Unbelieveable!

Have you been following the developments with the Newsweek story that may have sparked Afghan riots? (See the mag's apology here.)

I've been staying pretty quiet on this while I process it, but I can't really stay too quiet for too long. As a journalist, I am appalled. Even if the riots weren't caused by the magazine's report (which I suspect may be the case - the way terrorists work, it would make sense for them to comb through American literature and news print, looking for excuses to be offended and rile their people up)... even IF that isn't the case, it's incredibly irresponsible to report something you haven't thoroughly checked out.

Anyone of us could make a mistake. I know that. I've made them. But it seems to me on a story of that kind of magnitude, you double-check and you triple-check and then you check again... to make sure everything is exactly as it should be. It's too late to apologize once the damage is done.