More on Beauchamp and Smith

The New Republic Backs Off the Beauchamp story.
But the National Review Online has its own problems.

Beauchamp, Again.

David Fiderer takes on the Scott Beauchamp story again at the Huffington Post.

Proof that the "Debunking" of the Scott Thomas Beauchamp Story was a Conspiracy to Defraud

We've seen this scam before. Suddenly, from different, seemingly independent sources, new "evidence" emerges to force a "whom-do-you-believe" debate about something that was on nobody else's radar screen.

Earlier here

and here

More on TNR and Beauchamp

The New Republic fires back on the Scott Beauchamp story. Earlier.

This isn't just a matter of whether Beauchamp's story is accurate. It's also a matter of whether a publication with an agenda will be able to take down an established magazine--whatever its political leanings, and I've not been fond of TNR in recent years--using innuendo and one-source, anonymous claims.

Paul McLeary at Columbia Journalism Review steps into the fray.

'Baghdad Diaries' Fight Gets Even Uglier

It's time for someone to investigate what's going on with the Army and Pvt. Scott Beauchamp to find out the truth about some materials published in The New Republic and whether its author is being punished for having done so.

This fight between TNR and several rightwing blogs and publications has been going on for some time. The rightwingers didn't like the fact that TNR published a series of essays by Pvt. Scott Beauchamp alleging that some bad,though not criminal, actions were committed by some of his fellow soldiers.

Last night, the Weekly Standard published an anonymous, one-sourced story saying that Beauchamp has recanted his "Baghdad Diaries," published in TNR, describing such things as soldiers deliberately running over stray dogs with a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. TNR came back and denied that Beauchamp had recanted; the Weekly Standard fired back, insisting it was right.

Now the Washington Post has weighed in, quoting a military official who said an investigation showed that Beauchamp's accusations are false. It doesn't comment on the Standard's report of any recantation.

I don't know if "Baghdad Diaries" is true but it has been clear all along that the rightwing blogs have relied on very little beyond the word of another soldier who is himself under investigation involving his personal fundraising, personal innuendo but very little actual reporting to dispute the essays. The essay may be flawed; they may be fantasy but I haven't seen much beyond shrieking charges of anti-Americanism to prove the claims. If the Weekly Standard is right, good for them.

But so far, its complaints seem rooted in simply disliking what the essayist had to say, which hardly seems justification for the smearing attacks on TNR and on the author.

UPDATE: Josh Marshall has an excellent explanation of what has been going on.

Moles and the News

There are a couple of odd developments this week involving moles spilling the beans on reporters.

One is from the continuing debate over at The New Republic and the other involves NBC News.

As previously mentioned, The New Republic published a story by a soldier using a pseudonym describing some events that occurred on his tour in the Iraq theater, such as mocking a disfigured woman and using a Bradley to run over a stray dog, that set rightwing bloggers into a frenzy.

Now identified by his full name, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, the writer-soldier and The New Republic have come under extreme attack by rightwingers determined to prove that the publication is inept or lying and that the soldier is a liar or idealogue. He's also been trashed as a lousy writer, anti-American or a demoted soldier with a grudge. TNR, which re-reported the story, as publications sometimes do when stories are seriously challenged, found one error--the location of the mocking of the disfigured woman--but stood by everything else, including that the mocking occurred. What seems to have stirred up the rightwing the most, though, is that his fiancee or wife--their exact status is unclear--works as a researcher for the magazine. As James Wolcott and Max Blumenthal report, that information came directly from a mole working as temp at TNR who used a TNR computer to tip the rightwingers about her identity, which then led them to draw comparisons to Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame. The military has removed Beauchamp's email and cellphone privileges.

At NBC, another leak--producer Michelle Madigan, going undercover to report on the Defcon security conference, was identified publicly and ran from the conference after people shouting "Burn the witch."

Much hilarity ensued, according to Infoworld.

Defcon organizers identified Madigan after being tipped off by her associates, who (show official) "Priest" declined to name. After the incident, Priest showed reporters a complete dossier on Madigan, which included a photograph, phone number, job title and social security number. He would not say how he obtained it.

ZDNet says this:

DEFCON organizers caught wind of this from undisclosed sources and casually contacted Madigan to see if she wanted official press credentials and a press badge to cover DEFCON. Reporters in the pressroom were then fully briefed on the situation before the “spot the undercover reporter game” so that they could cover the event.

So apparently her fellow reporters were in on the plan to unmask HER plan to go undercover at the hacker convention and expose a hacker or two or possibly federal agents.