Sheep, Goats, Distinctions
If the news media policed themselves as well as the military does, Newsweek wouldn’t be in this kind of trouble.
The New York Times (hat tip: Farber):
While the proposal to close the case was ultimately rejected by senior officials, documents show that the inquiry was at a virtual standstill when an article in The New York Times on March 4, 2003, reported that at least one of the prisoner’s deaths had been ruled a homicide, contradicting the military’s earlier assertions that both had died of natural causes. Activity in the case quickly resumed.
It’s as if the military too were subject to well-known laws that apply to bureaucracies like – the military! and needed external vigilance in the form of a free press to keep it accountable.
Comment by Gary Farber —
May 21, 2005 @ 9:50 pm
We see here that “The Media Are The Enemy.” Presumably they should therefore be shot.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15923_The_Media_Are_the_Enemy#comments
Comment by Jim Henley —
May 21, 2005 @ 10:07 pm
Oh Gary. What have you done to me now?
Comment by John S —
May 22, 2005 @ 12:29 am
Every time I go and read that crap (LGF, not Insta) I’m surprised all over again to learn that, among other things, they really think that every single person in US custody abroad is a guilty terrorist deserving of the death penalty. Proof of guilt? They’re Muslims.
.
Would you be able to sleep at night if those were your devoted commenters? The mind reels in really bad directions…
Comment by Ramar —
May 22, 2005 @ 12:05 pm
Pretty hard to square Reynolds’ argument with the fact that the press seems far more willing to punish supervisors for the wrongdoing of their subordinates.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/10/national/main665727.shtml
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/06/05/nytimes.resigns
Comment by Barry —
May 22, 2005 @ 7:18 pm
It’s pretty easy, actually. You obviously have some remaining traces of honesty and logic getting in your way.
Comment by Hesiod —
May 23, 2005 @ 11:10 am
Can I ask a serious quetsion here? Why the fuck does anyone still quote Glenn Reynolds for ANY purpose?
If Reynolds argued on behalf of a legal client the way he argues on behalf of the Iraq debacle, he’d be disbarred.
Which probably explains why he’s a law professor and not a lawyer.
Comment by dsquared —
May 24, 2005 @ 9:24 am
C’mon, it is actually true that if the mainstream media hung reporters up by their feet, crippled them and beat them to death, then there would be fewer reporting errors of this sort, although the advertising industry might find itself short of a few pages to fill the space between the “Dilbert” cartoons and the television listings.