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1. Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest Story Really True Following the "fake but accurate" theme espoused by some to defend CBS's use of forged memos to get President Bush, in the wake of Newsweek's retraction late Monday of its claim that a military report would include the charge that a guard at Guantanamo flushed a Koran down a toilet, journalistic colleagues came to Newsweek's defense. CNN's Anderson Cooper proposed: "Is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used?" CBS and ABC passed along allegations from prisoners. Richard Roth of CBS recalled: "Detainees released in 2003 came home claiming American guards had routinely provoked them by sitting on the Koran, or putting pages in a toilet." ABC's Martha Raddatz argued: "The Newsweek article was not the first time U.S. personnel have been accused of desecrating the Koran. Last year, this British detainee released from Guantanamo said guards 'would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.'" Later, on Monday's Nightline, John Donvan suggested: "What really goes on at Guantanamo Bay, no one really knows." Anchor Chris Bury asked that "given the other abuses" of prisoners by the U.S., "does Newsweek deserve all the blame, assuming that its story was incorrect?" 2. MSNBC's Olbermann & Crawford Suggest Bush Team "Set Up" Newsweek MSNBC's Keith Olbermann led Monday's Countdown by snidely asking: "Why does a book in a toilet start riots, but a war doesn't?" Turning conspiratorial, Olbermann soon proposed that "something smells funny to me about this Newsweek apology, then retraction" after White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan "blasts Newsweek." Guest Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly and CBS News charged that the Bush administration may well have "set up the news media" to look foolish: "The government had the opportunity to see this report before it was published -- and passed. This is a pattern we've seen before, Keith. We saw it in the CBS case as bad as the supposedly fake memorandum that Dan Rather used in the 60 Minutes report on Bush's National Guard service, as bad as that was, they did show it to the administration ahead of time. It does make you wonder if sometimes they set up the news media." Apparently, an easy mark. 3. Schieffer Blames Newsweek's Retraction on White House "Pressure" CBS's Bob Schieffer, matching the view of those hostile to the U.S. in the Muslim world, painted Newsweek's retraction as coming only after "pressure" from the White House. "Under pressure from the White House," Schieffer teased Monday's CBS Evening News, "Newsweek today retracted a story that led to deadly rioting in Afghanistan." Schieffer introduced his lead story by outlining how "over the weekend, Newsweek said its source could no longer confirm the report, and the magazine's editor apologized. Then, late today, under pressure from the White House, Newsweek retracted the entire story." 4. Alter: Story May Be True, Chides Pentagon, Touts Mag's "Digging" When Don Imus asked Newsweek's Jonathan Alter on Monday morning about "Newsweek's agenda to try to dig up crummy stuff that American troops are doing," Alter denied any such agenda as he simultaneously stressed how "the part of the story that we have apologized for is that we said that Southern Command had this Koran toilet incident as part of its official investigation," but "we're not saying it didn't happen." Alter proceeded to castigate the Pentagon for not denying Newsweek's claims for "many days." Alter also touted how Newsweek is amongst "really only about eight or ten news organizations in the entire world who do any real digging, and everybody else kind of re-chews what these eight or ten news organizations dig up." He insisted that "the larger question that people have to ask is do they want news organizations out there trying to dig, or do they want to take all their information from the government?" But in this case, isn't Newsweek's position that they got their information from a government official? 5. Newsweek Critic Ansen's Changing Approach to Star Wars Movies It's not a retraction, just a contradiction. On Monday's Today show, in a story re-aired on MSNBC's Countdown and Scarborough Country, Newsweek film critic David Ansen read modern politics into the upcoming Star Wars film, with President Bush in the Darth Vader role: "It's clear that there's a parallel between the Bush administration and the rise to power of the Empire, the Evil Empire." He also asserted the film suggested a critique of the Patriot Act. But during the Clinton years, Ansen lamented that the original Star Wars film in 1977 signaled the resurgence of conservatism: "It marked a fundamental cultural shift that anticipated Ronald Reagan's politics of nostalgia and brought back the tyranny of the happy ending." In another article, he wrote that all war movies became anti-war movies after Vietnam, so "the spirit of gung-ho heroism had to flee into the future -- into boys' adventure fantasies such as Star Wars." Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest Story Really True Following the "fake but accurate" theme espoused by some to defend CBS's use of forged memos to get President Bush, in the wake of Newsweek's retraction late Monday of its claim that a military report would include the charge that a guard at Guantanamo flushed a Koran down a toilet, journalistic colleagues came to Newsweek's defense and contended that the magazine's larger portrait of how the U.S. regards the Muslim region remains accurate. CNN's Anderson Cooper proposed: "Is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used?" CBS and ABC passed along allegations from prisoners. Richard Roth of CBS recalled: "Detainees released in 2003 came home claiming American guards had routinely provoked them by sitting on the Koran, or putting pages in a toilet." ABC's Martha Raddatz argued: "The Newsweek article was not the first time U.S. personnel have been accused of desecrating the Koran. Last year, this British detainee released from Guantanamo said guards 'would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.'" Later, on Monday's Nightline, John Donvan reacted to a Defense Department officials denial of the Newsweek story: "'Demonstrably false?" At Guantanamo Bay, almost nothing is demonstrable, especially to the Muslim world. It's a secret prison, for good reason, perhaps. But secret. What really goes on at Guantanamo Bay, no one really knows." Interviewing an expert on the Muslim world, anchor Chris Bury speculated: "Do you think the volume of the protests [from Bush administration officials] is, perhaps, a bit calculated to deflect some attention away from the policies at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?" Bury followed up: "But given the other abuses, I guess what I'm getting at here is, does Newsweek deserve all the blame," for the violent reaction, "assuming that its story was incorrect?" On the CBS Evening News, John Roberts asserted that "the report does mirror claims made by former Guantanamo detainees that they were subject to religious harassment," but he at least pointed how that "the White House today suggested those claims were mere propaganda." Now, a fuller rundown of those stories which aired on Monday night, May 16: -- CBS Evening News. Following the lead story on Newsweek's retraction (see item #3 below), anchor Bob Schieffer set up a second piece: "In any case, Newsweek's decision to retract the report is not likely to make much difference to outraged Muslims. For them, the damage has been done, and it can't easily be undone. Correspondent Richard Roth now with that part of the story."
Richard Roth began, as taken down by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "The rage that swept through Afghanistan and much of the Muslim world lasted almost a week. The fires are out now, but the anger's still burning."
As Raddatz recited the quote from the former detainee, the on-screen graphic identified him as "Iqbal" and the source as the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is a left wing group. (Showing the confusion over how to spell, in English, the name of Islam's holy book, the quote from the detainee spelled it "Koran" while the title at the top of ABC's screen declared: "DESECRATING THE QUR'AN.")
Later, anchor Chris Bury brought aboard, via satellite from California, Akbar Ahmed, Chairman of Islamic studies and professor of international relations at the American University. A Bury/Ahmed exchange:
Bury: "You said that Condoleezza Rice and others in the administration have protested. Do you think the volume of the protests is, perhaps, a bit calculated to deflect some attention away from the policies at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?"
MSNBC's Olbermann & Crawford Suggest Bush Team "Set Up" Newsweek MSNBC's Keith Olbermann led Monday's Countdown by snidely asking: "Why does a book in a toilet start riots, but a war doesn't?" Turning conspiratorial, Olbermann soon proposed that "something smells funny to me about this Newsweek apology, then retraction" after White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan "blasts Newsweek." Guest Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly and CBS News charged that the Bush administration may well have "set up the news media" to look foolish: "The government had the opportunity to see this report before it was published -- and passed. This is a pattern we've seen before, Keith. We saw it in the CBS case as bad as the supposedly fake memorandum that Dan Rather used in the 60 Minutes report on Bush's National Guard service, as bad as that was, they did show it to the administration ahead of time. It does make you wonder if sometimes they set up the news media." Apparently, an easy mark. Olbermann teased the May 16 Countdown, as watched by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "Which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? After riots, after taking hits from the White House, Newsweek apologizes, says it's not sure its story about interrogators flushing copies of the Koran down the toilet was entirely correct. But what about the half dozen previous media stories claiming that? And why does a book in a toilet start riots, but a war doesn't?"
Olbermann set up his #5 story: "Good evening. What would foment more violence in this country and other western nations? Some sort of Muslim group burning down a Bible publishing plant, killing all the employees? Or the same group burning one copy of the Bible? Our answer would almost unanimously be 'Burning down the plant.' Not in the Muslim world. There, a report that the U.S. was investigating whether interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet not only preceded rioting that claimed 15 lives, but also led to strained international diplomacy, sharp words from the Pentagon and the White House about the reporting, and today a retraction from the magazine that did the reporting, even though it was not the first publication to report it. While the White House attributed anti-American rioting in Afghanistan last week to the revelation, the U.S. military itself disagreed. The violence there caused at least 15 deaths, then spread throughout the Muslim world.
Olbermann's first question: "Something smells funny to me about this Newsweek apology, then retraction. Do you sense the same thing? And what the heck are we smelling?" With the kind of behavior shown by Newsweek, it doesn't take any politician to turn the public against the media.
Schieffer Blames Newsweek's Retraction on White House "Pressure" CBS's Bob Schieffer, matching the view of those hostile to the U.S. in the Muslim world, painted Newsweek's retraction as coming only after "pressure" from the White House. "Under pressure from the White House," Schieffer teased Monday's CBS Evening News, "Newsweek today retracted a story that led to deadly rioting in Afghanistan." Schieffer introduced his lead story by outlining how "over the weekend, Newsweek said its source could no longer confirm the report, and the magazine's editor apologized. Then, late today, under pressure from the White House, Newsweek retracted the entire story." ABC's Martha Raddatz had relayed on World News Tonight how "in the many places where the article caused so much anger, people today were skeptical about the Newsweek admission, feeling the magazine had simply buckled under U.S. government pressure." Schieffer teased his May 16 newscast: "Good evening. I am Bob Schieffer. Under pressure from the White House, Newsweek today retracted a story that led to deadly rioting in Afghanistan -- a report the magazine now says it cannot confirm." Schieffer soon introduced his lead story: "It all began last week when Newsweek quoted a government source as saying U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp desecrated a Koran in an attempt to get Muslim terror suspects to talk. The report led to a week of violent anti-American demonstrations in Afghanistan in which at least 15 people were killed. Then, over the weekend, Newsweek said its source could no longer confirm the report, and the magazine's editor apologized. Then, late today, under pressure from the White House, Newsweek retracted the entire story."
Alter: Story May Be True, Chides Pentagon, Touts Mag's "Digging" When Don Imus asked Newsweek's Jonathan Alter on Monday morning about "Newsweek's agenda to try to dig up crummy stuff that American troops are doing," Alter denied any such agenda as he simultaneously stressed how "the part of the story that we have apologized for is that we said that Southern Command had this Koran toilet incident as part of its official investigation," but "we're not saying it didn't happen." Alter proceeded to castigate the Pentagon for not denying Newsweek's claims for "many days." Alter also touted how Newsweek is amongst "really only about eight or ten news organizations in the entire world who do any real digging, and everybody else kind of re-chews what these eight or ten news organizations dig up." He insisted that "the larger question that people have to ask is do they want news organizations out there trying to dig, or do they want to take all their information from the government?" But in this case, isn't Newsweek's position that they got their information from a government official? The MRC's Jessica Barnes caught Alter's remarks which were made during an appearance, by phone, during the 6:30am EDT half hour of MSNBC's May 16 simulcast of the Imus in the Morning radio show.
Imus asked: "Here's the thing that occurred to me. Why don't we examine the motives of Newsweek? Why is it, why is it Newsweek's agenda to try to dig up crummy stuff that American troops are doing -- ixnay on the-"
Newsweek Critic Ansen's Changing Approach to Star Wars Movies It's not a retraction, just a contradiction. On Monday's Today show, in a story re-aired on MSNBC's Countdown and Scarborough Country, Newsweek film critic David Ansen read modern politics into the upcoming Star Wars film, with President Bush in the Darth Vader role: "It's clear that there's a parallel between the Bush administration and the rise to power of the Empire, the Evil Empire." He also asserted the film suggested a critique of the Patriot Act. But during the Clinton years, Ansen lamented that the original Star Wars film in 1977 signaled the resurgence of conservatism: "It marked a fundamental cultural shift that anticipated Ronald Reagan's politics of nostalgia and brought back the tyranny of the happy ending." In another article, he wrote that all war movies became anti-war movies after Vietnam, so "the spirit of gung-ho heroism had to flee into the future -- into boys' adventure fantasies such as Star Wars." [The MRC's Tim Graham submitted this article for CyberAlert.] On Monday's Today, the MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed, Katie Couric introduced the Star Wars segment halfway through the show's first half hour: "May the Force be with you, you and you. The last of the Star Wars movie, hit movies, hits theaters everywhere this week. It's one of the most talked about films of the year but now some critics are claiming it's actually a thinly-veiled lightsaber attack against President Bush. NBC's Michael Okwu has the story."
Okwu began: "It is the much-hyped, highly anticipated final episode of a decades-old drama. But this week the buzz about Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, opening in days, it may take shots at the Bush White House." Ansen carried the same theme into his review in the May 16 edition of Newsweek: "It's hard not to feel that Lucas's engagement with this story has a contemporary urgency, as line after pointed line invites us to see a parallel with today's wartime climate. As the Senate cedes power to Palpatine under the guise of intergalactic security, Natalie Portman's Princess Padme exclaims bitterly, 'So this is how liberty dies -- to thunderous applause.'" But during the Clinton years, Ansen lamented that the original Star Wars film signaled the resurgence of conservatism. In the January 20, 1997 issue, Ansen trashed the George Lucas films. In an article titled "Dark Side of a Hit," Ansen began: "Is Star Wars the movie that destroyed Hollywood? A lot of people in the movie industry would say yes." Ansen asserted that the ground-breaking 1970s work of directors Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Mazursky brought a refreshing "new tone and style in American films, a determination to rethink and subvert the old narrative formulas." That style also often rethought and subverted everything that Americans loved and respected. Ansen then complained: "Star Wars, on the other hand, with its mythic battle of Good and Evil, looked back to every time-honored genre. From Westerns and war movies to Flash Gordon serials and even [the Nazi propaganda film] Triumph of the Will, Lucas pillaged Hollywood history to produce what was the first postmodern epic. But this was postmodernism without irony, designed to evoke longing for the 'innocent' childhood experience of watching movies. It marked a fundamental cultural shift that anticipated Ronald Reagan's politics of nostalgia and brought back the tyranny of the happy ending."
In a July 13, 1998 article titled, "Celluloid Soldiers," Ansen returned to the complaint that Star Wars did not present an anti-war theme, but a pro-war theme which failed to subvert rah-rah pro-military themes: Ansen has regularly offered a classic example of the liberal film critic who judges movies first and foremost on whether they aid and abet his ideology. Films that might boost conservatism, intentionally or unintentionally, symbolize for him the "dark side" of Hollywood. But Ansen should try to explain how the Star Wars films are both pro-war, and now suddenly anti-war.
-- Brent Baker
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