Page 146 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

136 Chapter 6

story for having "done a lot of harm" to the U.S. image: "it's appalling that this
story got out there. . . . The sad thing was that there was a lot of anger that got
stirred by a story that was not very well founded.'"
The Newsweek Koran scandal is particularly relevant in light of abuses un-
covered at U.S. military prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. In response to growing media and government criticisms, Newsweek re-
tracted its charges that the Koran was flushed down a toilet by American inter-
rogators. Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker announced: "Based on what we know
now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation
had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay. . . . We've called it an error.
We've called it a mi~take."~
A number of pundits attacked Newsweek for its challenges to the U.S. mili-
tary's human rights record. Bill O'Reilly explained: "The American press is far
too cavalier when it comes to publicizing alleged wrongdoing by the U.S.A. . . .
The truth is that some news agencies can't wait to get dirt on the military so they
can embarrass the Bush administration. Ideological reporting is rampant in this
country and it is getting people kil~ed."~ Daryl Kagan and Barbara Starr of CAN
Live Today conversed over Newsweek's reporting, citing the paper's failure to
pursue more than one military source (the paper used only one anonymous
source) in confirming the Koran charge. Kagan and Starr indicated that they
trusted the military to look into the charges over suspected wrongdoing.9 CAN
programs such as Crossfire also addressed the mounting "scandal." Cliff May,
the President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argued: "The me-
dia, I think, are in crisis right now. . . . This case was terrible reporting."I0 Bay
Buchanan faulted Newsweek

They didn't go for the second source to confirm this report. They went out with
a report that was extremely sensitive, almost a tender-a tinderbox out there
when it comes to U.S.-Muslim relationships. They dropped it out there with ab-
solute disregard for doing what would be standard in journalism, I believe,
really basic journalism and it resulted in seventeen deaths so far. Is there not
some cause for some serious accountability here?"
Buchanan continued: "Isn't it time for Newsweek to take some responsibility for
this awful mistake?"'
The punditry's condemnations of Newsweek fell within a narrow line of
criticism, since most attacks focused on the paper's failure to secure two sources
for the allegation, and the use of an anonymous source for such a controversial
charge. Pundits generally did not dispute U.S. mistreatment of prisoners of war,
but only the specific charge that U.S. interrogators or guards flushed Korans
down the toilet. There is clearly room to fault Newsweek for its relatively low
journalistic standards in confirming the Koran-flushing charge; however, the
intense focus on the failure to secure multiple sources in the Newsweek story
neglects a larger pattern of U.S. mistreatment and torture of prisoners in the
"War on Terror."