Anyone notice that Raw Story scooped the major media on Gonzo?

[garybeck]

Last night when I went to bed there was a headline article on Raw Story, "Chertoff to replace Gonzales" signaling the resignation. CNN.com had nothing until this morning.

[Enrique]

1. Raw Story linked to U.S. News's gossip column

and anyway, how important is it to get a scoop on something like this anyway? Why can't we wait until it's official?

[garybeck]

3. I just think it's interesting that RS actually has people scanning the wires

and doing real reporting and investigation, while CNN would rather sit back and wait for the announcement.

I find RS to be one of the best with a good history of getting things right. For example when some others were announcing Rove was indicted, RS didn't. Then on this one, they got it right as well. I still find RS to be one of the best news sources because of examples like this. I want to be on the cutting edge of information (I like to know things before everyone else does) but I don't want bad information. RS does a good job.

[Enrique]

5. they do some original reporting

but much of what they do is link to stories in the mainstream media, like U.S. News's gossip column in this case.

I'm not sure whether I would want CNN to report rumors.

[KurtNYC]

2. the MSM has to get approval from Cheney's office to publish a story

like this. (I'm only half kidding; see below)

Michael Moore said when he was on the Today SHow in 2004 that one of the hosts told him after his segment that they get faxes from Cheney's office with questions to asks guests and critiques of their performance. One fax said that Cheney didn't like their "tone of voice" when they asked a certain question. Moore encouraged the Today Show personality to out speak out but they did not.

[KurtNYC]

4. found the transcript

Need I say that 'this is outrageous' ??!

Oh, it doesn't hurt to report the truth. It's ok. You know, I was on one of those morning talk shows and after we went to commercial, the person who was interviewing me said "You know, you know, you are right. I mean, when the war started, it was very difficult here to book the people we wanted to book, ask the questions we wanted to ask. In fact, I got a memo about my tone of voice. And apparently the brass had received a call from Dick Cheney’s office, and said that he didn't like my tone of voice. And I got a memo on it to watch my tone of voice." I was like, "Well you've got to tell that story! You've got to tell that story." "I can't." "Well, why? They can't fire you. You are like one of the most well-known people in America. And, you know, you've got to tell this story. If you don’t tell it, I’m going to wait like maybe another week. What's today?" Within the week, I will put this on my website. I'll tell the whole story and I’ll name who said it. so this person is on notice now and I am doing it in a friendly way. Because this is a good person. You know? Just that I think the people deserve the truth, and they need to know how the decisions get made behind the curtain. Who is pulling the strings here?...

He never did "out" the person.

More: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/28/1335239

[Garbo 2004]

7. As I recall, he eventually did: it was Katie Couric. n/t

[peacetalksforall]

6. We know the WH dictates to the seven, but we didn't know it was Cheney's office.

Makes sense. How many people work in his office. It would be a riot to find out some day that Mary Matalin was one to give the orders to the seven.

The seven - seven networks: Murdoch, Time-Warner, all the ABC and CBS owners, and the three GE's (one in combaination with Microsoft).