In the chat after his Berkeley lecture ("The State of American Media") this week, Dan Rather talked to ZDNet journalist Steve Gillmor, who came with indie journalist (and ex-Mercury-News columnist) brother Dan Gillmor and Steve's look-alike friend, RSS czar Dave Winer. To save you from caption confusion, here's the breakdown:

Dan Rather: No longer American media. The warm voice and stern face of CBS News for over 20 years until citizen muckrakers brought him down.


Dan Gillmor: In the long tail of American media. Started citizen-journalism site Bayosphere, now part of East Coast operation Backfence. Calls Steve his older, wiser brother.


Steve Gillmor: Part of American media. Blogs for ZDNet. Calls Dan his little, smarter brother.


Dave Winer: The man behind the New American Media curtain. Invented a major form of RSS. One of the podcasting podfathers (it takes a village).


There! Now you won't be confused — unless you start reading their work.

Photos: donlbe and Dan Farber [Flickr]

Contact information for this author is not available.