“Bush military records destroyed”

You have to wade through almost to the end of this BBC story of July 10th “Bush military records destroyed” to see that the destruction took place in 1996 or 1997. This fact makes it all less suspicious.

Compare the BBC story to this New York Times account of July 9th. Many things are similar, but the point that the destruction accidentally occured in 1996 or 1997 comes in only the second paragraph.

The NYT also stresses that the destruction occurred as part of a general conservation project which went wrong much more strongly than does the BBC.

Also note the up-front way the NYT has dealt with the correction to the story, issued on the 10th. There is a line at the top saying “correction appended” and it is duly appended at the bottom. The BBC could and should copy this technique.

Perhaps it could also copy the specific correction and state that the White House admitted the loss of the records not in the last few days, as you might think from the BBC story, but in February.

(New York Times links via Jim Millerwho is less impressed with the NYT than I am.