After issuing an apology that was basically a retraction, then insisting it wasn’t a retraction, Newsweek has finally done it: it has USED the “R” word and issued a definitive retraction.
And, in doing so, it could mean that in the case of the story that claimed the Koran had been descrecrated, heads will roll (no pun intended). Why? Because the first error was the leaky reporting for which Newsweek apologized yet, at the same time, defended. Then there was the fact that the editor apologized but insisted it the apology and admission of error wasn’t a retraction — but now, it turns out, it is. Get it? Unfortunately, many Muslims may share in the confusion.
Here are some details about an episode that ranks now as not only not a stellar episode in quality reporting but not a stellar episode in corporate public relations. Just consider how this double foot-in-mouth PLAYS not only in the United States (to its citizens who already distrust the press, to young people considering a journalism career, etc.) but abroad (to mainstream Muslims who are not in with terrorists or insurgents but will NOT tolerate or be associated with forces that denegrate their religious symbols):
Newsweek magazine, under fire for a publishing story that led to deadly protests in Afghanistan, said Monday it was retracting its report that a military probe had found evidence of desecration of the Quran by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.
This is what SHOULD HAVE been done earlier…with no qualifiers. MORE:
Earlier Monday, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan had criticized Newsweek’s initial response to the incident, saying it was “puzzling.”
Newsweek had reported in its issue dated May 9 that U.S. military investigators had found evidence that interrogators placed copies of Islam’s holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.
Newsweek acknowledged problems with the story and its editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized in an editor’s note in this week’s edition. The accusations spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured.
Whitaker wrote in an editor’s note that “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.”
Note the word “WRONG.” That means you RETRACT that part of it. If it’s “RIGHT” you don’t apologize for the report. But Whitaker then told the New York Times he was NOT retracting it (” “We’re not retracting anything. We don’t know what the ultimate facts are.”)
So now we come to this:
But after the White House criticized Newsweek’s response to the story, Whitaker released a statement later Monday through a spokesman saying the magazine was retracting the story.
“Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay,” Whitaker said.
Fox News has the tantilizing question of the year when it notes in its report:”Newsweek did not say what caused the turnabout.”
This is NOT a matter of ideology; this is matter of quality journalism and appropriate corporate response to a quality-control issue. In most corporations — not just journalistic — a double screw up like this would mean consquences for some folks. Not necessarily firing, but reassignment.
Will Isikoff become the magazine’s new Blog Reporter and will Whitaker be resassigned by his publisher to handle the education beat? (Fat chance…)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.