Tuesday, May 24, 2005

ISIKOFF AND NEWSWEEK

Michael Isikoff, addressing the furor in an interview broadcast Monday night on "The Charlie Rose Show," said he regretted the possibility that his article, which has been blamed for violent protests in Muslim countries, may have spurred riots.

"It was terrible what happened," he told Rose. "Even if it was just a little bit that we contributed to the violence that went on over there, that was awful, terrible."

"I got to tell you, as somebody who has reported for a long time on the intelligence and law enforcement field, that's going to be tough," he told Rose. "Some of the best stories that I've gotten, that others have written about this administration, about the previous administration, you have to rely on anonymous sources."

This story is not the fault of Isikoff, but the editors of Newsweek Magazine. Isikoff was behind the original Monica Lewinsky story that Newsweek spiked because of anonymous sources. They weren't prepared to error when a Democrat like Clinton was at stake, but when Bush and the reputation of the United States was on the line, why not?

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