Irresponsible Journalism

Yesterday, I briefly discussed widespread anti-American protests spreading across the Muslim world in response to an alleged incident, reported by Newsweek in its in May 9 issue, in which U.S. military interrogators reportedly desecrated a copy of the Koran by flushing it in a toilet. Newsweek cited a source suggesting that this incident would be included in a forthcoming report by the Southern Command (SouthCom), which is responsible for overseeing Guantanamo Bay. Protests over this incident have been particularly violent in Afghanistan, where more than 15 people have been killed and government buildings burned.

But now, Newsweek says, its report may have been a mistake. Correspondent Evan Thomas writes in "How a Fire Broke Out," released today, that after Pentagon officials denied the Koran incident, reporter Michael Isikoff re-contacted his original source for the story. This "senior government official" "said that he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Qu'ran, including a toilet incident. But the official, still speaking anonymously, could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report."

Clearly there have been incidents of improper behavior by American interrogators, at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. None should be tolerated, and all should be investigated fully and those responsible held to account. The media has a duty to report on these incidents, to bring them to light so that they will not happen again. But at the same time, the media must do that reporting responsibly and carefully, taking the utmost precautions not to stretch the truth or to report unsubstantiated rumors. If that means that they should stop relying on "unnamed sources", they ought to do that. As we have learned this week, words have consequences, and lives can be on the line.

Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker apologizes in the current issue, saying "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst." It's a start, at least, to righting a wrong that is unrightable as far as the families of those killed and injured in the violence go, and in terms of the further damage that has been done to America's reputation around the world. How many Muslim clerics do you suppose will take to the streets and read that apology to the angry crowds?

[Update: Alan at The Yellow Line adds an important element to this discussion, here. -- 6:59 p.m.]

[Update: More on this from Joe at The Moderate Voice here. He includes comments from many other bloggers. And to briefly respond to a comment below, I absolutely believe that the confidential government source bears a certain amount of responsibility for this. Just as journalists ought to verify their information (preferably with a source who isn't afraid to go on the record using their name) those who provide information from within the government to journalists have a responsibility to make sure that they are passing along accurate facts.

That said, it is important to remember that we may come to learn that this incident or something very similar did in fact occur. From what we've seen before, it's not beyond the realm of possibility. -- 8:57 p.m.]

[More: Both the New York Times and the Washington Post run front-page stories on the Newsweek apology Monday, while outrage in the blogosphere continues to mount. -- 16 May, 8:18 a.m.]

[More: Since this post was becoming an attractant for spam-comments, I'm forced to cut the comment option from now on for it. If you have a legit comment, post it somewhere up above. Sorry about this! -- 17 May, 7:29 a.m.]