Flushing credibility

My take on the whole "Newsweak" fiasco is that it is a tempest in a teacup brewed up by Rove and his minions to further discredit an already battered national media. In their attempt to shoot the messanger, a story that has been corroborated by several former Gitmo detainees, is now being branded a fabrication because one anonymous govt source backed down at the last minute. See the Rude Pundit for further details. The Rude One is entirely correct. Every time the press screws up, the right and left both hammer them for it, eroding trust in the media. Which is just what the White House wants.

We are now seeing more and more accusations of torture in Afghanistan and the latest are hardly the first. As the Rude One points out, the short term result of the Newsweak cave-in is going to be that every right-wing bloviator will be painting every report out of Afghanistan with the same brush as they have the "Newsweek lied, people died" claim.