MSM Again Demonstrates Junk Journalism – Again!
Newsweek Apologizes for Quran Story Errors
Rather than believeing Newsweek’s self-coverage of their causation of widespread rioting in the Middle-east, check out this coverage.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in a statement that the original story was “demonstrably false” and “irresponsible,” and “had significant consequences that reverberated throughout Muslim communities around the world.”
“Newsweek hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny,” Whitman said. “Unfortunately, they cannot retract the damage they have done to this nation or those that were viciously attacked by those false allegations.”
After Newsweek published the story, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan and Muslims around the world decried the alleged desecration.
Fisking fun with Newsweek attempt at self-justification:
from Newsweek web site:
May 23 issue – Did a report in NEWSWEEK set off a wave of deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan?
DUH! What was your first clue, Sherlock?
That’s what numerous news accounts suggested last week as angry Afghans took to the streets to protest reports, linked to us, that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Qur’an while interrogating Muslim terror suspects.
These paragons of reportorial skill apparently had to see what was being said elsewhere to figure this out!
We were as alarmed as anyone to hear of the violence, which left at least 15 Afghans dead and scores injured.
The count is up to 18 and rising, but who’s counting?
But I think it’s important for the public to know exactly what we reported, why, and how subsequent events unfolded.
Too bad you won’t get the truth from them here: in the ORIGINAL story they credited multiple sources: “Among the previously unreported cases, sources tell NEWSWEEK: interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur’an down a toilet”. More than one source is good for corroboration, don’t ya know? HOLD THAT THOUGHT!
Two weeks ago, in our issue dated May 9, Michael Isikoff and John Barry reported in a brief item in our Periscope section that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that American guards at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had committed infractions in trying to get terror suspects to talk, including in one case flushing a Qur’an down a toilet. Their information came from a knowledgeable U.S. government source, and before deciding whether to publish it we approached two separate Defense Department officials for comment. One declined to give us a response; the other challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur’an charge.
Oooops! NOW there seems to be only ONE SOURCE – no corroboration. Newsweek has now entered the world of gossip!
Although other major news organizations had aired charges of Qur’an desecration based only on the testimony of detainees, we believed our story was newsworthy because a U.S. official said government investigators turned up this evidence.
Again – the allegation reported is based on “a U.S. official” – twice here it says single source. One of the biggest bitches of the MSM is that bloggers hear something and run with it, without cross-checking. I guess once you are part of the establishment, it is no longer necessary to follow the rules of journalistic corroboration.
So we published the item. After several days, newspapers in Pakistan and Afghanistan began running accounts of our story. At that point, as Evan Thomas, Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai report this week, the riots started and spread across the country, fanned by extremists and unhappiness over the economy.
The economy? That’s why all the reporting on the rioting says it was anti-American!
Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur’an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them “not credible.” Our original source later said he COULDN’T BE CERTAIN about reading of the alleged Qur’an incident in the report we cited, and said it MIGHT have been in other investigative documents or drafts. (Emphasis added) Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we.
Great! First CBS investigated itself on Rathergate, now Newsweek will investigate iself on this – Korangate? Flushgate?
But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.
This is no doubt very comforting to those who are now dead because of another case of journalistic fecklessness on the part of our self-appointed “responsible” established media. And they REALLY can’t figure out why their circulations are shrinking, or ratings falling!