On February 17, 1933, Thomas J.C. Martyn, a former foreign editor at Time Magazine, published “News-Week,” a brand new magazine that featured seven photographs from the week’s news on the cover. At the time, it cost ten cents per copy, or four dollars for the year, and had a circulation of only 50,000. Today, Newsweek has a worldwide circulation of more than four million and a total readership of more than 21 million. The publication also has the distinction of holding more prestigious National Magazine Awards than any other newsweekly…

…and now – a magazine that has been viewed as one of the world’s main sources for news for the last seventy-two years should be permanently shut down – and their top executives should be charged with involuntary manslaughter and sent to prison.

In their May 9, 2005 issue, an article written by Michael Isikoff and John Barry stated that in order to get alleged terror suspects to talk – American guards at Guantanamo Bay committed infractions against the detainees – which included flushing a copy of the Qur’an, the Holy book of Islam, down a toilet. As a direct result of this article – violent Anti-American protests in Afghanistan and demonstrations throughout the Muslim world ensued, resulting in over a dozen deaths, countless American flags were burned – and our already tarnished reputation across the globe has been damaged even further.

What is worse than the consequences of the article is the fact that now, Newsweek is retracting it – claiming that the source of the information which fueled the story was, “not credible.” In his column in the May 23rd issue of Newsweek, Editor Mark Whitaker said, of the ill-fated story and incidents that followed, “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.”

That’s it?

People are dead, riots and further hatred against the United States have been boiling over, and all Mr. Whitaker has to say is that he regrets it? Excuse me, but that is not good enough. Newsweek, it’s top executives, as well as Michael Isikoff and John Barry have blood on their hands, they are responsible for the deaths of over a dozen people – and they have the now increased hatred of the Muslim world against the United States to contend with. Those are some serious issues that they alone created as a direct result of incompetent reporting – and they should pay severely for that. In my opinion, the magazine should be immediately and permanently discontinued, everyone involved in the publishing of that story should be blacklisted from The Fourth Estate – and Mark Whitaker, Michael Isikoff and John Barry should serve jail time for the lost lives that their bogus reporting cost.

When a reporter is given the task of reporting the news to the world, people take what they publish as gospel. Their words are the public’s source for what is happening in the world around them – and it is a reporter’s responsibility to give their readers accurate information. If they do that on a constant basis, they should be rewarded with accolades and praise – but if they do not – they should be punished…severely.

I heard Guantanamo Bay is nice this time of year.