Newsweek put U.S. flag in trash on foreign cover

With Newsweek still reeling from its forced retraction of the Quran-in-the-toilet story, the magazine is now under fire for publishing what some see as staunchly anti-American covers in foreign editions.

For instance, while a Japanese edition of Newsweek dated Feb. 2 published a cover story featuring an American flag in a trash can under the headline, "The day America died," and the international edition featured a photo of President Bush with the headline, "America Leads ... But Is Anyone Following?," the U.S. edition cover story was an "Oscar Confidential" featuring Hilary Swank, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The cover story in the foreign editions, titled, "Dream on, America," about what Newsweek characterized as "the world's rejection of the American way of life," did not run in the U.S. edition of the magazine.

The Japanese edition of the magazine is raising the ire of bloggers for its illustration of a dirtied American flag, its staff broken and discarded in a trash can.

"I think they have crossed the line into outright treason," wrote one blogger yesterday. "It's time to see some of these enemy propagandists hanging from the end of a rope."

Some Newsweek international readers noticed that the story didn't run in the U.S.

"Why didn't this fine story run in my U.S. edition?" wrote one letter writer in the March 14 edition.

The Japanese cover story was noted on the blogsite Riding Sun, produced by "a New Yorker living in Tokyo."

"Newsweek's false, retracted story about American guards flushing the Quran down a toilet at Guantanamo doesn't necessarily mean the magazine's staff hates America or Bush, or wants us to lose in Iraq," wrote Riding Sun. "To be charitable, let's just chalk that one up to sloppy journalism. But I'm at a loss to explain this."

Both the Japanese and international editions featured cover stories by Andrew Moravcsik. But that piece did not run in the U.S. edition.

"It's one thing for Newsweek to actively promote the notion that America is a 'dead,' 'rotting' country overseas," wrote Riding Sun. "But it's quite another thing indeed to hide those efforts from its American readers. If Newsweek really think America is dead, and our flag belongs in the trash, why won't it tell us?"