Junto Boys

NO MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY

I happened to watch a few minutes of the CBS Evening News last night before I realized what I was doing. I usually avoid CBS News and CNN because they make me angry. Last night was no exception.

I saw four stories -- each political, each anti-Bush administration. First, the Newsweek story. More on this below. Second, a story about how the right wing wants to end the filibusters and get an up-or-down vote so they can revoke women's constitutional right to abort a fetus. Third, some story on how badly the war in Iraq is going. I forget the fourth because I was lecturing the TV.

I have not followed the Newsweek story very closely but I get the gist that Newsweek reported that a Koran had been flushed down a toilet at a military base in Afghanistan, which caused riots which caused 16(?) deaths, and that the report was apparently false, based on one shaky secondhand source, and that Newsweek has written a one-line retraction. The obvious logic is that another incident of overzealous anti-Bush reporting has caused damage to the US as well as the loss of human life. But the story at CBS is the White House's "unprecedented" suggestion that Newsweek do its part to undo the damage that the magazine itself created. The press is aghast at the suggestion, citing freedom of the press -- presumably (again) the freedom to publish wrong stories that, while technically false, ring true.

Here is what McClellan actually said. He suggested (gasp!) that the people who made the mess should contribute to cleaning up the mess. Only a liberal could object to that.

Q With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not telling them. I'm saying that we would encourage them to help --

Q You're pressuring them.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm saying that we would encourage them --

Q It's not pressure?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, this report caused serious damage to the image of the United States abroad. And Newsweek has said that they got it wrong. I think Newsweek recognizes the responsibility they have. We appreciate the step that they took by retracting the story. Now we would encourage them to move forward and do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done by this report. And that's all I'm saying. But, no, you're absolutely right, it's not my position to get into telling people what they can and cannot report....

Q Are you asking them to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you're saying here?

MR. McCLELLAN: Elisabeth, let me finish my sentence. Our military --

Q You've already said what you're -- I know what -- how it ends.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm coming to your question, and you're not letting me have a chance to respond. But our military goes out of their way to handle the Koran with care and respect. There are policies and practices that are in place. This report was wrong. Newsweek, itself, stated that it was wrong. And so now I think it's incumbent and -- incumbent upon Newsweek to do their part to help repair the damage. And they can do that through ways that they see best, but one way that would be good would be to point out what the policies and practices are in that part of the world, because it's in that region where this report has been exploited and used to cause lasting damage to the image of the United States of America. It has had serious consequences. And so that's all I'm saying, is that we would encourage them to take steps to help repair the damage. And I think that they recognize the importance of doing that. That's all I'm saying.

Q As far as the Newsweek article is concerned, first, how and where the story came from? And do you think somebody can investigate if it really happened at the base, and who told Newsweek? Because somebody wrote a story.

I guess the last line argues that because somebody felt confident enough in their source to write a story, then the story must be true. Forget that its own author and publisher have retracted it. Has the press learned anything from Rathergate? Or is its bias so complete that it is utterly impenetrable?

And then there's the related point that we spend tax dollars to remove the ten commandments from the public square but the purported flushing of a Koran is some sacred headline-making violation. But I leave that for another day. Matthew 10:16-42 explains this to my satisfaction.