Take what you want from the following NPR interview on the ‘Rathergate’ scandal but if anything it throws the equivalent of extremely unflammable liquid on the repeated claim of the Internet conspiracy club that the US media is entirely in thrall to US Government interests.

Yes, Rather was pounced on by Powerline for his error and the question of the integrity of reporting carried out but his and 60 Minutes’ existence, along with the likes of Michael Moore or contributors to MSNBC just to mention a few, points contrary to the conspiracy club assertions. Indeed, Moore and Rather were extremely vocal in their opposition to the Bush administrations actions in Iraq and Rather did after all have a hand in highlighting the Abu Ghraib scandal which so many outside of the US seized on to portray the nation as a whole as evil.

Their diametrically opposite stance then has to be acknowledged as an important contribution to American, as well as international media and society. A point that seems to somehow be missed in the anarchic conspiracy discussions on the underbelly of the Internet.
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Update: Bronwyn questioned, in response to a post by Laurence, what we define as conspiracy theorists. For the record my view of the conspiracy club are the ones you find on the dubious (usually anarchist – hence my use of the the word above) forums of both far right and far left persuasion. Ones for example, where Stalin and FDR are claimed to have been part of some Jewish conspiracy that defeated the glorious and righteous German Reich and then fudged the concentration camps. On the other side of the extremist coin then comes those arguing how Pol Pot’s actions were acceptable and weren’t enough for example. I don’t think these individuals are part of the conventional and moderate political spectrum. Nor is what they say suggested in proper moderate political discourse.