“The Baltimore Sun essentially accused me of pretending to witness an incident of friendly fire in Kandahar, Afghanistan. When I explained that I had made an honest mistake in the heat of combat confusing that incident with another we videotaped in Tora Bora, the paper countered that there was no friendly fire incident in Tora Bora, according to the Pentagon.” Geraldo Rivera

—Geraldo Rivera Has a Weblog?Roughpoint)

Regardless of whether this is supposed to be a weblog (as it was called on catch.com), and as the current site promises it will soon be, from what I see so far, Geraldo doesn’t seem to ‘get’ the web. This site is made up of blocks of prose, chopped up into separate sections. A section entitled “What is this website about, and why,” begins with a rambling anecdote: “When I was younger, I had no notion that I would spend 32 years as a reporter. With my parents’ help and a partial scholarship…”

Didn’t Geraldo learn about the inverted pyramid? The “statement of intent” for the website is broken up into four parts, and the website itself isn’t even mentioned until the fourth section. It’s as if he’s so addicted to writing for TV, that he feels he has to tease his audience to keep their attention. “More coming up soon, after you click the ‘next’ button.” Some parts appear in all caps, AS IF SHOUTING WILL MAKE MORE PEOPLE LISTEN TO HIM.

While Geraldo has a right to defend himself and publicize his side of things in the Tora Bora incident, and I think the blogosphere will be richer for his participation in it, I worry that the blog will look like the last few seasons of Roseanne, when the star’s comic talent was completely overwhelmed by an irrepressible ego.

As they say in TV land, stay tuned for further developments…