The Newsweek Debacle

<>Newsweek finally retracted their Qu’ran flushing story yesterday afternoon. This came after refusing to retract the story earlier in the day. Of course the entire process of damage control is in high gear. Clearly, Newsweek is treading that fine line of being just remorseful enough, but not totally copping to the realities of their anti-Bush bent.

I understand that Michael Isikoff has even offered up that he would be willing to resign over this issue. Problem is…apparently the parent company would not accept his resignation because they obviously don’t really think that journalistic standards have been abused in this story.

How biased must the overall organization be when the original story famously quoted that “sources tell Newsweek" that "interrogators, in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qu'ran down a toilet. . . .” How badly must the organization have wanted this story to be true to characterize the so-called story in this way? Newsweek now admits that not only was there only one “source,” but that the anonymous pentagon source essentially “thought” he remembered reading a report that had indicted testimony of the flushing incident. Apparently Newsweek did not bother to request a copy of (or proof of its existence) this pentagon report. How can the parent company deem that this constitutes proper sourcing of the main crux of this story?

It should not be unreasonable for a "free-thinking" journalist to question the obvious logical lapses in the entire premise of this story. It is widely known that the US military in Gauntanamo Bay have reportedly been extremely respectful of the prisoners' religious requirements, from diet to time to pray, etc... Would a college-educated journalist not even bother to wonder about the logistics of actually flushing a book down the toilet - even if in pieces? I'm not sure what the water-saving measures are in Cuba, but here in the US our toiltets use a scant 1.6 gallons per flush. I have personally had great difficulties getting things much smaller than the Qu'ran to actually to down... Not sure if it's even possible, but certainly worth questioning.

The print media is largely responsible for the growth of anti-Americanism in may parts of the world. Luckily, we in the US are now getting a balance of news reporting via cable television and the Internet. Unfortulately, Europe as a whole, largely depends on the print media for its source of news. The bias there is pervasive in all of the media; from Paris to Berlin.

Finally, why does this sort of story seem to constantly end in rioting? Don't know, but it's always something!!!!