Does the "Old Media" matter anymore?

The last two years have not been kind to what some of us in the blogosphere have referred to as the "old media" (ABC, CBS, NBC, and major newspapers such as the New York Times, USA Today and the Washington Post). First we had Jayson Blair faking stories for the New York Times. Then Jack Kelly at USA Today was discovered faking stories. Then we had the whole Rathergate fiasco over at CBS. Now, the New York Times is at it again with its story on HMX explosives that turns out to be completely false. Not to be outdone, CBS was planning to run the story on 60 Minutes. (Hat Tips: Michelle Malkin and Captain Ed) Further evidence of a possible media conspiracy is here at Broken Masterpieces. And this video is worth watching. (Hat tip: Kerry Spot)

The question is does any of this really matter? True, John Kerry was playing up the HMX story yesterday as further evidence of President Bush's failures in Iraq. There's even a plan to run ads based on this story (just goes to show how desperate they are to win). However, what he's really doing is just proving his an opportunist who is unfit to be Commander in Chief as I wrote in my previous post. The truth doesn't matter to Kerry, only getting elected does.

Hugh Hewitt believes that this story will cause a backlash against Kerry. I'm not so sure. I think this whole controversy just affirms what we already know: the "old media" (or MSM if you prefer) are biased and are willing to do whatever they can to destroy President Bush and see that Kerry is elected.

My question is whether anyone who is still on the fence about who to vote for is going to be swayed one way or another by this story. I believe most Republicans don't trust the MSM anyway and don't put much stock in what they report. I also believe that most Democrats (at least those who are the "true believers" who are willing to ignore truth in order to get their candidate elected) will still rely on the MSM for their ammunition against the President.

Cal Thomas has weighed in today and believes this is the last election in which the old media will have any influence on the election.

One more thing: haven't CBS and the New York Times learned their lessons yet? How can they ever expect to restore their credibility?

On a lighter note, Sistersophist tells us what's really going to happen to the Kerrys after the election.

UPDATE #1
An alert reader over at Captain's Quarters has done the math and has thoroughly debunked the original story from the New York Times.

UPDATE #2
Apparently The Kerry Spot has military readers, too. See this post and this post for further details on why this whole missing explosives story is simply not true.

UPDATE #3
N. Z. Bear also has a great take on the implausibility of the explosives story.