Retraction distraction

Letter to Newsweek:

Editor,

I wish i believed your retraction of the story about the desecration of the Koran. I truly do. But I do not. I believe the original Periscope story. Nothing about what you originally reported falls outside of the scope of what we already know to be true about our own military's interrogation tactics. Nor does the "retraction" seem surprising or credible. The American news media, along with the Bush Administration, has lost all its credibility and all too often seem to be working in tandem.

This, unfortunately, is what we have come to. The truth is too often what is shortly to be announced as a mistake. And the retraction becomes the story that then covers for, and distracts us from, the consequences of the truth. Call this technique: Retraction distraction. We all know that the Bush National guard memos were faked. Lost in the retraction distraction was any analysis of the contents of the memo. This, of course, was quite convenient for the President.

Why did Newsweek's fact checking suddenly breakdown in the Periscope column? And why- after days of riots in Islamic countries -did the "source" become questionable? And if the story does turn out to be absolutely true - will Newsweek run the story?

Democracy depends on the fourth estate. Period. Nothing about this "retraction" has any of the hallmarks of a free and responsible press. In fact, it has all the hallmarks of a news organization that buckled to outside pressure.