To hear some press experts tell it, CBS’s admission Monday that it was duped into using questionable documents about President Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam War was a watershed moment brought on by a small army of Internet-based commentators known as bloggers.

This is the first paragraph to an article by CNN and it just makes me smile. I love reading blogs.

CBS was kept in check and their admission that their report was wrong and that they were duped after all clearly shows the power of blogs.

What disturbed me about CBS was their unwillingness to investigate or question their reporting. They thought if they stand strong against this questioning of these documents that would somehow deflate the story and it would go away. But the blogs of cyberspace and the other rabid media outlets werent goint to let it go.

I love the honesty and the willingness of the average American to challenge and double check the news being reported in mainstream media and even local media.

My friend Matthew keeps a weblog and he has impressed me when he checks into news reports by calling the source of the story, and reporters as well, to verify accuracy of information and the context of quotes, etc... He shows a desire to dig for the truth even if the end results answer goes against his beliefs or challenges his ideals.

Blogs are a great check to the system and more than ever in the history of journalism do we need this check.