popular thinking

You might be wondering why you're suddenly hearing so much about W.'s service, or lack thereof, in the National Guard three decades ago. Why didn't we hear about this, say, in 2000? Well, lots of factors at play. The Hartford Courant talks about one such factor: mainstream news being slow to pick up on alternative scoops.
But for a bigger problem, consider this question: Why does it take so long for newspapers and magazines to catch plaigarists?
It's a simple answer, really: Because too many editors and reporters aren't reading the works of other reporters.
That's why the New York Times caught up with a former Alabama National Guard airman seven months after the Memphis Flyer wrote about it.
That's also why most plaigarists get away with their scams. If you're not reading the original reporting, how are you going to recognize the copycats?

As far as the recent Boston Globe expose into Bush's Guard service, consider the timing as politically motivated. Sort of. Most who follow politics believe that voters don't start paying attention to the election until the last month or two. Labor Day weekend not only comes right after both conventions, but also just eight weeks from Election Day. And all newspapers try to gear high-profile stories to the calendar, because they want to make sure their stories get full attention, too. Better to run the story a day or two after the holidays, when everyone is ready to read a paper again and when the story doesn't have to compete with a lot of other news. Looks like it worked for the Globe this time.