Passing the Buck?
I noted earlier today that everyone seems eager to lambast Newsweek over their story retraction. Although I don't think anyone in the mainstream news media will carry this story as extensively as they reported the original story, I'm was at least pleased that these media outlets were running the retraction.
On the other hand, seeing the SpaceWar (Agence France Presse) story about the Pentagon's statement makes me wonder. Could it be that all of these media outlets are pointing the finger in an attempt to take the attention off the fact that every single one of them would have done the same thing?
Let's consider this for a moment. I'll admit that several of the outlets were rather coy about it. They didn't report specifically on the allegations; they reported on the riots caused by the allegations, which gave them the option of quietly inserting the cause of the riots. Then, when the allegations are shown to be false, everyone is quick to point the figures back at the source, as if to say "We don't act like that! Shame on you!"
If you ask me, it's a classic case of passing the buck. Who reads Newsweek? It isn't published frequently enough to have a readership beyond those who aren't really that news savvy. It's a "news magazine", meaning that the stories are longer, but tend to be less about hard, inverted pyramid style news. The BBC, CNN, the AFP, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, et cetera, are the opposite: daily (or hourly) reports on everything. They distribute the news that all of the little Newsweeks can't, and follow up on it. If anyone's responsible for spreading this story as far as it went, it's not Newsweek, but these other news outlets.
On the other hand, seeing the SpaceWar (Agence France Presse) story about the Pentagon's statement makes me wonder. Could it be that all of these media outlets are pointing the finger in an attempt to take the attention off the fact that every single one of them would have done the same thing?
Let's consider this for a moment. I'll admit that several of the outlets were rather coy about it. They didn't report specifically on the allegations; they reported on the riots caused by the allegations, which gave them the option of quietly inserting the cause of the riots. Then, when the allegations are shown to be false, everyone is quick to point the figures back at the source, as if to say "We don't act like that! Shame on you!"
If you ask me, it's a classic case of passing the buck. Who reads Newsweek? It isn't published frequently enough to have a readership beyond those who aren't really that news savvy. It's a "news magazine", meaning that the stories are longer, but tend to be less about hard, inverted pyramid style news. The BBC, CNN, the AFP, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, et cetera, are the opposite: daily (or hourly) reports on everything. They distribute the news that all of the little Newsweeks can't, and follow up on it. If anyone's responsible for spreading this story as far as it went, it's not Newsweek, but these other news outlets.
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