Accusational Journalism

Dan Rather's pressure for George Bush to 'explain himself' in the light of the whole idiocy concerning the forged military documents is a telling example that gives an idea of exactly how far someone might go to keep a subject alive -- despite the lack of anything credible.

It reminds of something China might do at a trial against an enemy of the state. By producing fake documents accusing someone of something, the prosecution taints the judge and jury. Even after being disprove, the documents have had a lasting effect because the prosecution can simply ask, "While the documents might be forgeries, they bring up some points that should be addressed. Since the defendant refuses to address these points it is obvious that he has something to hide."

This logical fallacy is exactly why the defense is not required to take the stand, and in fact why, according to the Fifth Amendment that no person, "... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself...".

Although it might seem strange, the idea that no person should be made to have to an answer to anyone who decides to make accusations is an important one for any free society. The accusations must be compelling and reasonable and currently, without any documents, CBS only has a few biased people running around spouting off on a subject matter most people do not really seem to care about anyhow. All this has done is degrade the level of authority and respect for CBS.

So basically, without that provision in our society, Bush and Kerry both would have to answer to everyone who makes a claim no matter how stupid or how false it may be. Rather seems to think that this is a good way to keep a story alive, but it will only lead Dan down a path of becoming labeled a partisan, badgering, liberal who gives time to a few Bush bashers but not to the Swift Boat Vets because he is too nuanced for their rhetoric.

We must be careful in which direction we head in the light of these events because making demands of people by having them answer the charges of faked documents seems something made up on a tyrannical system where facts are secondary to appearance and attack dogs have no leashes.