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A Nose for News, Tweaked By the No's for News
Perhaps the most surreal practitioners of information control are politicians channeling phony memoirist James Frey. The campaign of New York gubernatorial candidate William Weld altered two newspaper articles posted on its Web site to remove all negative references, the Times reported. And on the Wikipedia Web site -- a database maintained by volunteers -- an aide to Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) removed an old promise that he would serve no more than four terms, while some Republicans deleted references to indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
With everyone scrambling for every conceivable advantage, it's important that journalists remain honest brokers of information. But in a world where they are being shot at, prosecuted, sued and stonewalled, that's increasingly hard to do.
Broadening the Spotlight
  Angry over cartoons, Islamists tear a flag in front of the Danish consulate in Beirut on Feb. 5. From far left, NASA's James Hansen, claiming censorship; Armstrong Williams, who was paid to promote the president's program; Richard Scrushy, who paid a journalist for positive articles. (By Adnan Hajj -- Reuters) |
ABC's "World News Tonight" launched a series last week on the wounded of the Iraq war -- a subject close to anchor Elizabeth Vargas's heart.
Not only were her colleagues Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt seriously injured by a roadside bomb on Jan. 29, but "I am an Army brat," she says. "I grew up around bases with a dad who fought in a war. I know what it's like to cope with that."
Vargas says ABC has extensively covered the problems of veterans, but that "we were also reminded with what happened to Bob and Doug" that there is a growing group of people at home bearing the physical scars of the Iraq conflict, which has left 17,000 Americans wounded. "These are men and women who dedicate their lives to defending this country. They often have a difficult time emotionally, psychologically, physically and financially."
Vogt was transferred to an outpatient facility at Bethesda Naval Hospital last week, but Woodruff remains under medical sedation.
Asked about criticism that the injuries of two journalists are receiving far more media attention than those of so many soldiers, Vargas says she has tried to emphasize the others in the last two weeks. "Obviously Bob is well known," she says. "I think that's something you can turn to your advantage by re-shining the light on the people they were covering" in the military.
The first piece in the "Homefront" series, by Dean Reynolds, looked at two disabled veterans first interviewed by the network two years ago. An Iowa man who lost both legs has become a spokesman for veterans, while a Pennsylvania man who lost a leg and his eyesight was buoyed by a group called Homes for Our Troops, which is building him a house free of charge.
"It's about their triumphs, too," Vargas says. "This isn't just a downer."
Second-Hand Research
In a Washington Times profile of Sen. Barack Obama Friday, reporter Eric Pfeiffer described the portraits in the Illinois Democrat's personal office.
Pfeiffer also quoted Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott as saying Obama "needs to be a little more of a leader in the center if he really wants to have an impact," and Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos blog, as saying Obama "has not been the kind of strong leader people expected."
The problem is, Pfeiffer never interviewed Lott or Moulitsas -- who has accused him of "outright plagiarism" -- or visited Obama's office. The material was lifted from a Chicago Sun-Times piece last month.
"I definitely made a mistake in not including the attribution," says Pfeiffer, a former National Review Online writer who has been with the Times for just over a week. He says he believes he "intended" to credit the Sun-Times "and I didn't. I guess it's a fairly weak excuse, but it's an honest one."
Times Managing Editor Francis Coombs says Pfeiffer "acknowledged a stupid mistake. Needless to say, that's correct." The paper ran a correction Saturday, and Coombs said the editors will review Pfeiffer's other stories before deciding what action to take.