Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Why the AP 'Burning Six' Scandal Remains Largely Unreported

Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner mentions the reason for the media's silence on the discredited "six burning Sunnis" story, but doesn't identify it as such [emphasis added]:
It's time for AP to take the same sort of approach to resolve the Captain Jamil Hussein controversy. But there is one big difference between the present issue and the Dan Rather/"60 Minutes" ordeal - AP provides news to virtually every daily newspaper in America. AP is a cornerstone of the mainstream media. If AP's credibiilty is harmed, every news organization that uses its products also suffers.

Thus, AP should ask the American Society of Newspaper Editors to oversee the appointment and conduct of an independent panel of respected journalists and outside evidentiary experts to determine the truth behind Captain Jamil Hussein and all other sources similarly in doubt.

To allow this controversy to continue to fester without taking decisive actions to resolve it to everybody's satisfaction could be disastrous for journalists everywhere.
That's why you haven't heard about the controversy on the nightly network news - it questions the credibility of every mainstream outlet that uses stories from the Associated Press. That would be all of them.

Previous:

Mosque Burnings Apparently a Hoax, Sunni Burnings Unconfirmed
MSM "Official Source" a Fraud
Bogus Source Cited in NBC 'Civil War' Decision
AP's Duping Over 'Burning Six' Enters MSM
It's Official: AP Source an Impostor
When Wire Services Attack
Columnist: AP 'Has Lost Its Rudder'