Internet Journalism and the News

John H. Hinderaker and Scott W. Johnson gave a talk titled “The 61st Minute: Blogging on the Eve of Dan Rather’s Retirement.” They were two Minneapolis lawyers who wrote and edited the Power Line web log, or “blog.” They were among the first to question the authenticity of the documents CBS' 60 Minutes II used in a report about President Bush’s National Guard service, which aired September 2004 during the presidential election. They discussed the role they played in exposing the problems with Dan Rather’s 60 Minutes II report. They delivered their talk immediately following the airing of Dan Rather’s final broadcast as anchor of the CBS Evening News. In addition to talking about the 60 Minutes II incident, they reflected more broadly on what their experience “illustrates about the power of the Internet as a medium of information and the foiling of the dinosaurs of big media.” Following their remarks they answered questions from the audience. close