The Newsweek statement you didn’t read (While I was gone, post #3): I’ll
jump through all of the sad and outrageous aspects of this story that
have been blogged endlessly and comment only that I found reading the
Newsweek “retraction” statement
akin to
watching a train wreck. We know how this is all going to end for the
writers and editors involved. You just want to shout, please, go ahead.
Get it over with.
Forget the outside review committee. Forget the internal report. Let’s
just fast-forward and get it over with.

In addition to saying, “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong,
and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S.
soldiers caught in its midst,” here’s what I suggest their statement
should go on to say:

“We also regret the complete lack of judgment displayed by the writers
and editors involved. Not only did they jeopardize the lives of
countless individuals, they also jeopardized years of work by hundreds
of dedicated journalists who, over the past few decades, have displayed
boundless commitment to the daunting challenge of building this
magazine’s editorial reputation and integrity. And so, we’d like to
wish the writers and editors who displayed such contempt for our
magazine’s most important asset all the best in their future endeavors
(which begin right now).”

Unfortunately (frankly, for all involved), we’ll likely see Newsweek
management go through weeks of internal handwringing before they issue
a statement similar to this.

Update: Glenn Reynolds asks if this is the tipping point in the decline of main-stream media?  I see it rather as death by chinese water torture.

One thing is clear (While I was gone, post #2): John Jay Hooker is a much better blogger than Phil Bredesen (in fact, as a blogger, Phil, well, blows. But I still prefer him over Hooker as governor).

What Dave Winer said on the first-ever KYOU broadcast of a podcast
(While I was gone, post #1): “We’re trying to bring humanity into this
and it may not be a good match for broadcast radio…because traditionally broadcast radio has been polished.”

(I listened to it on a plane somewhere, seems now like weeks ago.)

There’s always a nashville connection: (Posted by Rex — with technical assistance from Blair) I had dinner (at that bogging-event in Nashville) with FeedDemon
creator/ceo/janitor Nick Bradbury and I must say, he’s one cool dude.
He deftly deflected all my questions about his business plans for
FeedDemon, one of the early killer apps in the blogospere and RSS
worlds. Today, he announced and blogged that FeedDemon and TopStyle have
been acquired by NewsGator. Best part of the news for me is that he’s remaining in the hood. Big shout out congrats, Nick.

(Via nick.typepad.com)

Did I say I’d be blogging again on Tuesday? Due to some road-warrior access challenges, it will be later tonight — or perhaps tomorrow — before I start blogging again.