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Editor&PublisherBy E&P Staff
Published: November 29, 2007
NEW YORK A column by regular Joe Klein in last week's issue of TIME magazine, blasting the Democrats' version of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill, has earned a correction today in both that magazine -- and the Chicago Tribune, where excerpts also ran.
The column drew immediate criticism from Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald, and then others, several days ago. Klein, under persistent pressure since, backtracked to some extent in recent days, offering repeated updated clarifications, which critics also deemed inadequate. Finally he wrote, "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right." Now the next issue of Time magazine, due out Friday, runs a correction of sorts that Greenwald and others may still find lacking as it suggests the factual matter is under dispute. The Chicago Tribune, however, which carried Klein's column, ran a full-fledged, unqualified correction, today.
The correction at the end of Klein's column reads in full:
"Correction: I was wrong to write last week that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would require a court approval of individual foreign surveillance targets. The bill does not explicitly say that. Republicans believe it can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don’t. To read the disputed section of the bill, go to time.com/fisa."
Here's the Tribune correction:
"A Time magazine essay by Joe Klein that was excerpted on the editorial page Wednesday incorrectly stated that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would require a court approval of individual foreign surveillance targets. It does not."
Among other criticisms of past Time clarifications on this column, Greenwald has written: "What Klein actually wrote was that the bill would 'require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court' and thus 'would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans.' What's the point of correcting Klein's false statements if they can't even honestly summarize what he actually wrote?" Klein had blasted the Demcrats' bill: "In the lethal shorthand of political advertising, it would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans. That is well beyond stupid."
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