So what was Newsweek's error, exactly? Everyone seems to be piling on them a la CBS News. But how deep a look a look have we taken?
As I've mentioned a few times before, the General used to be a journalist, once upon a time. This story smacks of failure all around -- but the mistakes may not be what you think.
Check out my take on the flip...
So here's my take on the whole thing:
- Newsweek's biggest error was using a single source to substantiate its story. OMG, do I somewhat agree with Scott McClellan? Sad.
- Newsweek's second biggest error was to use an unnamed person for that single source. That's just asking for it. Now, this source is probably someone prominent that we'd all recognize or at least may have heard of. That is what would have given Newsweek the confidence to trust this person. Still, no excuses.
- Newsweek's third biggest error was to back down from the story after the source backed out. I would say instead that the story only gets bigger at this point.
- Its fourth error was in not outing its "source" when that person backed out. My perspective is when a source burns you, you burn them. Put their name out there, make them explain if or why they were lying.
- Finally, they should have kept their eye on the ball: What was the essential truth of the story? From what I've read, the incidents reported have been not rare, but frequent. As Frank Mankiewicz, the political director of the George McGovern campaign once said about Hunter S. Thompson, Thompson was "the least accurate and most truthful" journalist covering McGovern's campaign. That would have been the case for Newsweek, but they folded their cards too early.
Where does Newsweek go from here?
- Out your "source" -- it's not like you're going to want to use them again anyway.
- Uncover the real truth of what's happening in there -- this shouldn't be a hard story to put together. Time to get going.
- Don't back down to the White House. If you show weakness, you're just asking the noise machine to jump on you. Get some backbone.