Apparently the reason that the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet decided to publish its false story about the IDF stealing the organs of Palestinians is because the paper’s editor wanted to verify the authenticity of the story. In the United States the rule of journalism is that you’re supposed to check you story before publishing it. (Not that American reporters don’t sometimes make stuff up, but no American editor would boast that he published an unverified story to test its veracity.
Actually I think that the reason that Donald Bostrom wrote the story is because it was a great career move. Look at Charles Enderlein. Not only was his story about Mohammed al-Dura shown to be false, he lost a court case. But now he gets France’s highest honor! There’s no libel of Israel that is too ridiculous to be dismissed and brings fame and fortune to the reporter. Surely Bostrom deserves a Pulitzer for his slander of the Jewish state.
No doubt it will bring him greater prestige than if he reported a real story, like that the Chinese execute prisoners to harvest their organs.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.