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The SNAFUs Continue…

Newsweek reported false, unsubstantiated rumors as fact. They falsely reported that U.S. interragators in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran by flushing it down the toilet, sparking riots across the globe. They took their time in correcting this massive error and buried it when it was time to face the rioters. This pretty much says it all

Newsweek may have admitted Sunday that its sloppy reporting, about how a U.S. soldier at Guantanamo Bay flushed a Koran down a toilet, led to riots in Afghanistan which killed at least 15 people, but they hardly made their concession prominent in the May 23 edition of the magazine, especially online where, on the magazine’s home page, you’d have to guess that this headline, "The Islamic World: How a Fire Broke Out," had something to do with a retraction. And to read Editor Mark Whitaker’s message, you’d have to know to click on "Letters and Live Talk" in a left side column, then, under "More," choose "The Editors’ Desk." And even then, whether online or in the hard copy, Whitaker didn’t approach an apology until the last sentence of his last paragraph: "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."

Here’s the story on "How A Fire Broke Out". And here’s Newsweek’s somewhat pathetic response. Shame on you!

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