They Don't Have To Be Cheerleaders

But could the Mainstream Media (MSM), in this case Newsweek, please not go out of their way to hinder American efforts in the Middle East?  Is that too much to ask?

In case you missed it, and I admit to not picking up the significance that early, Newsweek magazine printed a story that was at best loosely sourced, reporting that at Guantanamo in the course of an interrogation a copy of the Koran had been flushed in the toilet.  (Some reports say down the toilet, but I fail to see how that's possible.)

What ensued was rioting by Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere, with many dead and many more injured.  And now Newsweek, in neither fully retracting nor confirming the story, is tiptoeing around the authenticity with a sort of apology, insisting they did everything they could to verify it.  This included showing the story to a senior Defense department official.  Since he did not point out that this was false Newsweek assumed it to be true; the lack of a denial is now equivalent to an admission - guilty unless proven innocent.

Many have done full reporting on this breaking scandal, including Power Line, Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin.  Just keep scrolling. Power Line reports today that the story began with an unsubstantiated allegation by one Bader Bader, who was so disturbed by this transgression that he failed to mention the episode after his release when talking to the press.  LGF notes today that the left side of the blogosphere is ready to believe the initial unsubstantiated report even though Al Qaeda training materials instruct captives to make stuff like this up.  And ABC News carries today an AP story on the Newsweek apology, adding that despite this Afghanistan is demanding an explanation from Washington.

Muslims in Afghanistan gave Washington three days to offer a response to a Newsweek story that claimed the Islamic holy book was desecrated at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, but the magazine apologized Sunday for the report, which prompted deadly riots across Afghanistan last week.

Reaction across the Islamic world has been strong, with daily demonstrations since the May 9 story came out. At least 15 people died in Afghanistan after protests broke out Tuesday following the report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans in washrooms to unsettle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."...

"The American soldiers are known for disrespect to other religions. They do not take care of the sanctity of other religions," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the Pakistani chief of a coalition of radical Islamic groups, said Sunday.

Gee, I wonder what gave them that idea?  Apparently the retraction of the story carries no weight.  The genie is out of the bottle.

Listen, I don't care about deadlines.  I don't care about journalistic competition and being first with the story.  I have little enought respect now for declarations of the high standards of the MSM.  What I do care about is accuracy.  What I do care about is not being blinded by your prejudices to the weaknesses and potiential problems your story could cause if inaccurate.  And make no mistake, a reporter who runs with unverified inflammatory slander is feeding those prejudices.

When you print rumor and innuendo in a time of war you are causing problems, perhaps intentionally.  Why do the jihadis get the benefit of the doubt over our military?  Is the Bush Administration inherently less trustworthy than Al Qaeda operatives?  Maybe there is no Tokyo Rose in the war on terror and so Newsweek thought they'd fill the void.  Shame on you.  Michelle Malkin's headline parodies the Bush haters: Newsweek Lied; People Died.  Congratulations, Newsweek, you just made the job exponentially harder.

There's a lot of reaction and commentary over at The Moderate Voice, with tons of links.  Nice work by all involved.

UPDATE: Wizbang's Kevin Aylward notices a "hail mary" pass from Newsweek's Evan Thomas:

"As a legal matter, U.S. citizens are free to deface the Qur'an as an exercise of free speech, just as they are free to burn the American flag or tear up a Bible..."

Yeah, that'll help.

UPDATE: Captain Ed picks up the "if there's no denial it's an admission" theme and runs with it: "Quite frankly, this is bulls**t."  La Shawn Barber rounds up the usual suspects.

UPDATE: Great stuff from Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House.

And Newsweek is concerned that they caused a riot? When will they become concerned that there is a direct correlation between printing stories told by terrorists, their lawyers, and family members of terrorists about torture being the rule rather than the exception and getting American soldiers killed?

There’s no getting around this fact. And by taking Newsweek to task for one exaggerated, suspect story we’re all missing the point. Abu Ghraib, like the Watergate mess, has become a catchall phrase, media shorthand for the immorality of our efforts in the War on Terror. There’s been absolutely no effort to put these charges – both real and imagined – into any kind of context. How many stories in the New York times have you seen where an effort has been made to separate legitimate methods of coercive interrogation (so-called “stress techniques) from the gruesome hijinks and fraternity pranks of the apparently ill-disciplined and out of control rabble that ran Abu Ghraib? Even the legitimate complaints of actual, physical torture by the Red Cross are filled with uncertainty and qualifications.

In other words, organizations like Newsweek are institutionally inclined to believe the terrorists over the administration.  Minor transgressions are transformed into across-the-board policy decisions, without justification, and splashed across banner headlines.  That bias is a huge factor in the propogation of Anti-Americanism around the globe, certainly with the jihadis.

UPDATE: The Anchoress discusses the fiasco at length, and makes this obvious but important point, as regards the need to prove an allegation of wrongdoing false:

I don’t remember President Clinton ever having to “prove” that the rumors that floated around him and his administration were untrue.

RTWT.

UPDATE: That Insta-dude-guy has links galore, and some thoughts on the matter also.  As you knew he would.

Really, I don't want to hear another word about the superior "responsibility" of Big Media. Not one more word.

UPDATE: Kevin Aylward at Wizbang looks at the sourcing of this story, citing Jay Rosen at Press Think, and finds it to be fourth-level hearsay, with none of the people involved having actual access to the document referenced.  Solid.