Newsweek Finds Bad Stories Aren't Equal

By Robert Parry
May 18, 2005

Newsweek is the latest U.S. news outlet to be slapped into the stocks for sloppy journalism, pelted with criticism for a story alleging American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed a Koran down a toilet. But the case also underscores the fact that some stories are politically riskier than others – especially if they upset the Bushes.

Newsweek certainly has engaged in bad journalism before, though perhaps not to this level of notoriety. In the late 1980s, when I worked there, I often witnessed senior editors getting excited about some hot story and brushing aside doubts from reporters.