Welcome to the Pajamasphere - watch your fact-checking!

We bloggers have been dismissed by another media mogul as guys sitting in our living rooms in our pajamas.

True to form, bloggers have unrepentently adopted the pajama theme and incorporated mention of our new uniform in post after post. Ra^thergate has even inspired new products and has inspired a major blogger, Frank J., to become a cartoonist.

Yep! Us pajama-clad bloggers have jammed a thousand wedges into a mighty media machine again and this time we may have damaged it beyond repair. CBS will have a really hard time putting Ra^thergate behind them.

A recent Wall Street Journal article on the internet reads:

CBS stonewalls as "guys in pajamas" uncover a fraud.

A watershed media moment occurred Friday on Fox News Channel, when Jonathan Klein, a former executive vice president of CBS News who oversaw "60 Minutes," debated Stephen Hayes, a writer for The Weekly Standard, on the documents CBS used to raise questions about George W. Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service.

Mr. Klein dismissed the bloggers who are raising questions about the authenticity of the memos: "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of check and balances [at '60 Minutes'] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."

Heh! Hundreds of pajama-clad bloggers have shown CBS fact-checking to be an empty exercise in self-deception. Dan Rather seems to be the only person insisting on the authenticity of the forged documents, and there is plenty of speculation as to why he is willing to sacrifice his career so foolishly.

For those who have been unconscious or without power for the last week, here is a succinct summary of the Rathergate debacle. Here is another chronology from Rathergate.com.

And, just to keep the record straight, someone has already laid claim to pajamasphere. We, of the pajamarati, respect that claim while adopting the term generally. In the matter of blogging slang, we practice open-source branding.

UPDATE: We would also like to point out to any media dinosaurs that get this far that bloggers consist of guys AND gals sitting at their keyboards. If they don't believe that female bloggers can be more seriously ferocious than male bloggers, they haven't encountered Denita, Linda, Da Goddess,
or TallGlassof Milk.

Stay tuned for more news from your blogging friends, sometimes regarded by Old Media as "pirahnas in pajamas".

UPDATE: The ante is being raised, even as we sip our morning coffee. There is increasing pressure being brought to bear for CBS to clean house and fire Rather.

Beldar, a self-professed crusty, long-winded trial lawyer says Dan Rather was complicit in defrauding the American public in an attempt to defeat a sitting President. Rather must be fired now. Congress should subpoena CBS News' lawyers and all documentation of their advice.

It is a little late to hunker down, boys. It's judgement time.

The Commissar has posted a picture which puts Ra^thergate into correct historical perspective.

Comments

[Clarence]

I don't own any pajamas so I Blog in boxer shorts and a sloppy T-Shirt but I'm still able to spot a political prejudice, bias in reporting and out and out deception when I see it.

[David St Lawrence]

The boxer short division of the blogosphere has yet to define their brand image, but their reporting and analysis has earned these bloggers an honored place in the phalanx of New Media word warriors.

Instapundit and a few other bloggers do the heavy lifting as far as disseminating of New Media viewpoints, but it is the agreement of the many smaller bloggers acting independently that may be the underlying source of power in the blogosphere.

One perceptive observer points out that the reputations built up by tens of thousands of bloggers with small audiences lends crushing weight to their comments when they are aligned in a particular direction.

[Bill]

My own blogging is distinguished by uncombed hair, baseball caps and whatever passes for pants that's handy. I also saw on the weekend some CNN show where they were listing what is good/bad about the Web and of course blogs were one of the annoyances the amused "journalists" pointed out.

But the truth is this: because something is in a blog it is neither more true nor less true. This is true of traditional journalism as well. A thing is true because it is true, regardless of the source.

While you may be sceptical of a report in a blog, if you're a genuine journalist you will try to verify its accuracy, not dismiss it because it's a blog. Or, at the same time, accept something simply because it's on 60 minutes.

Given the current situation, it seems to me it's the credibility of 60 minutes that is questionable. Perhaps they should try wearing pajamas.

[Marie]

I don't blog in my pj's but I have blogged while scantily clad ;-)
Seeing the Big Media Guys high-hat bloggers and protest their abilities as a 'credible' reporters and writers makes me shake my head and smile.

[Pamela Heywood]

Are bloggers "guys sitting in our living rooms in our pajamas"? Nah, some of us are girls!

I find that any jogging pants and T will double nicely as pajamas. From bed, to office, to street ... problem solved.

And I haven't noticed my choice of wardrobe adversely affecting my ability to think either.

[Linda]

Maybe if I blogged in my pajamas, I could post with more regularity...
:)