What would have been the public's reaction to the yell, if the media had placed it in context with Dean's promise to break up the largest media empires?
Dean made credible threats to curb their power by regulation and anti-trust action. Kerry and Edwards didn't. Dean started with no old-media war chest, and raised tens of millions off the internet. Kerry and Edwards didn't. Dean brought a million people who long ago stopped believing what they hear on TV back into the political process again, where they commenced to kick ass and banish apathy. Kerry and Edwards didn't. Dean breathed new hope into the internet social revolution, investing it with political muscle again, and creating the meme that this year, the net would transform politics forever the way TV did in 1960 with the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Kerry and Edwards didn't. When Dean said "you have the power to take your country back from the special interests", he committed to trying to do just that. Kerry and Edwards didn't.
Did this make it easier for old-media newsrooms to carry the attacks beyond the point of fairness? While simultaneously giving Kerry and Edwards free passes?