Received the latest edition of Texas Monthly today, opened it up and saw That Blog Won’t Hunt. My first read of the issue.
Over the years, Dan Rather, the subject of Gary Cartwright’s cover story (Dan Rather Retorting), has withstood the criticism of presidents, members of Congress, and fellow journalists. But when CBS aired his 60 Minutes Wednesday report on young George W. Bush’s career in the Texas Air National Guard last September, Rather found himself assailed, and ultimately brought down, by an entirely different group of critics—the bloggers, anonymous commentators on current events with pseudonyms like “Hindrocket” and few, if any, media credentials, except access to the world’s biggest printing press: the Internet. Even while the 60 Minutes report was still being aired, bloggers were already attacking the authenticity of the documents on which it was based. As everybody knows, the bloggers were right and CBS was wrong.
Anonymous commentators? Well, Bunker Mulligan is the name of this site. My name is easy enough to determine if you care to know. I kept my moniker because my boys were, and will again be in dangerous places. No need to provide free intel about them. I’d hardly consider Hindrocket anonymous. Actually, his name is probably far better known than Paul Burka’s, the author of this piece.
Paul Burka joined the staff of TEXAS MONTHLY one year after the magazine’s founding. A lifelong Texan, he was born in Galveston, graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in history, and received a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Excuse me, Paul. I didn’t see any “media credentials” listed there except that you became a member of the staff. Does the janitor have media credentials, too? Sounds like your credentials and John Hinderaker’s are similar.
I like Texas Monthly. It’s similar to The New Yorker, only better. And geared toward the high-dollar folk in Houston and Dallas. They do throw a few bones our direction on occasion.
For those of you outside the Lone Star State, register and take a trial view. The access code this month is the name of a Texas city mentioned in the last paragraph. You’ll get a chance to read the last article before the next election by my candidate for governor, Kinky Friedman.