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Opinion
Article
that led to riots a negative for all of us
May
19, 2005
Nothing
will threaten freedom of the press in this country as much as
abusing the privilege. That, to put it succinctly, is exactly
what Newsweek magazine did when it published an article that
later had to be retracted.
Protests broke out across much
of the Islamic world after a discredited Newsweek report. It
said U. S. investigators had found evidence that interrogators
had flushed a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, down a
toilet in an attempt to rattle detainees. The protests led to
violence. About 15 died and many more were injured in
Afghanistan alone.
After criticism from the Bush
Administration and others, a Newsweek spokesman said the
magazine was retracting the article. “Based on what we know
now,” the spokesman said, “we are retracting our original
story …”
SECRETARY OF STATE
Condoleezza Rice said, “It’s appalling that this story got out
there.” She’s right. The way such a volatile subject was
handled by Newsweek was seen as irresponsible by many members
of the working press. You have to wonder why it was reported
in the first place. What purpose would it have served? No,
what purpose did it serve other than to stir more anti-America
hatred?
There hardly seems any doubt that somebody latched
on to the report and used it to drum up protests against the
U. S. Staged or not, the rioting wouldn’t have occurred had
the erroneous story not been printed.
There’s a lot of talk
these days about accountability and responsibility.
Journalists must live by both. Doing less does indeed abuse
the freedom that is a right of the people, not simply a right
of the press, print or electronic.
WHERE THERE
IS NO accountability and responsibility, there is no
credibility. Without that, trust is diminished.
Newsweek
should do much more than simply apologize for its unnecessary
and unwarranted insult of Muslims everywhere. The magazine
owes all Americans for what it has done to their country’s
reputation around the world.
The entire episode is an
insult. Many South Carolinians, and others, must wonder why
there are so many reporters, primarily in the major media, who
seem to look for some way to run down their country?
Having
the interests of your country at heart is not unethical.
Printing unsubstantiated articles and pictures, however, is.
Editorial expression in this feature represents
our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.
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