Late today, I got an emergency email from my friend "Macker" to do some eleventh hour writing for him. So after work, I headed over to his office to get started. I went online to check the site I was writing for, only to discover that the home page was MSN, and the lead article was about Oprah taking Frey to task for his "embellishments".
I must admit that I was surprised, yet heartened by this. Even if it was more business than altruism that drove the decision to crack Frey's nuts, it still spoke volumes that Oprah basically retracted her previous, almost knee jerk defense of his book. It takes a lot of guts to admit you got caught napping.
As for Frey and his publisher, they were simply participating in the now expected act of public contrition that is apparently par for the course when you gain any notoriety of any kind. Crackhead? Drunk driver? Beat your kids? Nipples at Superbowl Dawn? No worries. Just say you're sorry after.
What a load of crap.
The ramifications for the publishing industry are yet to be seen. But one thing is for certain: The Smoking Gun can no longer be ascribed to the fringes. If any doubt of its prowess existed before, it has been all but obliterated by the fact that they conducted the basic research that far richer and better resourced outfits couldn't or wouldn't do. And as a result, we may have just collectively witnessed the moment when TSG became a media force to be reckoned with.
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