Reuters
May 22, 2005

Newsweek changes sourcing policy
Magazine reacts to protests over bogus Quran desecration story

WASHINGTON -- Newsweek magazine will only use anonymous sources with
the approval of a top editor from now on, the editor said Sunday after
a retracted report on abuse of the Quran ignited riots in the Muslim
world.

"From now on, only the editor or the managing editor, or other top
editors they specifically appoint, will have the authority to sign off
on the use of an anonymous source," Richard M. Smith, Newsweek's
chairman and editor-in-chief, wrote in the edition of the magazine for
sale this week.

The name and position of such a source will be shared with the top
editor, and the magazine will try to characterize the source
appropriately, Smith said in his letter to readers explaining how
news-gathering procedures would be improved following the retracted
report.

"The cryptic phrase 'sources said' will never again be the sole
attribution for a story in Newsweek," he said.

Newsweek retracted its May 9 article last week, saying it could not
substantiate the report that an internal military investigation had
uncovered Quran abuse at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.

The retracted article said interrogators had flushed a copy of the
Muslim holy book down a toilet to try to make detainees talk.

The article prompted violent protests in Afghanistan -- where 16 people
were killed and many hurt -- as well as Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/22/newsweek.reut/