Before Media Research Center, before WorldNetDaily, before conservative talk radio and thousands of sharp-eyed (and sharp- tongued) bloggers, Reed Irvine set out in cowboy fashion to keep the liberal media honest.

Thirty-five years ago, Reed was the only game in town. As founder and chairman of Accuracy In Media, Irvine fearlessly punctured media myths, wrote reports to set the record straight, and was the scourge of every newscaster from Walter Cronkite to Dan Rather. He even tarred conservatives when they needed tarring. Aided by such talented writers as Joe Goulden and Cliff Kincaid, AIM broke many a media story that others would not touch.

Reed died this week at age 82, but the cause he launched is coming of age, symbolized by Dan Rather's reluctant admission that CBS relied on a laughably fake memo in an attempt to embarrass President Bush just before the election. The New York Times and other media titans similarly have been shamed in recent years by journalistic fraud.

Reed must have enjoyed it immensely when a chastened Rather issued his sort-of apology while maintaining that the "spirit" of the story was true.

I met Reed years ago, when I was a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He was fascinated by my stories of liberal bias in the Los Angeles Times newsroom, where I was a news editor and writer for seven years before leaving to write a book on relativism. For my part, I was captivated by his David vs. Goliath view of the media, with him loading his sling on a daily basis.

Every time the AIM Report arrived, with its trademark bulls-eye in red, I savored the roasting of yet another media fraud.

When the Public Broadcasting Service ran a blatantly biased documentary about the Vietnam War, Reed countered it by making another film, with Charlton Heston narrating. Then Reed launched a campaign to have PBS air the film, which eventually happened after much public pressure.

After he grew tired of the media's nonstop promotion of homosexual activism, Reed had AIM host a media conference on homosexuality, which aired on C-SPAN.

AIM also figured prominently in the Washington battles begun in 1989 to make public broadcasters and the National Endowment for the Arts accountable for their misuse of tax dollars. I relied often on stories broken by AIM, which shined a spotlight on such outrages as Andres Serrano's now-famous crucifixes in jars of the artist's urine.

One image of Reed I will never forget is when I visited AIM's offices on Connecticut Avenue in Washington to meet with Peter LaBarbera, the young editor of Accuracy in Academia's publications who later worked with me at Family Research Council and at Concerned Women for America's Culture & Family Institute before taking his current post as head of the Illinois Family Institute. It was hard to find Peter behind the huge stacks of newspapers and other media debris that filled his office. When I kidded him about it, he laughed and pointed down the hall, saying, "Hey, I learned from the best."

Minutes later, I walked into Reed's office, and, sure enough, it was wall-to-wall stacks of newspapers, magazines, reports and other paper mountains. Amid it all, Reed was leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head, looking as if he could find whatever he needed in a nanosecond. "I've got to keep up with it all," he said with a shrug and a grin.

And he did. Reed Irvine blazed a trail that is now burning brightly, and no doubt played a major role in this year's elections. The "old" media's attempts to smear conservatives and glorify liberals just didn't work.

The media are on notice that their liberal bias will no longer be tolerated, as measured by falling ratings and the rise of new, more balanced outlets.

AIM itself -- under son Don Irvine, who serves as chairman, and AIM Report Editor Cliff Kincaid -- is still keeping up the heat on the media, and Concerned Women for America is grateful to them for their continued vigilance.

As the Lone Ranger of media accountability is laid to rest, his greatest legacy, apart from his family, is that AIM is no longer riding alone, but is an important part of what's become a full-blown posse.

Robert Knight is director of the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.