Media Watch: September 1995
Table of Contents:
Who's Protecting Newt?
Gail Sheehy's September Vanity Fair profile of Newt Gingrich publicized charges that he had extramarital affairs in the 1970s, including the claims of a British woman named Anne Manning. CNN Reliable Sources host Bernard Kalb complained August 13: "Is there a double standard at work?....When President Clinton was hit by stories about alleged sexual escapades and so forth, I'm thinking of Paula Jones and so forth, the media circled around like buzzards."
Buzzards? Other than a 16-second mention on ABC's World News Tonight, the media ignored Jones for three months, until The Washington Post got around to reporting it.
By contrast, CNN jumped first on the Gingrich story on the August 8 Inside Politics, before the magazine even hit the news stands. CNN repeated the story on the next day's Inside Politics and World News. CBS This Morning also told Manning's story on August 9. Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio all followed on the sex story within ten days.
Time and Newsweek each devoted a page to Sheehy. Last year Newsweek wrote of "Paula Jones' Credibility Gap" and tagged her a "Dogpatch Madonna." This year? Newsweek told the place and type of sex Gingrich had with Manning, sarcastically noting the article "wasn't the best news for a politician who earlier this year urged Americans to embrace the values of Victorian England."
