By Jason Rosenbaum
Columbia Tribune
Published 8/11/2007
Excerpt:
One observer questioned the New Republic's actions.
"I think in this case there are a number of reasons to seriously question the wisdom of the New Republic publishing those pieces," said Bob Steele, the Nelson scholar for journalistic values at the Poynter Institute. "They had an alternative here if they truly believed that these soldiers' allegations had merit. They could have done a reporting piece interviewing him, interviewing other soldiers, examining the issue with the independence of another journalist guiding the story."
The magazine released a statement this month saying it had spoken with five other members of Beauchamp's company who corroborated Beauchamp's anecdotes. But the magazine conceded that the dining hall incident actually took place in Kuwait before the unit went to Iraq; Beauchamp wrote that it took place in Baghdad.
That error, Steele said, puts Beauchamp's whole series into question.
"The editor and publisher of the magazine have significant responsibilities in asking multiple layers of questions and carrying out multiple steps of verification before publishing," he said. "In this case, there's at least one major clue that that may have not taken place."
