Yeah, Right, Whatever

Everyone's all over the Newsweek fiasco. The same way they were all over CBS's memo debacle. "Journalists" who chose political ideology over cold hard fact are in the news as much as the WoT or the economy. Maybe even more.

Do they learn from their mistakes? Do they choose to take the more difficult path and fact-check before they publish? Well... obviously not...

"There's one rumor spreading today in local newspapers," (NBC's Middle East correspondent) Engel said. "It's been on the local television and it was also broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television network. It's that U.S. Marines, while raiding a mosque in Ramadi, kicked a Quran and then took it and spray painted in black paint a cross right on top of the Quran."

Engel said another rumor "came out a couple of weeks ago [and] was in a local newspaper.

"It said that during a search of a woman's bag, U.S. soldiers with a team of dogs were sniffing through her bag. She had a Quran in her bag. The dog pulled the Muslim holy book out of the bag with its mouth and the soldiers started laughing."

The NBC newsman then sourced an allegation by a female terrorist suspect who had been detained at Abu Ghraib, who aired her claim in an Iraqi newspaper.

"[She said] she was raped every night by six American soldiers," Engel reported, before adding that U.S. officials deny the claim.

So... instead of hunting these women down and verifying their stories, they just report rumor and inuendo. And they trust Al J as a source? The same "news" organization that reported every word that Baghdad Bob said as gospel truth... who run stories about Mengele-like experiments being performed on Muslim children by evil Zionists...

Back in the day, reporters researched. They hunted down stories. They documented their facts. They made sure they had the story right. Not anymore... People are losing faith in the media because of the cavalier attitude they've assumed. It's hard to believe in someone whose mottot is "say whatever you want, because you can always say you're sorry".

Unfortunately, saying "I'm sorry" isn't enough. Not for the people who are hurt... or worse, killed, because of the mistakes (or flat-out lies) you tell. "I'm sorry" can never be enough for them.