Zackinabox’s Weblog

Over the summer I took it easy on the blogs and now it’s time to get back into the game. Last social journalism class, we talked about The Rathergate Scandal. For this weeks blog I will shed some light on the Rathergate scandal and how it impacted Blogging/online journalism to this very day.

Dan Rather Was a reporter for CBS for nearly 25 years. He was well respected and well-liked around many. He was doing very well until just a few years ago.

In the year 2004 a story aired on 60 minutes about George  Bush’s national guard services, known today as the Rathergate scandal. There were memos said to be created in 1973 were found in the Killian files which were documents of Lieutenant Jerry B. Killian. The documents looked rather suspicious so bloggers and blog readers investigated further. The documents were shown on CBS and appeared to be inadequate forgeries. 

This scandal that Dan Rather caused is a major turning point in blogging and journalism in general as it was one of the first very big stories as far as blogs are concerned (one of the first stories that was made known by blogging instead of television, radio, or print).

Dan Rather actually teaches us a very important lesson as journalists. He got himself into trouble for not being factual, and trying to hard to impress the viewers. You must always remain factual as journalists. The ratings will come. Rather could have had a great story if he would have been patient and actually looked for facts, answers and information. As a journalist you need to dig. That’s what the bloggers did.

I am still getting used to blogging, and have a long way to go as a journalist, but I will keep digging for answers and always be sure to give the public what they want and be factual and accurate while doing it. I will have to stop procrastinating, and take some initiative in order to keep my stories on time in order to prevent another “Rathergate” type scandal. Even though Rather made a big mistake it actually helps young journalists out there know what not to do, in order to keep the people happy.