Things they are a-changing in the publishing field. News of citizen journalists scooping the mainstream media are common these days.
One of those blogger successes happened right here in North Carolina. Bob Owens, who blogs at Confederate Yankee from Raleigh, has almost single-handedly unmasked a “phony soldier” and revealed the bias, dishonesty and all-around lack of professionalism rampant at a major national publication.
I first met Bob in October of 2006 when he was a panelist at the John Locke Foundation’s blog conference in Greensboro. I learned during that weekend that he was a dogged digger for the truth and fun to tilt a glass with. Read the latest on his exposure of Scott Thomas Beauchamp and The New Republic here.
UPDATE: As reprehensible as what Beauchamp and TNR did, it seems Beauchamp is trying to atone, as Bob alluded to in his column linked above. Michael Yon, the legendary war blogger in Iraq, also has evidence that Beauchamp has turned a corner.
He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.
Allah at Hot Air is not so quick to forgive and forget:
TNR can put the whole thing to bed by simply walking away from the story, which it should have done after that first phone call with Beauchamp, or Beauchamp can force them to put it to bed by telling them flat out that he’s no longer standing by the story and they should therefore commence eating shinola. Instead he no-commented them to death and promised to get them those statements, and after six weeks — nothing.
CORRECTION: I inadvertently wrote National Review above instead of New Republic. It has been corrected.
