The latest edition of U.S. News inspires a reprise of my “who says?” argument.
Here’s the basic idea: When a media outlet disguises unsourced opinion as a news report, you should start asking the question “who says?”
Consider this passage from Kevin Whitelaw’s Iraq War piece:
The Ramadan resurgence-Iraqis have been observing the Islamic holy month-has added to a broader feeling that Iraq might simply be spinning out of control. Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, looks increasingly ineffectual. Last week, Maliki forced the U.S. military to release one of radical cleric Moqtadr al-Sadr’s key aides, who was suspected of links to death squads. The next day, Maliki could only watch as Sadr’s goons overran the southern city of Amarah, taking over several police stations.
All the violence has brought Iraq to the forefront of the coming election. President Bush, in a defensive tactic, has moved away from his “stay the course” refrain toward an apparent new willingness to shift tactics. But with even his former deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, conceding, “We can’t win this militarily,” everyone, it seems, is increasingly just looking for a reasonable way out.
Whitelaw quotes Richard Armitage, but the man who “outed” Valerie Plame offers just one five-word sentence. Who says there’s a “broader feeling that Iraq might simply be spinning out of control”? Who says the Iraqi prime minster “looks increasingly ineffectual”? Who called President Bush’s recent policy pronouncements “a defensive tactic”? Who says “everyone, it seems, is increasingly just looking for a reasonable way out”?
Note that I’m not attacking the substance of the statements. I just want to know how Whitelaw got his information. Administration officials? Pundits? His editor? The guy at his favorite bar? A Democratic operative?
