newsweek needs to do more than apologize, white house says
newsweek needs to do more than apologize, white house says
first we had the dan rather mess with cbs...now we have the newsweek mess......you would think that experienced journalists would verify their info before reporting a story.
POSTED: 6:33 pm EDT May 15, 2005
UPDATED: 12:18 pm EDT May 16, 2005
NEW YORK -- Newsweek's apology for its story about Quran abuse at Guantanamo is not adequate, says a White House spokesman.
Newsweek is extending its sympathies to the victims of the violence in Afghanistan that left 15 people dead in anti-U.S. protests prompted by a story in the news weekly claiming that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay prison had desecrated Islam?s holy book, the Quran.
Newsweek now says it believes parts of the story were wrong.
But White House Press Secretary said Newsweek needs to do more.
?While Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refuse to retract the story," McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met. In this instance it was not. The report has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives.?
In a note to readers, Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine's information came from "a knowledgeable U.S. government source." But Whitaker added the source later said he could not be sure he'd read about the alleged Quran incident in the report that was cited.
"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," Whitaker said.
Following the report, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan, and Islamic leaders gathered to pass a resolution calling for anyone found to have abused the Quran to be punished. Fifteen people died and scores were injured in violence between protesters and security forces, prompting U.S. promises to investigate the allegations.
In an issue dated May 9, the magazine reported 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.
Whitaker wrote that before publishing the item, writers Michael Isikoff and John Barry sought comment from two Defense Department officials. One declined to respond, and the other challenged another part of the story but did not dispute the Quran charge, Whitaker said.
"Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we," Whitaker wrote.
But on Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told the magazine that a review of the military's investigation concluded "it was never meant to look into charges of Quran desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them 'not credible."'
