The anti-Kerry Swift Boat smear was "dishonest in the extreme," writes journalism observer Jay Rosen, but the mainstream press is stunned to find that investigative stories on the campaign failed to "knock down" the accusations and stop replication of the "media virus" that may decide the presidential election.

With mainstream media folks tut-tutting about Fox and bloggers bringing viewpoint into news reporting, Poynter Institute's Geneva Overholser, herself a mainstream journalist and former ombudsman, points out: "Traditional media have a viewpoint. It's a good old conventional, "acceptable," middle-of-the-road viewpoint. It's the viewpoint, generally speaking, of the powerful -- which is by and large, even today, the view of well-to-do male white folks."