So What Else is New?

Via PowerLine:

Sweetness & Light, which has been all over the Haditha story, notes that Time Magazine has been discreetly backing off its Haditha coverage with a series of corrections. Time has an enormous amount of prestige invested in its Haditha "scoop." It turns out, though, that the magazine apparently misrepresented the source of the videotape that got the whole story rolling. And it has also developed that a photograph that Time described as "one of the most damning pieces of evidence investigators have in their possession" is only the subject of rumor, and may not even exist.

As a story about the Marines, the jury is out on Haditha. As a story about journalism, it's starting to look bad for Time. Based on recent history, I suppose that means the magazine is likely to get a Pulitzer.

The problem is that the corrections, adjustments and retractions never catch up to the original story. If the Marines involved are (ultimately) cleared, the charge of "coverup" (which will be made irrespective of the facts) will be heard by a ready-made audience, whose ignorance can be taken advantage of.