May 18, 2005
'The Story of the Story Isn't the Story At All'
Columbia Journalism Review: Newsweek hasn't retracted Koran claim, just that the claim will appear in a forthcoming report, nor were the riots related to this 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.
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.Posted by Karol at May 18, 2005 11:04 AM | TrackBack
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That WAS the story. Newsweek "technically" never made the "Koran claim". They only said that the government was investigating such a claim, as would appear in a forthcoming report.
Newsweek does not have any proof of any kind of abuse. The only inkling they had was their anonymous "source" who now says the report will NOT have such a report.
That IS the story. Until someone actually find evidence of such abuse (and I do not consider a complaint filed by an al-Qaeda GITMO detainee as "evidence"), it never happened. PERIOD.
Further, to think that the riots had little to do with the story seems implausible to me.
Posted by: Sean at May 18, 2005 12:55 PMThere was a comment somewhere that said Afghanistan's illiteracy rate is 64%, so that the Newsweek story alone couldn't have sparked the riots.
Posted by: Shawn at May 18, 2005 01:12 PMShawn:
"There was a comment somewhere that said Afghanistan's illiteracy rate is 64%, so that the Newsweek story alone couldn't have sparked the riots."
No, but it sparked the word-of-mouth that the US was flushing Korans down toilets.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at May 18, 2005 01:19 PMExactly. It wasn't the column itself, but its communication and even its interpretation. It bolsters the argument that preexisiting conditions were also a factor in the riots.
Posted by: Shawn at May 18, 2005 01:28 PM
