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February 10, 2005
Motivations
Both Chester and La Shawn have weighed in on Jim Geraghty™s latest article at The Kerry Spot. Jim asks some hard and fair questions of the motivations and methods of the bloggers covering Easongate. I am in agreement that the bloggers should remain above the fray and act responsibly when covering this story. I also agree that some bloggers may have ulterior motivations for covering this story. Chester and I had a brief and interesting email conversation with Jim last evening. We were curious about his view on this site; were we one of the headhunting blogs?
Jim stated his only complaint is the use of the "gate"� in the name of the blog. To be perfectly honest, I agree with him. When Chester, Brian and I brainstormed about starting this site, we kicked some names around, but this story was destined to be labeled "Easongate"�. I liked Captain™s Quarters "Eason™s Fables"� much better, but the story was beginning to be called Easongate, and here we are. I also dislike calling this current war we are fighting "The War on Terror"�, but the name has stuck and there is no going back.
I want to commend La Shawn for her honesty about her motivations for covering this story. Like La Shawn, I aspire to write professionally. But I do not see Easongate as a vehicle to achieve this goal. My passion is writing about the War on Terror, foreign affairs and other related issues. Devoting a site to cover one man™s transgressions is a bit myopic and not very intellectually stimulating to me. Like Chester, I have been remiss in paying attention to my site (The Fourth Rail) and my traffic has suffered from devoting time to Easongate. I am not longer on the cutting edge of news in the war, and have a lot of catching up to do.
But make no mistake, Easongate is a worthy project. My motivations for creating Easongate are three fold; (1) to defend our troops from slanderous charges; (2) to hold the media accountable for their biases; (3) to help fight the battles of this war on the "information front"�. The War on Terror is not only fought in the trenches, we are fighting media bias against American culture and Western civilization. Our terrorist enemy has mastered manipulating the media to promote them in a neutral light and the Coalition in a negative light. The media™s ease of use of the terms "rebel"�, "resistance"�, "militant"� and many more clearly shows they have refused to properly frame this fight as against an evil and abhorrent enemy. Mr. Jordan™s statements, if true, demonstrate that some in the media are actually on the other side.
The information front is a difficult battle to fight. Our government, as all democratic governments should be, is hesitant and unwilling to react to negative media coverage. The checks and balances for media transgressions lies with three parties: (1) fellow journalists (2) the people (3) advertisers. In the case of Eason Jordan, journalists are slow or refusing to investigate these serious charges. In absences of the media™s self policing, the people must stand to demand the truth. This is why Easongate exists. Chester provides an easy summary of our purpose, but I can distill it down even further:
(1) Demand the release of the tape.
(2) Place pressure on appropriate parties if the tape is not released.
(3) Demand the termination of Eason Jordan if the tape is released and he did indeed say what has been reported by many witnesses.
What are my thoughts on the veracity of the claims against Mr. Jordon? I believe he said what is being reported. I have this suspicion for reasons: (1) the witnesses. Even David Gergen and Richard Sambrook do not present a flattering picture. (2) His past. Eason Jordan has a history of making statements such as those reported. (3) the suppression of the tape. If he was innocent of these charges, he should be demanding a release of the tape. But absent of the tape, no definitive proof exists.
I want to take a moment to discuss the Easongate team. This site was created after I put out a call for help last Friday. My good friends Chester and Brian Scott immediately asked what they could do to help. Charles Goggin offered his vast technical experience. Blackfive was then invited to join us. By Sunday morning, we had a bare bones site up and running, with traffic flowing in. It wasn™t perfect, there were bugs, but it was an achievement many would not understand without actually trying to put it together. Cheryl (who toils in the background and really deserves more credit) offered her assistance with CNN™s advertising.. On Tuesday night we asked N.Z. Bear to create the Eason Jordan page, and he did it in less than an hour. I proceeded to beg him to join us, and thankfully he did. Mike Krempasky offered his assistance and vast knowledge on Wednesday and we invited him to join. We were after La Shawn for a while, and Wednesday she finally relented. Each of the team members possess unique talents: Chester is a prolific writer and an insightful analyst; Brian is experienced with running group blogs, has great technical knowledge and is a dogged investigator; Blackfive is, well, Blackfive!; Charles is a hard working webmaster; Cheryl is extremely knowledgeable in marketing and provides great advice; N.Z. is master of the web and a senior advisor; Mike has real world experience in matters such as these; and La Shawn is a passionate writer with extraordinary talents.
I do not pretend to possess a window into each of their souls, every person has different reasons and motivations to act. But I do know several things about the Staff of Easongate: they are passionate, seekers of the truth, upholders of media standards and committed to winning the War on Terror. How do I know this? I have read their blogs for years. Perhaps their blogs are a small window into their souls.
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