Thursday, January 15, 2009

Newsweek promotes torture

The Left Coaster ("Whatever remaining credibility Newsweek may have once had is now officially gone. Cheerleaders for torture. Dick Cheney as role model.") links to Talk Left here ("In 2006, Newsweek Reported Torture Does Not Work"). From Big Tent Democrat:

The enterprise known as Newsweek magazine dedicated its cover story this week to apologizing and advocating for torture. I have covered this issue here, here and here. The Newsweek article, authored by Stuart Taylor, Jr and Evan Thomas, states:

It is a liberal shibboleth that torture doesn't work—that suspects will say anything, including lies, to stop the pain. But the reality is perhaps less clear.

Yet Newsweek reporting, by EVAN THOMAS no less, came to a different conclusion in 2006:

Does torture really work? Most intelligence experts say no.

I wonder if "most intelligence experts" are "liberals." In any event, an entity that claims to be a journalistic enterprise might want to consider its own previous reporting on a subject when engaged in later reporting. What explanation can Newsweek Managing Editor Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas himself provide for this blatant instance of journalistic malpractice?

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