For the facts on what is going on, check out what Russell and Guy have said on the matter. They have both done excellent detective work and written it up very well.
For my part, what is most interesting about this is the part that we, as small-time bloggers and interested geeks, have had. Dominic has a similar take - the blogger is gaining credibility, and taking on a role that, while not the same as that of a journalist, has a similar position in society. Nobody else has done much in the way of investigations, or if they have, they haven't done anything with their results. Already, the blogosphere has started linking to Russell's writeup, and people are using it as the source for their discussions.
I'll be interested to see what happens.
(For more examples of bloggers gaining credibility, see this article in the New York Times about bloggers being given press passes to the Democratic Party's conference thingy.)