Across The Media Universe: The Result Are In Edition

Bahgdad Diarist Legit: As reported in this space last week, a rapid-fire media controversy was brewing in blogistan over The New Republic’s “Baghdad Diarist.” A lot of people disputed the claims of the writer, which included playing with a skull and the mockery of a disfigured woman by soldiers. Well, the New Republic went into immediate damage control mode and investigated the complaints, with the Washington Post reporting their final verdict:

The New Republic said yesterday that it has corroborated each of the allegations in an essay written by an American soldier in Iraq by checking with other members of the man's unit.

With the exception of one "significant discrepancy," for which the magazine expressed regret, the New Republic is standing behind the account of Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private whose reports of petty cruelty were aggressively challenged by conservative bloggers.

Reporting from the other side of the planet in a war zone is difficult enough. Trying to do so anonymously leaves a publication vulnerable to such charges.

L.A. Mayor’s Girlfriend Suspended:Remember a while back when a Telemundo reporter was found to have been involved with the mayor of Los Angeles while he was still married? (The picture above shows her at work, interviewing Hizzoner.) Telemundo has conducted an internal investigation and meted out their version of justice, according to the AP:

A Los Angeles television anchor who reported on the mayor's marital problems without telling viewers she was "the other woman" has been suspended by her Spanish-language network.

However, Mirthala Salinas has only been suspended for two months without pay, and not fired, reports KCBS-TV.

Two months seems about par for the course, but who knows how much more she would’ve gotten if she’d been videotaped at the mayor’s pool in a two-piece?

National Journal Votes “No” On Citizen Journalism: Even though the YouTube debate and this week’s flood of CNN iReports has garnered a lot of attention on the populist possibilities of new media, National Journal media writer William Powers isn’t so hot on it. He sarcastically writes:

Here's how it works: Next time you see news happening -- say, a jumbo jetliner crashes in your neighborhood, or you overhear a presidential candidate plotting dirty campaign tricks -- race to your keyboard and tap out a story. Throw in an image snapped with your mobile phone, upload it all to the Net, and -- voila! -- you're a journalist. Who needs the pros?

I’ve gotta agree with Powers on this one, but not in the ‘media elite’ sense. Just because you happen to be near something newsworthy, that doesn’t make you a journalist. When I was a kid, we used to call those people ‘witnesses.’