I was Newsweek's Philadelphia correspondent (stringer) back during the 1960s.
I also free-lanced for a lot of other publications. Newsweek, despite its big name, was the poorest paying of them all and the only one that changed or added quotes to my stories.
I see that things haven't changed.
I don't want to be too hard on investigative reporter Michael Isikoff who came up with a phony story that led to death and destruction.
He had the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal first, and down cold. All the I's were dotted, the T's crossed. But his Newsweek editors decided the story needed more substantiation -- maybe a quote or admission from Bill Clinton?
So Matt Drudge got the story and became rich and famous. Then Isikoff had the scoop -- with strong corroboration -- on Kathleen Willey's sexual confrontation with The President of the United States in the Oval Office. Newsweek decided the story did not have enough confirmation and would not run it. Again, Matt Drudge got the story.
Isikoff, when with the Washington Post, was also first but beaten on the Paula Jones story.
Then he gets a tip on the Koran or Quran, or Qu'ran, whatever, being flushed down the toilet by Nazi-like (see next item) guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Big anti-American news! This time Isikoff is first. Newsweek flush with excitement runs with it.
I did a fast check without leaving my seat and found that the Arabic edition of the Koran or Quran, or Qu'ran, whatever, runs about 800 pages.
Try shoving that down a Newsweek john, loo, commode, porcelain throne, potty, whatever. Perhaps the editors should have tried that before running the story.
Maybe Newsweek ought to run a story about the Muslims who have destroyed 140 Christian Churches in Kosovo since 1999. The response from Muslim leaders has been silence. Just like Newsweek.
ping