This Newsweek Shit

Ok, so this whole Quran in the shitter retraction business is almost as much about smoke and mirrors as it is about journalism and responsibility. Newsweek didn't pull the actual story, but only limited parts of its reports on reports. In essence, becuase of pressure from the Bush administration, Newsweeks original source now refuses to confirm the story, forcing Newsweek to retract the story. However, in a quote in the Washington Post, the Newsweek editors stated that they can't claim that the incident actually took place (b/c they have no source now) but also that they couldn't say that the incident didn't happen either. The wonderful people at CRJ for providing an in-depth analysis of the whole situation.

Two more things that seem suspect to me: (1) The riots, and (2) the timing. Where did the mainstream media first get the impression that the Newsweek article was in fact responsible for the dealy, and unfortunate riots abroad? I've admittingly been out of the loop thanks to post-finals moving which has left me sans the Net, so if anyone has a better lead feel free to comment. And also you gotta wonder about the timing of this whole situation. Kinda reminds me of the "mysterious" phone call that 10 reporters got and that Mr. Novak decided to report on. More to the point, should it appear odd that this, of all stories, mishandled (obviously) by the media, breaks right before the debate on the future of the Supreme Court and the Nuclear Option (which, as Atrios points out, was coined by Frist righties and not 'liberal' freedom haters).