Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Washington media still being used

Commentary by Pat Murphy


By PAT MURPHY

Pat Murphy

Any worthwhile news reporter attracts tipsters like flies to honey. For every worthwhile tip that leads to public good, however, maybe 50 tips turn out to be self-serving gossip or outright fiction.

But the Washington media, the ultimate lure for tips about corrupt or mischievous conduct in government, seem blind when they're being exploited and humiliated by tipsters with their own agendas.

Remember "Operation Tailwind," CNN's investigative debacle that alleged U.S. forces had used poison gas in Laos on American GI defectors? CNN had to retract the arduously produced TV spectacular and admit it couldn't prove allegations provided by "sources" for the report.

Then came the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame by a White House "source" in revenge for criticism of the Bush administration by her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who alleged hokum about Iraq's nuclear threat. A few reporters gleefully allowed themselves to be used as conduits for the unmasking of a CIA employee. However, at least two reporters face jail time for refusing to name the person who leaked Plame's name.

Now, Newsweek magazine is pulling back from an item provided by a "source" reporting that the Quran, Islam's holiest text, was flushed down a toilet by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Besides unnamed sources, what do these three episodes share in common?

The media taking the flack for being taken in by sources have not revealed the source names, sticking to the code that sources must be protected lest journalists can't do their jobs.

Big mistake. Sophisticated sources are sucking in naïve media, either to promote a political agenda (blowing the cover of Valerie Plame) or to simply further demonize the "liberal" media (Newsweek's Quran desecration item).

How long before the next source rings up a gullible Washington reporter looking for a scoop, as it were, and plants a phony tip requiring a retraction—but no unmasking of the tipster?

The pact between reporters and tipsters should be explicit: any phony information will result in the source's name being revealed, including public officials.

Gradually, the breed of tipsters who've made a business of using the media with false information would soon loose their ability to bamboozle any more news media—and the public.

Newsweek's Quran item, if untrue as Newsweek now says the information was, was especially reprehensible: It set off Muslim riots resulting in nearly 20 deaths.

What does Newsweek owe to anyone responsible for so callous a bum tip and why is the name not being exposed?




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