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April 02, 2008

Yoo and the Blogs

Interesting to note how stories play differently in the MSM than they do in the blogosphere. Late yesterday the the Bush Administration finally released John Yoo’s infamous “torture” memo, in which the now Berkley prof argues military interrogators, as the NY Times lede puts it, had “broad authority to use extreme methods in questioning detainees and argued that wartime powers largely exempted interrogators from laws banning harsh treatment.” Apparently many of the major MSM outlets regard this as old news: the Washington post drops it below the fold, the NY Times buries it even deeper, while last I checked, it was nowhere to be found in the LA Times.

TPM, by contrast, makes it both front page news (link to story itself)and worthy of several "sidebar" links (including a large photo of Rumsfeld). TPM is not unusual, either. Most other sites have showcased the story, while some have significant analysis. Check out Balkinization's coverage.

Clearly the story has a partisan resonance, but the quality of the coverage, I think, suggests that this is not just another pin-drop in the left Wing echo chamber. In it's ability to pound an important story home, the blogosphere really does at times like these prove itself as the instrument by which information is being democratized.

Posted by stevemack at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)