Thursday, May 19, 2005
OBSOLETE POWER CORRUPTS OBSOLETELY
Technorati tag:PoliticsNEWSWEEKJournalist Tim Porter reports from the Knight Fellowships 2005 Symposium at Stanford. The topic was "Credibility in an Age of 24-7 News." Surprise surprise keynote speaker Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker was a noshow.
(For blogospheric rock-dwellers, Newsweek recently published a story alleging that US interrogator flushed the Koran down the john, insulted Muslims rioted, a bunch of people were killed in the riots, then Newsweek admitted the flushing may never have happened, oh and sorry)
Mr. Porter thinks Newsweek's reliance on anonymous sources is less of a problem than the journalistic imperative to get the big scoop. I think lots of non-journalists think that all "scoops" aren't the same. When a scoop has the potential to inflame tensions during a war, we hold journalists to a higher standard of care. And Newsweek acted as though they were printing a report about Paris Hilton's latest sex video (yes yes I know those are usually true).
(For blogospheric rock-dwellers, Newsweek recently published a story alleging that US interrogator flushed the Koran down the john, insulted Muslims rioted, a bunch of people were killed in the riots, then Newsweek admitted the flushing may never have happened, oh and sorry)
Mr. Porter thinks Newsweek's reliance on anonymous sources is less of a problem than the journalistic imperative to get the big scoop. I think lots of non-journalists think that all "scoops" aren't the same. When a scoop has the potential to inflame tensions during a war, we hold journalists to a higher standard of care. And Newsweek acted as though they were printing a report about Paris Hilton's latest sex video (yes yes I know those are usually true).
