Journalism 101: So What Makes For Good News Reporting?

 

Newsweek has officially issued their retraction of their dubiously founded story over the alleged toilet flushing of a Quran in the Guantanamo prison camp to rattle certain Muslim prisoners. We credit Newsweek for the decision although we will not hold our breath hoping the episode has made them wiser.

This should all but bury this horse. We grieve over the terrible loss of lives and the dreadful damage it had caused. If it is to matter somehow, though, we should at least attempt to profit from learning what got the horse in the deadly trouble that it did in the first place?

Mark Tapscott of the Tapscott’s Copy Desk blog offers an excellent analysis from the point of view of a veteran journalist. His core point admonishes Newsweek, in light of still very fresh memories of other mainstream media journalists caught fabricating facts and quotes, that it will take a long and sincere doing before it can expect to be taken seriously again. In the process, Tapscott points out some basics of the trade everyone, amateur or professional, would do well to heed.

Here’s a quote:

ANALYSIS:
For whatever reason, it appears Newsweek's reporters and editors forgot Journalism 101's First Rule: You don't publish a serious allegation that could seriously damage or destroy an individual's reputation, put somebody in physical danger or place public safety at risk if you don't have two independently verifiable sources.

...Newsweek went ahead and published despite its failure to independently verify its lone source's credibility. At a minimum, Journalism 101 would have required holding off publication...

Here’s the rest of the post...