by Scott Ott
(2005-05-17) -- Newsweek magazine, which sparked deadly riots in several countries with an erroneous report about U.S. military guards flushing a Koran down a toilet, today announced that in addition to regretting and retracting the story, it had fired two unnamed journalists.
"We have terminated a reporter and an editor, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation," said Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker. "The journalists were high-ranking individuals who have never been named in media coverage of this story."
Mr. Whitaker denied that the firings involved reporters Michael Isikoff or John Barry who wrote the item for the magazine's May 9 issue.
"The American people have come to trust Newsweek for credible and ethical journalism," he said. "We believe that our swift and severe punishment of these undisclosed persons will demonstrate that we continue to merit that trust."
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