May 16, 2005
Newsweek update: Newsweek On Air cancelled in Boston, endangered elsewhere
Newsweek On Air, a weekly radio newshour (also available via podcast), has been cancelled by Boston affiliate WRKO on the heels of the revelation of their untrue story that claimed Guantanamo Bay interrogators flushed the Koran down a toilet in an attempt to secure cooperation from prisoners there.
Newsweek On Air senior editor and host David Alpern says that the program (broadcast Sundays in most markets) avoided the print publication's error, and in next week's show will examine what went wrong in the editorial process.
Other stations that carry Newsweek On Air include WNYC/New York, WTOP/Washington, KCBS/San Francisco, WSB/Atlanta and the Armed Forces Radio Network. No word about the show's status on any of those outlets presently.
UPDATE - 7:45P ET - Newsweek On Air's David Alpern insists that the WRKO cancellation was already in the works, and was not related to the current controversy
Newsweek has completely retracted the story, as opposed to "suggesting" that it "might be erroneous." Tapscott's criticizes Newsweek asking "Was Newsweek's Sin That The Koran Flushing Story Was Too Good Not to be True?"
(Courtesy The Radio Equalizer; More coverage from Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, Ace of Spades, Hyscience, Conservablog & others)
http://punditreview.blogspot.com/2005/05/pundit-review-radio-replaces-newsweak.html
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