Eason Jordan questions the credibility, integrity, and smarts of the AP

Eason Jordan, yes this Eason Jordan, is coming down hard on the Associated (with terrorists) Press at his new web site called IraqSlogger:

It is striking that no one has been able to find a family member, friend, or colleague of Captain Hussein. Nor has the AP told us who in the AP's ranks has actually spoken with Captain Hussein. Nor has the AP quoted Captain Hussein once since the story of the disputed episode.

Therefore, in the absence of clear and compelling evidence to corroborate the AP's exclusive story and Captain Hussein's existence, we must conclude for now that the AP's reporting in this case was flawed.

To make matters worse, Captain Jamil Hussein was a key named source in more than 60 AP stories on at least 25 supposed violent incidents over eight months.

Until this controversy is resolved, every one of those AP reports is tainted.

When two governments challenge the veracity of your reporting, when there are reasonable doubts about whether your prime named source for a sensational exclusive story exists, when there's no proof a reported horrific incident occurred, when the news outlet responsible for the disputed report stonewalls and is stridently defensive, when the validity of dozens of other of your reports has been called into question as a result, then that news organization has a scandal on its hands, and that is where the AP finds itself.

Having learned from my own successes and failures and those of others, I know that a journalistic scandal can be handled effectively only when the news organization's management deals with it proactively, constructively, and transparently, with a readiness to admit any mistake, to apologize for it, and to take appropriate corrective action.

The AP has failed to do so in this case.

I, therefore, urge the AP to appoint an independent panel to determine the facts about the disputed report, to determine whether Iraqi Police Captain Jamil Hussein exists, and to share the panel's full findings and recommendations with the public.

Until this matter is resolved, the AP's credibility will suffer.

Meantime, IraqSlogger and others will doggedly pursue the truth in this case.

Others are chiming in on this story anew, including The Anchoress who asks "I wonder how many other stories our soldiers have said are “baseless” have traveled the globe and become fixed in the general narration" and Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee who's been doing some serious research and opines:

Put bluntly, a search for other news agency accounts of the events described by Jamil Hussein seems to indicate that most of these events simply do not exist anywhere else except in AP reporting. I was completely unable to find a definitive corroborating account of any of Jamil Hussein's accounts, anywhere.

And finally Curt at Flopping Aces, who essentially broke this story, weighs in once more:

NO story we get out of Iraq can be trusted anymore until the news services admit their mistakes and quit using these biased sources.  Or, if using stringers then independently verify the story.  Talk to family members of the victims, get pictures of the scene, in other words gather evidence as any good cop would.

At some point the MSM will have to take this up and the AP will have to be held accountable.

Unless journalistic integrity is no longer held to be the standard for the world's media outlets.

Comments

[Zossima]

Uh, how 'bout holding Bush, Rummy, Cheney, et.al. accountable, too, Rick? Things ain't going so well over there, regardless of the AP's credibility. And it isn't the MSM's fault, either, though it's quite convenient for you wingnuts to think that.