News-Record.com

In the wake of bloggers' attack on the credibility of documents used by CBS News in its reporting, one Robert Strong wishes to make a point.

"Do you mean the Robert Strong whom CBS quoted as saying the documents likely were authentic?" you ask. Why, no, I do not mean that Robert Strong, and herein lies our story:

... I am indeed a college professor. I am not, however, the Robert Strong who spoke to CBS. I never met [the purported author of the documents], I never lived in Texas, and I never served in that state's Air National Guard. But on the Internet none of this matters.

Ever since the 60 Minutes broadcast, I have been getting angry e-mails from Bush supporters who are sure that I am a key player in a vast left-wing conspiracy bent on diminishing the president's not extraordinary record of military service. ...

CBS says that its Bush-bashing documents have been authenticated by Strong; Google tells everyone on the Internet that I am Professor Strong. That's it. I am guilty as Googled.

And what does this mean? Our Prof. Strong has the answer, and it's not encouraging:

It used to be that only leaders could be demagogues. They were the only ones with access to mass communication, which allowed them to manipulate popular prejudices in pursuit of power. Now fast computers and the World Wide Web have democratized demagogy. Today anyone can sit at his or her terminal, spew hatred, issue false accusations and become a virtual Sen. Joe McCarthy.

Now, don't get me wrong. I always have figured that the framers of the Constitution didn't bother defining "the press" in the First Amendment in significant part because they expected that in the nation they were creating, almost every citizen might have to function as "the press" at some point. Journalism ain't always obvious, but neither is it rocket science.

And although I've spent 20 years in the mainstream media, I've never been especially fond or respectful of my business's "gatekeeper" role. I got involved in the Internet mainly because I thought it could expand democracy at home and abroad by democratizing journalism. I started blogging for the same reason.

But Professor Strong's concerns about the dark potential of the Internet in general and blogging in particular are valid. I don't think even the most enthusiastic fan of blogging thinks the scenario he describes is a good thing.