I Can Emulate the Mainstream Media's Tactics, Too

Over on Right Wing News (no link, I'm rolling; look below for links) a commenter suggested keeping track of Al-Newsweek's bodycount.

I'm game.

"Sixteen people have died since Bush declared an end to major offensive operations in Iraq Al-Newsweek ran a thinly-sourced and incidiary charge against the American military."

Updates will follow, unfortunately.

Dave From Garfield Ridge Says We're Missing the Point: He has no doubt that Al-Newsweek deserves all the grief that's coming to it, but he cautions that the blame for violence must be placed squarely on those actually committing the violence.

True enough. But...

One can hold lunatics accountable for going on a murderous death spree while simultaneously castigating those that gave them the knives with which to do so.

Six Meat Buffet makes similar observations. And I got the Garfield Ridge link from him, too. So click 'im.

Sometimes It's Not So Egregious to Desecrate Religious Symbols Update (CORRECTED): I'm not sure if this clearly cuts the way I'd like it to cut, but Cliffs of Insanity notes that Newsweek ran a cover featuring a photo by Andre Serrano in the past, who is of course most notorious for "Piss-Christ," a shot of the crucifix submerged in urine..

I'm sure Newsweek made nods to acknowledge the "controversy" surrounding this anti-Christian bit of outrage posing as "art." However, I'm also quite sure that just about everyone at Newsweek considered this a tempest in a piss-pot and didn't really see why the religious loonies were so offended by it.

So I guess I'm a little perplexed at how Newsweek considered the flushing of the Koran down the toilet -- not for the sake of art, but to crack a terrorist and gain crucial intelligence -- so outrageous as to require running with the story before nailing it down.

Correction! Quick as Lightning! The Warden writes me to let me know that Newsweek featured a photo by Serrano, not the infamous "Piss-Christ" itself.

Bodycount for my error: Thus far, zero.

Hitting Them Where It Hurts Update: Radio stations are now beginning to cancel, or at least put on hiatus, some sort of Newsweek radio talk show I never heard of and which probably got zero ratings anyhow.

Some Stories Run Without Confirmation; Some Are Spiked With Full Confirmation; It's All So Curious To Me Update: From Howard Kurtz:

The item was principally reported by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek's veteran investigative reporter. "Obviously we all feel horrible about what flowed from this, but it's important to remember there was absolutely no lapse in journalistic standards here," he said. "We relied on sources we had every reason to trust and gave the Pentagon ample opportunity to comment. . . . We're going to continue to investigate what remains a very murky situation."

Isikoff, a former Post reporter, gained national attention in 1998 when the magazine held his report on an independent counsel's investigation of Monica S. Lewinsky's relationship with President Bill Clinton. More recently, Isikoff and Barry won an Overseas Press Club award for their reporting on Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Funny about which stories get spiked and which don't, huh?

posted by Ace at 01:38 PM

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