I've only had a chance to skim most of this thread but I've noticed a lot of this attitude. I think this post is troubling becuase it implies that the news media should be supporting the troops when under a free and independent media they shouldn't be supporting or criticising except in terms of editorials which I don't think this was. The other issue about this report is that Newsweek should've been able to predict this reaction when considering that the original artical was really a very small and not very prominent that it would've been difficult to have predicted this would've been noticed widely at all. For that matter how much should Newsweek be concerned about the reaction of Afghanis to an article they print? Responsibility for the affects of a news piece is a very thorny issue and censors and critiques of the news have always argued that affects in regard to suppressing news. Every piece that potentially puts the government or someone powerful or even dealing with a controversial issue there will be people arguing that it shouldn't be reported because it might cause chaos. If the news media followed that I don't think we would have very much news at all. The ideal of a free media is to provide accurate news free of bias and unswayed by controversy. To argue that Newsweek should've considered the potential anger this report should stir up would also implicate pretty much every new source.
wait...what??? i don't get it. i was just telling a story. what point did you think i was trying to make?
excellent post. i agree. there is no reason why people can't show enough respect to one another to avoid this.
Let me be the first board liberal to say that I think that our troups are doing actually what they are told. The blame, if there is any in this case, is not laid at their feet. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Hypocrisy writ large White House says Newsweek report damaged US image By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday an inaccurate Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas by claiming U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay. At the same time, the Pentagon said an investigation remained open into allegations contained in Newsweek's May 9 report that triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 16 people were killed. Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker apologized to the victims on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet. "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not." "The report has had serious consequences," McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged." "It has certainly caused damage to the credibility of the media as well, and Newsweek itself," he added later. The U.S. image had already been tarnished in many parts of the Arab world, and Washington has labored to rebuild trust among Muslims following last year's disclosures that U.S. guards at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison physically and sexually abused Iraqi prisoners. The report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. In the past week the reported desecration was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, returning from a trip to Iraq, said, "I do think it's done a lot of harm." Muslims in Afghanistan were skeptical about the turnaround on Monday. "We will not be deceived by this," Islamic cleric Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman told Reuters. "It comes because of American pressure." Aman was the leader of a group of clerics who vowed to call for a holy war against the United States. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a close U.S. ally, said the report had caused a public outcry that enabled enemies to orchestrate violence. He was displeased with the magazine's acknowledgment of error, his spokesman said. Newsweek said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who said a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay found interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk. But the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts, Newsweek said. A conservative media watchdog group, Accuracy in Media, said in a news release that "blood is on the hands of Newsweek magazine" for the story. AIM editor Cliff Kincaid expressed incredulity that "nobody at Newsweek has been fired or even reprimanded." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman was asked whether the Pentagon could say definitively that U.S. personnel never threw a Koran in a toilet at Guantanamo. "You know, I never get into the business of saying never," Whitman said. "What I'm saying is that this allegation that Newsweek made ... about Koran desecration is demonstrably false. And there have thus far been no credible allegations of willful Koran desecration." The Pentagon made available a January 2003 memo setting out rules for "handling and inspecting of detainee Korans" at Guantanamo. It said U.S. personnel must "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas." Whitman said, "The unfortunate part about it is you can't go back and undo or retract the damage that they've done not only to this nation but to those who have been attacked, injured and some even killed because of these false allegations." Jon Summers, the representative in Afghanistan for the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation, said the report exacerbated tensions that already existed. "There are a whole range of issues and frustrations that build up and then you get a hot-button issue like this as it originally came out and it triggers a response," he said. (Additional reporting by Will Dunham, Paul Eckert, David Morgan and Arshad Mohammed) Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
"supporting the troops" and reporting ACCURATE news stories doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. How about report some the good work the troops are doing over at Afghan. Of course the negative stories has far more "shock value", so they went after it without checking out their sources. (who know what other hidden agenda there are) I agree with you what an "IDEAL" free media should be. However the guys at newsweek are FAR from that, they put up an unsubstantiated story that put people's live in danger (not just American lives), and they did it NOT because their believed in a free press, they did it just to get a "BIG STORY" out. In that they are no different than your average tabloid. And that's what pisses me off. (mind you they are not along in this do anything to get tv rating, magazine sale, personal agenda) And its rather tragic these morons has even more influence with todays advanced communication medium.
Here's a link to NEWSWEEK'S RETRACTION of the story: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/newsweek.quran/index.html No Worries- what does Juan Cole have to say about the retraction? Still in denial? LOL. I guess he has to keep his loyal liberal followers happy with stories that undermine the credibility and reputation of our troops.
The posts in this thread have brought up another good topic some have eluded to as far as news stories....should American news outlets report a truth in which they know for a fact that it will worsen violence against their own country's cause(military, war, etc.) even if it is true? Is it responsible to print a news story that you know, in fact, will end up in the deaths of many more troops or those on both sides of the war? Let's say the Newsweek story is not in dispute. Then, Mom and Pop in Texas had their son killed by a protestor in Afghanistan. Repeat that one hundred fold for other families. Now, are the families expected to agree with Newsweek releasing the story that led to their family members' deaths directly? Or, are they supposed to blame interrogators at Guantanomo? Or, blame the president and government? If our military is so inept that they resort to prison abuse, abuse against the Koran, and not knowing how Islamic culture may interpret such things, then is it just a "the military deserves whatever violent outcomes emerge as their responsible!" mentality? Are there times when the American news outlets should sit on a story in such cases? If they don't, then are they considered anti-America? Does them claiming their just being objective excuse the fact that they did something to hurt their own country in which they live and publish the news? It's a tough situation reporting the news. You best be sure what you are reporting is correct. Even if it is correct, then it may not be their place to report it. It may be the government's place but we know the US government would cover it up. That's what they do. Or, else, we would have known about it before Newsweek knew about it. We all know the news chooses sides and are biased. Do we commend Newsweek if the story is true for reporting the truth even though it sparked a disaster in the near future? I'm starting to see now why the news outlets are monitored in other countries...especially during war time.
I don't know about Mr. Cole, but Newsweek only apologized; they did not retract. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7857154/site/newsweek/ he Editor's Desk Newsweek May 23 issue - Did a report in NEWSWEEK set off a wave of deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan? 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. We were as alarmed as anyone to hear of the violence, which left at least 15 Afghans dead and scores injured. But I think it's important for the public to know exactly what we reported, why, and how subsequent events unfolded. 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. 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. 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. 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. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. 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. —Mark Whitaker © 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
WMD in Iraq ring any bells with you. Or maybe close ties between Iraq and OBL? Or maybe the growing threat in Iraq? Or maybe Iraq will have The Bomb by Christmas? Or ...
For all of you who think that the MSM is liberal ... The WH over the last few days has made Newsweek the story and not the story in Newsweek. By and large they have been very successful. In an article I posted above we see "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not." The WH is making whether or not Newsweek retracts the story the story. I will repeat. Hypocrisy writ large.
They really are retracting: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050516/ap_on_re_us/newsweek_quran_19 "NEW YORK - Newsweek magazine, under fire for publishing a story that led to deadly protests in Afghanistan, said Monday it was retracting its report that a military probe had found evidence of desecration of the Quran by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. " . . . . "Following the criticism, Whitaker released a statement through a spokesman later Monday saying the magazine was retracting the article. "Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," Whitaker said."
Sorry about that. I was only using what I saw at Newsweek's website, which amazingly has not been updated with the retraction. Another victory for the GWB WH.
