You'd think that The New Republic magazine would be extra careful about its reporting following the embarrassing discovery in 1998 that former TNR "reporter" Stephen Glass fabricated a whopping 27 articles.

But The New Republic editor Franklin Foer seems to be stubbornly sticking to a story by a reporter who claims to be a member of the US military. As summarized by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post here, TNR has published that a soldier named Scott Thomas has personally witnessed various atrocities and unprofessional conduct by US military personnel.

Claims include that the military is covering up "a mass graveyard of children's skeletons" and that US soldiers had desecrated the site by playing with the skulls. Thomas also told a story where "a soldier used his Bradley Fighting Vehicle to run over dogs."

The allegations by Thomas, whose true identity has yet to be revealed, sparked a heated response by bloggers everywhere, especially those of a military background who could immediately punch holes in Thomas' claims, including those from past reports. Indeed, from those retorts one could reasonably wager that Thomas isn't even military because of the sheer number of factual errors.

The Weekly Standard has a slew of round ups here (Also, here, here, here and here)

But perhaps one of the best responses comes from the 1st Infantry Division's (DRAGONS FOB Falcon) Public Affairs Officer, Major Kirk Luedeke:

As the 4th IBCT Public Affairs Officer- I can tell you unequivocally: there was NO mass grave discovered in this area of operations in conjunction with the building of a coalition outpost anytime in the past 12 months. None. Zero. Zip. And Frank Foer's assertions to the contrary, there is no way that his mystery soldier "Scott Thomas" can prove it. Foer can produce all of the alleged "eyewitnesses" he wants- unless these individuals are willing to back up their claims with real evidence, it's just so much garbage on a computer screen. Some people seem to forget that the burden of proof should be on the New Republic to back up his unsubstantiated claims and not the other way around...

I invite Mr. Foer and the New Republic to actually give us something to go on. Proof. Any kind will do - and something more than one anonymous soldier's claims and a nebulous "we've heard from others who can corroborate it," kinds of responses he provided Howard Kurtz. It's kind of hard to take these allegations seriously, when you're hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. Just about every Soldier these days has his or her own digital camera or video camera. Talk to anyone here- every unit down to squad level in our brigade is *required* to have a camera on every mission. It's all part of being prepared for such a discovery. Surely- there would be photos of the skulls and mass grave if it truly existed, would there not? The reason there isn't any photos, is because simply- the story isn't true...

I invite Scott Thomas to come by the Dragon PAO shop at FOB Falcon- Bldg 301, Rm 119, and I'd be happy to share the DoD media policy with him. While he's here, I'd love to discuss with him the mass graves, Bradley IFV dog hunting and IED burn victim he's so intent on stating is fact. If he can provide the evidence, I will gladly retract every word I've posted on the subject. If he's not willing to do that, then it kind of makes you wonder about his credibility, and that of the New Republic's doesn't it?
Indeed! Has the New Republic forgotten their own past?

Reporters are highly ideological - often to the point where they jeopardize their own careers by fabricating baseless allegations.

It happens far more often than you think. Recall Jayson Blair in 2003, fired by the New York Times for his "creative" reporting. CBS fired long-time anchor Dan Rather for accepting without question obviously manipulated documents disparaging of President Bush before the 2004 election. Recall both the LA Times and Reuters fired Michael Hiltzik and Adnan Hajj, respectively, for their separate attempts to photoshop photographs taken during the last Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The Wikipedia site, for example, is full of such examples, and those examples seem to have skyrocketed of late.

Why is that? Simple: the blogosphere - independent reporting - does the simple-stupid fact checking that gutless, unprofessional and ideologically-motivated newsroom editors don't do themselves.

Labels: Iraq, Journalism scandals, media bias, New Republic, Shocktroops