No one denies that Newsweek’s error was egregious and awful, and no one denies that its ramifications were even more devastating: riots breaking out, reputations being obliterated, professional lives being destroyed, and the
Make no mistake, Michael Isikoff (the reporter here) is an expert veteran and Editor-in-Chief Mark Whittaker is a highly esteemed journalist who, if anything, is often viewed as being overly cautious, not underly. Congressman Bob Ney, an honorable representative if I’ve ever saw one, has accused the two of no less treason, of “fabricating” the entire story, even calling their actions “criminal”. Radical republicans postulate that Newsweeks’ actions are motivated by some type of debase, unpatriotic, liberal desire to destroy American credibility. Though with less virulence, even the Bush administration has hacked away at Newsweek.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the Bush administration is slandering a news organization for not quadruple checking their anonymous source? This coming from an administration who staged an entire war based on information from one anonymous defector named Curveball, one who was warned by the CIA to be both crazy and a liar. Anonymous sourcing is an industry norm, why can’t journalists stand up for themselves?
3 comments:
Congrats, your officially a radical. You've discreditted yourself and killed any bipartisan following.
I don't think you can blame an article for causing riots. You CAN, however, blame an unsubstantiated, protracted, unilateral war. These people were ready to riot anyway; the Koran story was just a spark on the powder keg.
Who knows? Maybe it is right. We're really not in a position to verify it. If they're willing to rub fake menstrual blood on a prisoner's face, or wrap him in an Israeli flag, why wouldn't they desecrate the Koran? I was particularly disgusted with Andrew Sullivan's story about the prisoner that was chained to the top of his cell for four days, beaten in the legs during his interrogation to the point of not being able to sit still, and then being sent back to his cell and chained up again after denying him medical attention. He died, and the kicker is that officers and interrogators thought he was just an innocent taxi driver that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I may not get into Yale, but you can bet that I'm not joining the armed forced, either.
Sorry for the double post... I forgot to mention that A VIEW FROM THE WEST IS BACK, BABY!
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