street Memo and other leaked British documents from a provincial Whitehall story into a world (and American) phenomenon.

<snip>

So Smith not only acknowledges the pressure put on the US corporate media by the bloggers, but he also points to a virtual social movement around the DSM, with emails and petitions circulating in the hundreds of thousands and giving the Democrats in Congress their first high-profile investigatory opportunity of the Bush presidency.

The seeping of blogistan into the pages of the Times of London with regard to its own scoops seems to me a bellwether of the kinds of changes that are being produced in our information environment by the blogging phenomenon. The gatekeepers at the New York Times and the Washington Post can no longer decide whether a leak is a story or a non-story. The public decides what a story is...

Read it here!

Prof. Cole also says:
"Conyers and his staff are well aware that ordinarily hearings held by members of the minority party in Congress (which therefore are unlikely to have teeth) are routinely ignored by the corporate media. They are placing their hopes in the blogging world to cover the hearings and get the word out. They are planning to release further documents corroborating the Downing Street Memo."

[BattyDem]

1. "They are placing their hopes in the blogging world to cover the hearings"

And so begins the official death of the corporate media and the rise of independents, who will gain credibility as a result of accurately reporting Congressional hearings.

Mr. Conyers is brilliant! He knows * is a liar and should be impeached and he knows the media needs to be reformed.

It appears he's found a way to accomplish both! :bounce:

[babylonsister]

2. Everybody's efforts haven't been in vain! The "new"

news media has arrived! :toast:

[KoKo]

3. What a Great Read! Finally someone notices all the hard work that's

gone into keeping the Memo/Minutes Alive!

Thanks for posting this...some of us don't always get to Cole's column when alot is going on..

[babylonsister]

4. Worth a read! nt