CBS, Quinones, now Newsweek

How many mediums are going to have to embarrass themselves before others begin to learn? Making up the news causes problems! Maybe third times a charm...

During the election we learned from CBS that we can't forge a document and find someone to claim it. Especially when it's a military document that can be checked for forgery or even when the person said to have written the document denies the facts! Lesson number 1: make sure your proof is real.

Just a few weeks ago, ABC aired a special on American Idol that was supposed to expose the series when really all it did was boost ratings during the final four. John Quinones interviewed Corey Clark and basically said that since Clark had a California phone number, family support, and friend verification, that he did sleep with Paula Abdul after she gave him tips for the contest. Lesson number 2: Voicemail does not equal sex.

Now we have Newsweek magazine, admitting that they wrote an erroneous story...well almost erroneous. In a story about Gitmo, the story said soldiers flushed the Koran. Following the published account, riots began in Afghanistan. After 16 people die, Newsweek says, "eeahhh...maybe we jumped the gun..." Lesson number 3: see lessons 1 & 2.

Here's the point: Journalism is not a weapon to destroy the Bush administration, destroy the competitor, or any other thing that the next person thinks they can get by with. Journalism is like a diary. I want someone to go to Afghanistan, Iraq, Gitmo, anywhere and tell me everything they saw, not what they wanted to see.