From Atrios:

Anatomy of a Goreing
Campaign Desk traces the coverage of Dean’s speech. [Eschaton]

The article is interesting. It describes the bizarre game of telephone that is reporting these days. As the reporters got further away from the actual event, the sound-bite clip and the opinions of those not there (who outnumber the reporters who were there) began influencing the recollection and reporting of those who were there. For example:

Perhaps the most interesting observation came from Matea Gold and John M. Glionna, who wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Dean’s “gravelly voice [was] barely audible over the din of applause inside the ’70s-style disco hall.”

The fact that the reporters, who were in the room with Dean, felt that he was raising the volume of his voice to be heard over his supporters is a key detail missing from most other coverage of the speech (including Gold’s own follow-up). (Others, includingGarance Franke-Ruta of the liberal opinion magazine The American Prospect and Chris Suellentrop of Slate have also noted that Dean was struggling to make himself heard over the noise of the crowd.)

…

The Los Angeles Times’ Gold deleted any mention of Dean shouting over the crowd in her Wednesday article, writing that at both the Iowa rally and an airport rally later that night in New Hampshire, “His face beet-red, [Dean] punched his fists in the air and spoke in a near-guttoral roar. The frenetic response to his poor showing struck many as inappropriate.”

The rest of the CD article lists other specific articles and reporters, highlighting the shift in reporting that occurred as time went on. Read this and keep it in mind as you read the news.

I have to admit that even my own attitude has shifted on this… I didn’t see the clip until one or two days later on Letterman, I think. From the incomplete clip (I later saw the whole thing on one of the news networks), it’s easy to assume that he’s going over the top. I also wonder if the sound crew actually had a patch into the PA system for their audio or if that’s captured from an open room mic.