Guantánamo as a Media Symptom of Displacement
The global primeur hunt has fatal risks and side effects. Among other things, it covers up much more fundamental scandals.
Column The global primeur hunt has fatal risks and side effects. The Newsweek report on the desecration of the Koran in the US military prison at Guantánamo once again proved that the media have powerful effects. The 17 deaths caused by anti-American protests in Afghanistan in response to the story are not brought back to life by the fact that the news magazine's editors-in-chief have since apologized to the relatives.It is at least psychologically understandable that Newsweek did not want to be accused once again of having
left a scoop to others because she faltered. The shame was probably not yet forgotten that President Clinton's affair with his intern Monica Lewinsky was only uncovered by Internet reporter Matt Drudge because the Newsweek story had not yet been investigated at the time of going to press.
But was the story about the Koran in the toilet really a scoop? The fact that prison guards humiliate those entrusted to their care in this or that way is probably not so unique in this world - neither in US prisons nor elsewhere. On the other hand, it is no less naive to denounce the media's general use of anonymous sources. Without those "informed circles" and targeted indiscretions by insiders who themselves remain in the dark, (government) critical journalism is unthinkable.
However, it is important that every journalist who uses anonymous sources is aware of the risk of being instrumentalized: If you don't want to simply spread rumors, you should ask for documents or at least look for a second informant who can confirm the first's statement.
So much for the textbook rules, which are admittedly not easy to adhere to in the fierce competition for prime time. Especially as journalists themselves like to play with anonymous informants - and thus show their audience how well connected they are. In principle, of course, readers have a right to know where information comes from. For example, the New York
Times recently stated in an internal report that it undermines journalistic credibility when the paper constantly publishes reports without tangible sources.
Perhaps we should not take the strong media effects too lightly. For he who sows hate will reap hate. In this case, it was not Newsweek that sowed it. The deaths in Afghanistan are more likely to be attributed to the Islamic fundamentalists who actually killed them. And probably also the hardly less fundamentalist, bigoted Christian warriors who rule in Washington and also harass liberal media in their crusades.
However, anyone who, like Newsweek, has to deliver bad news should do something that is still frowned upon among journalists: think about the possible consequences of a publication and weigh up whether there really is a public interest in the incident. It was foreseeable that journalists worldwide would attach great news value to the desecration of the Koran at Guantánamo, even though this episode may not have deserved our attention. In any case, it stands in a strange contrast to how little the media, as the Fourth Estate, have so far made a fuss about the fact that this camp exists at all. The real scandal is that people have been harassed there for years without any legal basis and deprived of their freedom - contrary to all declarations of human rights.
>Stephan Russ-Mohl is a professor of journalism at the University of
of Italian-speaking Switzerland in Lugano.
left a scoop to others because she faltered. The shame was probably not yet forgotten that President Clinton's affair with his intern Monica Lewinsky was only uncovered by Internet reporter Matt Drudge because the Newsweek story had not yet been investigated at the time of going to press.
But was the story about the Koran in the toilet really a scoop? The fact that prison guards humiliate those entrusted to their care in this or that way is probably not so unique in this world - neither in US prisons nor elsewhere. On the other hand, it is no less naive to denounce the media's general use of anonymous sources. Without those "informed circles" and targeted indiscretions by insiders who themselves remain in the dark, (government) critical journalism is unthinkable.
However, it is important that every journalist who uses anonymous sources is aware of the risk of being instrumentalized: If you don't want to simply spread rumors, you should ask for documents or at least look for a second informant who can confirm the first's statement.
So much for the textbook rules, which are admittedly not easy to adhere to in the fierce competition for prime time. Especially as journalists themselves like to play with anonymous informants - and thus show their audience how well connected they are. In principle, of course, readers have a right to know where information comes from. For example, the New York
Times recently stated in an internal report that it undermines journalistic credibility when the paper constantly publishes reports without tangible sources.
Perhaps we should not take the strong media effects too lightly. For he who sows hate will reap hate. In this case, it was not Newsweek that sowed it. The deaths in Afghanistan are more likely to be attributed to the Islamic fundamentalists who actually killed them. And probably also the hardly less fundamentalist, bigoted Christian warriors who rule in Washington and also harass liberal media in their crusades.
However, anyone who, like Newsweek, has to deliver bad news should do something that is still frowned upon among journalists: think about the possible consequences of a publication and weigh up whether there really is a public interest in the incident. It was foreseeable that journalists worldwide would attach great news value to the desecration of the Koran at Guantánamo, even though this episode may not have deserved our attention. In any case, it stands in a strange contrast to how little the media, as the Fourth Estate, have so far made a fuss about the fact that this camp exists at all. The real scandal is that people have been harassed there for years without any legal basis and deprived of their freedom - contrary to all declarations of human rights.
>Stephan Russ-Mohl is a professor of journalism at the University of
of Italian-speaking Switzerland in Lugano.
