Scott Thomas Beauchamp Controversy - The New Republic "cannot Stand By These Stories"

The New Republic "cannot Stand By These Stories"

A December 2007 article by Franklin Foer lengthily addresses the issues of the controversy, concluding:

"In retrospect, we never should have put Beauchamp in this situation. He was a young soldier in a war zone, an untried writer without journalistic training. We published his accounts of sensitive events while granting him the shield of anonymity–which, in the wrong hands, can become license to exaggerate, if not fabricate.

"When I last spoke with Beauchamp in early November, he continued to stand by his stories. Unfortunately, the standards of this magazine require more than that. And, in light of the evidence available to us, after months of intensive re-reporting, we cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them. Without that essential confidence, we cannot stand by these stories.

Read more about this topic:  Scott Thomas Beauchamp Controversy

Famous quotes containing the words stand and/or stories:

    It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand—a business as safe and commendable as making soap or breakfast foods—or it should be an art, which is always a search for something for which there is no market demand, something new and untried, where the values are intrinsic and have nothing to do with standardized values.
    Willa Cather (1876–1947)