Rear Admiral [Ret.] Jim Carey is Chairman of the NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE and NATIONAL DEFENSE PAC. His background includes duty in cruisers and amphibs, at Naval Beach Group, and in the Pentagon, and naval service from Seaman Recruit to Rear Admiral. He also served in the Reagan and George Bush Sr. Administrations. Further details at The National Defense Committee and The National Defense Political Action Committee.
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"Words have meaning," my first skipper in the Navy told me when correcting me about speaking precisely or otherwise getting my shipmates killed. From that simple admonition in my youth, I have forever been more careful to choose my words, and ensure they accurately reflect the meaning I'm trying to convey. I learned long ago that the wrong rudder order or the wrong two words, like "cease fire" vs. "open fire," can impact fatally on the lives of others.
Thus when Newsweek magazine came out with a story a few days ago alleging that a report existed that military terrorist prison guards at GITMO had flushed a copy of the Moslem Religion's Holy Koran down the toilet in order to intimidate terrorist prisoners, I immediately thought, "Newsweek, you better have this one 100% right and your sources tied down as 100% accurate, or this story and your words will get people killed."
And of course, as it turns out, the story was far from 100% right and the sources are already backing down and reneging on what they said or what they thought they said. But in the meantime, Moslem reaction to the Newsweek story and subsequent riots around the world have sent, at latest count, some 18 people to their deaths. Words do have meaning and careless use of them can get people killed.
Now I think even the most liberal person on this planet would agree that the lives of 18 people, all of whom had parents and families and friends, and whom it's safe to presume did not wish to die, is a pretty darn high price to pay for another false story and another journalism mistake that seems to have become the norm in the 21st Century. Here's what just a few news outlets are saying about this:
The Washington Post: "Newsweek Apologizes: Inaccurate Report on Koran Led to Riots -- Whatever facts we got wrong, we apologize for. I've expressed regret for the loss of life and the violence that put American troops in harm's way ... "
The America Online News Summary: "Newsweek Apologizes: Backs off Koran-flushing story ... it led to deadly anti-U.S. riots"
The Washington Times: "Newsweek apologizes for Koran article: Errors prompted deadly protests"
I'm sure it is a great comfort to the families of the dead that Newsweek has now "apologized" -- after all, hasn't that become the accepted mode of absolving one's self these days, no matter how outrageous the act and no matter how horrible the consequences? But where is the accountability for these actions? There seems to be none -- and so life goes on (except for the 18 dead in this case), and the news media forges ahead with more and more stories that reveal our military tactics or troop movements or anti-terror strategies or false stories about religious insults or anti-Bush stories about draft-dodging that turn out to be phony and forged. Not all of these will get our guys and gals in uniform killed, but some of them surely will. And then we'll get another apology, and life will go on (except for those who come home to be buried in Arlington Cemetery because the enemy learned through the news how to kill them). Where is the accountability?
Also, where's the justice in all this? Surely the press's penchant for "the people's right to know" (which, by the way, they invented -- this is not a right stated in any of our guaranteed freedoms or rights) has some limits when it's getting innocent people killed, or is causing American military personnel serving our country to die?
I think in part, some of this is caused by the media itself, so hell-bent on scooping the other guy so they can sell two dollars more in magazines and newspapers and TV soap ads, that they don't seem to have a clue as to what their public wants from them vs. what they themselves in the media have decided "is best for the public" in their vicious pursuit of "the story." Here's what a recent University of Connecticut poll indicated, just released today:
72% of journalists think the press reports information accurately. Only 39% of the American public agrees.
53% of the American public think a news story using unnamed sources should NOT be published. Only 14% of journalists agree.
43% of the American public thinks the press has too much freedom. Only 3% of journalists agree.
AND
61% of the American public thinks bias exists in news coverage.
Hardly "a ringing endorsement" of professionalism in journalism, eh?
So if you're wondering how articles can get printed that are not true, and that "words have meaning" and that innocent human beings can lose their lives when the media gets it wrong in their "rush to publish," and that the norm in America seems to then mumble "so sorry" and all is to be forgiven, and the innocent dead forgotten -- then please go back to the beginning of this article and start over. You've missed something.
Or want to take it a step further? What if you or I had uttered false statements that caused riots in which innocent persons lost their lives? We could be prosecuted as an accessory before the fact in causing a murder and could be sent to prison for the rest of our lives.
Mere apologies for causing the death of another don't work for you and me.
Only the media gets to just say they're sorry and "all is forgiven and forgotten."
Not sure this is the kind of justice, at least as defined by our Founding Fathers, that they had in mind when they established this nation.
