Newsweek Koran Desecration Article Retracted--Reporter is the Lewinsky Reporter

I have held off blogging until more of the story came out and because others are already doing such a good job of responding.

Now that Newsweek has printed its woefully inadequate retraction, I do have a few words to say.

Reporter on Retracted Newsweek Article Put Monica on the Map

[Isikoff's] article [about desecration of the Koran], which was blamed for rioting in Pakistan and Afghanistan in which at least 17 people were killed, has been denounced by the Pentagon for relying on what it says is incorrect information supplied by an anonymous source.

In discussing the article yesterday, Mr. Isikoff, who supplied the source for the article, said: "...The big point that leaps out is the cultural one. Neither Newsweek nor the Pentagon foresaw that a reference to the desecration of the Koran was going to create the kind of response that it did..."

Mark Whitaker, the editor of Newsweek, said in an interview yesterday, "Everybody behaved professionally and by the book in this case." Mr. Whitaker said no disciplinary action was being taken against the reporters because they did everything they should have done. "Grounds for discipline would be unethical behavior, fabrication, sloppy reporting or unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of the problem, and none of those things happened in this case."

Mr. Isikoff is, famously, the journalist who discovered the liaison between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, and it was his reporting that led to impeachment proceedings against the president.

Newsweek has also printed the following:

Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur'an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them "not credible." Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But 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.

I think it is time to send Newsweek a clear message: Apology not taken.

Perhaps Isikoff's behavior steered just slightly clear of unethical and his story was not a total fabrication but certainly the reporting was sloppy. Hasn't there been an unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of the problem?

Also, as a Michelle Malkin reader pointed out Newsweek editors made a deal with Kerry that in exchange for access, anything they discovered during the campaign would not be published until after the election. Claiming journalistic integrity in rushing the Koran story to print is hypocritical after making the Kerry deal.

If you actually subscribe to Newsweek (perhaps for the funny cartoons and quotes page?), please cancel your subscription and let the editors know why you are doing so.

This is the only thing "journalists" who have sacrificed their sacred democratic duty in pursuit of sensationalistic cover stories will understand.