Homocon

Meanwhile, over at Newsweek, the MSM is learning yet another harsh and long-overdue lesson about media accountability. Just over six months past The Fall of the House of Rather, sloppy journalism, anonymous sources and non-existent editorial controls are again the rule of thumb as liberal reporters and editors, eager to keep pounding the "U.S. Military is EEEE-VILLLL" pulpit, ran with a sketchy, uncorroborated account of EEEE-VILLLLL U.S. soldiers flushing pages of the quran down the toilet in an effort to TORRRR-CHURRRRR the insurgents terrorists held WAR CRIMES! captive at that Nazi concentration camp Guantanamo Bay. 15 Afghanistan citizens are now dead, with scores more wounded, in the resultant riots after Eastern media outlets began reporting an item that Newsweek editors are now admitting is unverifiable.

"Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts."

The NYT, CBS and now Newsweek? Is it any wonder that more and more people are turning to the Internet for their information?

The conservative blogs weigh in:

"Well thanks, Newsweek, for the apology! We forgive the dozens of innocent deaths and the harm done to coalition troops thanks to your irresponsible journalism."

"Why is it that large, trusted news outlets can't employ the same basic critical thinking that countless obscure blogs do? Isn't it worth it to get the facts straight and to consider the consequences of slipshod reporting?"

"Should a particular story collapse in a heap, you can always run the "fake but accurate" line – trust us, it’s happening but we just can’t prove it at the moment."

"These news outlets are happy to publish anonymous allegations because the stories leaked by their sources fit the reporters' political preconceptions. . . . If this satisfies journalistic standards at NEWSWEEK, maybe it's the standards that need some work."

"Thanks, pal! Fifteen people dead, many more injured, the natives restless in all the usual places, and you offer us the usual bureaucratic haut-en-bas mumbo-jumbo . . . The problem is not simply a reporter’s mistake but editorial ignorance of the global information grid."

"This is journalism at its most insidious and dangerous."

"Newsweek is concerned that they caused a riot? When will they become concerned that there is a direct correlation between printing stories told by terrorists, their lawyers, and family members of terrorists about torture being the rule rather than the exception and getting American soldiers killed?"

"Those journalists knew how Muslims would react! Why would you hurt your own country and risk more deaths just to report this “fact?” To what end?"

"As I've warned before, if Americans conclude that the press is, basically, on the side of the enemy, the consequences are likely to be dire."

"Where was Newsweek and the rest of (the MSM) when The Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity tore up Bibles for toilet paper? . . . Why is the world media so hell bent on portraying Islam as some kind of sacrosanct religion, better and above the rest? Is their book somehow holier than everybody else's? Not bloody likely!"

"Yeah. Sorry about all those dead people. Next time we'll try to make sure our sources are credible."

"Just wondering, when will the Libs start to demand resignations?"

"South Asian political and security analyst Bahukutumbi Raman said the Islamist rioting in Afghanistan is being deliberately incited by well-organized agents of the Hizb ut-Tahrir terror gang, who quickly recognized the Newsweek “Quran desecration” story as a propaganda windfall."

"Newsweek has blood on its hands. Blood on its desks. Isikoff should cough up his source."

"In their exercise of that freedom of speech we hold most dear, was there no thought for those who guarantee that right . . . have we grown so self-centered as a nation that we think only of our rights, and never of our responsibilities?"

"Why do the jihadis get the benefit of the doubt over our military? Is the Bush Administration inherently less trustworthy than Al Qaeda operatives? Maybe there is no Tokyo Rose in the war on terror and so Newsweek thought they'd fill the void."

"Newsweek lied, people died!"

Daily 'Screw 'Em' Kos gives Newsweek a pass:
"I see this incident this way: Newsweek has good sources for its allegations, but has backed off because it finds itself in a dicey, ill-founded public relations nightmare."

WTF? "Good sources," and they're backing off? Unlikely.

Wizbang takes a rather different approach:
"The riots were a completely irrational and wrong response, and Newsweek should not be held responsible for what a bunch of religious, West-hating whackos do. Those lunatics are simply atrocities waiting to happen, and anything -- anything -- can be the trigger. One might as well find the woman who rejected Ted Bundy and blame her for all the women he subsequently murdered."

OFF-TOPIC:
"Vicente Fox refused to apologize Monday for saying Mexicans in the United States do the work that blacks won't — a comment widely viewed as acceptable in a country where blackface comedy is still considered funny and nicknames often reflect skin color."

When are we closing the borders? Now? Perhaps? Or maybe we can just trade Canada and Mexico for Poland and Italy -- I'd actually visit south of the border if it meant Naples instead of Tijuana. And who the f*ck needs Canada?