Arithmetic On The Frontier

So Newsweek's misreporting (maybe) = Abu Ghraib? Not so fast. The Koran-flushing story is already old and has been reported by other news agencies.

Related: Matt Welch delivers a much-deserved smackdown to the Glenn Reynolds crowd here. I won't try to summarize (Indeed. Heh. Read the whole thing.) but this is the money quote:

Reynolds has written on this theme many many times before, usually asking leading questions like, "What happens if the public comes to regard the press as untrustworthy and un-American?" Well, the legal climate for speech may continue to contract (even as the practical climate expands), and each and every person who actively participates in the de-liberalization should be called very nasty names from a distance of 10 paces. And yes, I can see where journalists would have some soul-searching to do about their own unwitting contribution to the process (though my beef is more with their fair-weathered support of the First Amendment, their enthusiasm for McCain-Feingold, and their eagerness to expand police power). But if we're to ladle out blame for the pending First Amendment collapse on journalists who have a dispute with one source, let's save a drop or two for commentators who have encouraged their readers to believe the falsehood that professional reporters have been showing up to work all these years to carry out a specific agenda to undermine America.

To continue these thoughts somewhat: Glenn Reynolds simply has to be called out on his bullshit. If he thinks that there are traitors within the journalistic class, if he thinks the press on the other side, he needs to grow the balls to say so. His insipid "what if perception of the press comes to be...won't that be the press's own fault" rhetoric is a pristine alchemy of cowardice and mendacity.