Old Dad wrote:

I think Rather is the bad guy here. He bullied Hewitt into runninig the story, and he could care less about who might get hurt. Screw the minions who will lose their jobs. Screw his employer whose reputation is in tatters. So why did he do it?

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I think you are right, and CBS through Rather’s strange defense the other night as much as admitted so. I don’t have the transcript available, but he said (as did CBS on its website) that the final call was his and he personally vouched for the story’s source.

The origin of this story, the blogosphere, unhinges the MSM. If the CBS forgeries had been exposed by ABC, for example, there wouldn’t be these calls to “move on.” There is real fear here, and it goes to the relevance of the dinosaur media in an age of rapidly changing technologies.

There will be some reporter, possibly even from within the second tier MSM, who will begin to dig into past stories Rather pushed. The Steven Glass scenario may unfold here. This, too, is a cause of consternation among Rather’s friends in the MSM. The reason is obvious.

Finally, let us not forget that like OJ, Walter Cronkite isn’t a happy camper these days. He wrote a bitter farewell newspaper column in which he derided the blogosphere and modernity in general.

The only thing that surprised the public was that Cronkite was still alive, let alone wrote a newspaper column.

Now that hurt.