Newsweek and the Qur'ān: Nixon's Revenge?

"Stranger" at the Blah3 blog (via Atrios) points to this column: White House, media in struggle for credibility by Ron Hutcheson, Knight-Ridder 05/17/05.

Hucheson's article covers similar ground to this one: Holding Newsweek accountable Salon 05/16/05.

Day quotes Pentagon flak Lawrence DiRita saying something you would think, in the wake of the Iraqi-WMD boondoggle, that he would be embarassed to say even in private:

My reaction and I think our reaction is that Newsweek reported something that was factually inaccurate on several points. It's demonstrably wrong, and Newsweek has acknowledged that. But they have not retracted it, and have tried instead to water it down.

They printed a story based on an erroneous source or sources that was demonstrably false and that resulted in riots in which people were killed. I don't know how else to parse it.

Hutcheson quotes Rummy:Administration officials lined up to criticize the magazine once it became apparent that the story was falling apart. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it "appalling." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called it "irresponsible." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denounced it and added that "people need to be very careful about what they say."

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan amplified his earlier criticism and urged Newsweek's editors and reporters "to do all that they can to help repair the damage." For starters, he suggested that the magazine publish positive stories on the U.S. military's efforts to see that the Quran "is handled with the utmost care and respect."

By pummeling Newsweek, administration officials got a chance to limit the damage to America's image abroad while also undermining the media's credibility at home. The furor over Newsweek's error comes at time when the media and the White House are on the defensive over credibility issues. (my emphasis)

A similarity with the Nixon-Agnew days of crusading against The Media occurs to me here. Agnew opened his little jihad against the Liberal Press Conspiracy by focusing on television network, implicitly suggesting that tougher government standards might be needed. (This was before the Reps figured out that they could achieve a similar end through "de-regulation" and allowing corporate concentration.) Then he followed it up with an attack on print media.

And in one sense, that's what this administration is doing, too. They've apparently seriously cowed CBS, which was already pretty timid and deferential. Now they're applying heavy pressure on Newsweek, as well.

Stranger writes:

Now is the time. In the past year, the White House has stripped two prestigious media outlets of any trace of pride or respectability, and done so on two stories that remain essentially true. The Texas Air National Guard story was 'discredited,' but everyone seems to forget that while much was made of the 'faked' memos, the content of those memos was never denied or disproven. Bush did go AWOL. It was a fact when that story was 'debunked,' and it remains a fact today.

Same situation with the desecration of the religion of Islam by US intelligence. Stories of interrogators debasing Islam have been around for years, and the specific charge of desecration of the Koran has been made by numerous former detainees at Guantanamo. No one - not the White House, the Pentagon, no one - have denied the charge. The Newsweek story was 'debunked' by the anonymous source saying that he didn't read the charge in the report he originally told the Newsweek reporters he read it in.

Both Rummy and Dick Cheney are Nixon administration veterans. In many ways, including this one, the Bush II administration is like the Revenge of Tricky Dick.