We know opening a post with a line like this might cause those whose anger at Newsweek has overtaken their common sense to click elsewhere in search of their daily dose of vitriolic rhetoric, but it needs to be said: The media’s performance in the wake of Newsweek‘s blunder has been, from a journalistic standpoint, more disheartening than the original sin.
Newsweek made a serious error in relying on a single source for its story, and its subsequent report may (or may not) have spurred fatal riots. The magazine subsequently apologized, then retracted the part of the story in question and vowed not to make the error again. In contrast, most of the rest of the media, in reporting the story, has continued to stumble all over itself, making the same mistakes over and over again. And unlike Newsweek, none of them are showing any signs of remorse.
Consider the central question of the story about the story: What exactly has the magazine retracted? Most reporters, particularly on television, are reporting that Newsweek has retracted the allegation that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay. But that’s wrong: The magazine has said only that it no longer stands by its claim that allegations of Koran desecration appear in a forthcoming report from U.S. Southern Command. That’s a very different point. There have been numerous other reports — mostly from detainees — suggesting that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo did abuse the Koran. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we do know that there’s a significant difference between what Newsweek said — that its source can no longer be sure that the allegations appear in an upcoming military report — and what the press is reporting the magazine said — that no desecration of the Koran ever took place.
But since the press has largely ceded control of the story to the White House, administration spinners have been able to twist it. Consider another central issue: whether Newsweek‘s premature report actually spurred the riots. Thanks to the White House spin, and the media’s lazy reporting, the conventional wisdom is now that it did. But the reality is that it probably did not, at least in any significant sense. According to a statement last Thursday by General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, after hearing from commanders on the scene in Afghanistan, the “rioting was related more to the ongoing political reconciliation process in Afghanistan than anything else.” As we’ve noted, that makes sense, based on the Taliban’s past patterns and the fact that previous reports about Koran desecration at Guantanamo spurred no such riots. But the press has repeatedly failed to make that clear. (One conspicuous exception to this mass sin of omission has been New York Times reporter Katharine Q. Seelye, who for two days in a row now has taken pains to point out Myers’ observation that his senior commander in Afghanistan “thought [the rioting] was not at all tied to the article in the magazine.”)
All this is particularly galling considering how much play the story is getting on the cable networks. It’s not as if there isn’t ample time to explain the facts to the viewers. Instead, Fox News, which we’ve had our eye on over the past couple days, has repeatedly stressed the fact that the White House feels that Newsweek‘s apology isn’t enough, since, as White House press secretary Scott McClellan put it, “The report had real consequences. People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged.”
It’s easy to imagine why the White House is taking this approach. As a Newsweek journalist told the Los Angeles Times — speaking, ironically, from a position of anonymity — “The issue of how prisoners are treated at Guantanamo has not gone away. Now they want to deflect that by talking about how irresponsible Newsweek magazine was.”
What’s harder to explain is why reporters covering the story have swallowed this red herring. But let’s try: Producers, it seems, would rather stir viewers’ emotions that provide them with the truth. The story, in its oversimplified form, plays well into television news’ longstanding bias towards conflict. It’s Newsweek vs. the government, the liberal media vs. conservatives, and, for some, overeager advocacy journalists vs. America.
The reality is much muddier, of course, but also less likely to drive our emotions — if viewers realize that the riots aren’t necessarily Newsweek‘s fault, and that the desecration might actually have happened, it’s harder for them to become fired up about the story. And producers fear that means lower ratings. So they keep the story simple, and they keep the story wrong. That is the reality of our journalistic environment today — a serious examination of the truth simply isn’t a priority for bottom-line oriented, unapologetic executives who would rather hook viewers via emotions than honest reports.
At least Newsweek has regrets.
–Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is a writer at CJR Daily.