Sad state of American journalism

When the London Daily Mirror recognized the paper had published fake photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse, the editor, Piers Morgan, was fired.

When the Boston Globe realized the paper had published obscene fake photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse originating from a pornography website, the editor blamed a local city official who had brought the pictures to the attention of the media.

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Does sensational Fleet Street have higher standards of accountability and credibility than mainstream, establishment, corporate, big-city journalism in the United States?

Evidently.

The Daily Mirror handled the matter much more professionally. Not only did the paper apologize to readers, as the Globe did, it dismissed the man in charge and acknowledged the damage it had done to the reputation of the British army. The Globe has still not acknowledged the damage it inflicted on men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces – men and women prepared to sacrifice their lives defending their country.

Further, it should be noted that the editors of the Daily Mirror actually thought they were publishing genuine photographs of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner. They were wrong. But they believed they were right.

By contrast, the Boston Globe editors never believed the photographs were real. They never made any attempt to determine whether they were authentic. And the report accompanying the photographs stated as much.

Had the Globe editors truly believed the photos were real, they certainly would have published the pictures and story in a more prominent location than the second page of the second section.

There is something systemically wrong at the Boston Globe for photographs like this to be published anywhere in the paper in two successive editions.

While the Globe editors are fixated on systemic problems in the U.S. military that may have led to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, clearly the man in charge, Marty Baron, has a serious crisis in the culture of his own newsroom.

As someone who has spent nearly 30 years in the news business, most of it running daily newspapers in major U.S. markets, I can assure you that it would be unthinkable to publish pornographic images in a daily newspaper unless that paper was hiring know-nothing, inexperienced editors and providing next to no training for them.

The Globe is also blaming junior editors for the mistake. But there was a serious breakdown in the chain of command at the Boston Globe. Before this paper and its parent company, the New York Times, throw any more stones at the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, they would be well-advised to re-examine their own chain-of-command problems.

Besides undermining the morale of U.S. troops in the field, the Boston Globe has also provided propaganda for our terrorist enemies at home and abroad.

The images published in the Globe will never go away. Copies of those two editions of the paper will be used by Islamist extremists as further "proof" of abuses by American GIs – abuses that never occurred.

The Globe has fanned the flames of anti-American hatred in the Islamic world against Americans in general and American military personnel specifically.

Piers Morgan was immediately relieved of his duties at the Daily Mirror once the London Daily Mirror recognized its error. Security personnel escorted him out of the building.

That's what should happen to Marty Baron. That's what should happen to his bosses at the Globe who have permitted this matter to fester for days. That's what should happen to their bosses in New York who have failed to step in and instruct their little sister paper on the lessons of responsible journalism.

Do I expect any of this to happen?

No. The editors of the Boston Globe are still looking for scapegoats – blaming junior editors, blaming irresponsible city officials and local activists, blaming WorldNetDaily for exposing its fraud to the entire world.

So, it's up to you, the American people, to hold the owners of the Boston Globe and New York Times accountable.