MediaWatch: April 1992
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: April 1992
- House Bank: Networks Miss Plenty
- NewsBites: A Book Gone Wrong
- Revolving Door: Fox Guarding the Democratic Coop
- TV, Magazines Avoid Covering Clinton Finances
- Reporters Take Cue from Left-Wing Class War Specialists
- Look Who's Advising PBS
- Thomas Trashed Again
- The Watchdog Yawns
- Janet Cooke Award: CBS on CBO: Numbers Fumblers
House Bank: Networks Miss Plenty
Washington's most underreported story may be the growing inattention the news media are paying to the workings of Congress. According to a 1985 study in the Washington Journalism Review, the number of Capitol Hill stories on the nightly network news decreased by half between the late '70s and 1980-84. Increasingly, Washington news is centered at the White House, heading east to the Hill only for reaction to presidential initiatives. This goes double for scandals. White House appointees have long been target practice for investigative barbs, but the media have comparatively little appetite for legislative scandal.
This is unmistakably illustrated by the networks' lack of fervor in uncovering the House Bank scandal. The story first surfaced on February 7, 1990, when the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported it found $232,000 in bad House checks during the previous 12 months. Only The Washington Post (on February 8 and 21) and the Los Angeles Times (reprinting the second Post story on April 8) did stories on the GAO findings. The networks aired none.
On September 19, 1991, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call publicized the latest GAO report on the House Bank. While newspapers followed the revelations, the networks reported nothing for an entire two weeks, until October 3, when the House voted to shut the bank down. All four networks then put on one story, and then dropped the ball again until March 5, when the House ethics committee released its report on the bank. Suddenly, the bank became a worthwhile story.
To study the tone and scope of the coverage, MediaWatch analysts watched all stories on the House Bank and House Post Office scandals from March 5 to April 4 on the four network evening news programs (ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CNN's World News, and NBC Nightly News). In that month, the networks aired 58 stories on the House Bank scandal and its repercussions. Of these, 18 were short anchor-read stories and three were NBC interviews. Twelve of the 58 stories followed Speaker Foley's agenda: executive and legislative perks. As the scandal developed, charges flew, but the networks often failed to go beyond airing the charges and investigate for themselves. Among the stories that are still uninvestigated:
THE POST OFFICE. The Washington Times uncovered a scandal at the House Post Office in early February, including the bombshell that Speaker Thomas Foley had told no one in the press or the Congress about possible criminal activity, including cocaine selling. The networks were silent. Other newspapers, such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today, began to follow up, but when Postmaster Robert Rota implicated the Speaker's wife and unpaid top aide, Heather Foley, in the coverup, even these papers dropped the ball. Of the 58 stories on House operations, only nine have even mentioned the post office scandal, and three of those were brief anchor-read stories. In fact, NBC, which along with CNN, paid the most early attention to the scandal, reported on it only once.
THE TOP 22'S SLEAZE FACTOR. To date, the networks have refused to report that some of the top 22 check bouncers have resigned or been embarrassed by previous ethical lapses. One of the top 22 check bouncers was former House Majority Whip Tony Coelho. Among currently serving abusers, Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) has gone to trial for bank fraud over a $350,000 loan; Rep. Bill Alexander (D-AR) took a $60,000 flight with his family to Rio de Janeiro; and Rep. Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH) violated House rules when she put a woman on her payroll who was living in New York. On April 4, The Washington Post reported that Oakar resigned from a House task force looking into the post office, and that the Cleveland Plain Dealer alleged she had sponsored two "ghost" employees who collected salaries but did not work.
In at least two morning network appearances, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich charged Rep. Ron Colean (D-TX), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, with securing a $65,000 loan with a constituent who was also seeking a $6 million grant before the committee. Network reporters failed to follow up on that charge, even to prove Gingrich wrong.
LARRY HOPKINS. The networks failed to examine early leaks of House check bouncers, particularly the case of Rep. Larry Hopkins (R-KY). When Hopkins tried to run for Governor in the fall of 1991, someone on Capitol Hill leaked his House Bank records, and he lost. No one investigated why or how Hopkins' name was leaked, or who had it done. (Only Newsweek alluded to the partisan leak. On March 12, ABC's Prime Time Live referred to Hopkins' loss, but not the possibly partisan leak.)
PETER KOSTMAYER. Last October, the conservative weekly Human Events wrote a detailed story on the check-bouncing abuses of Rep. Peter Kostmayer (D-PA) from 1983 to mid-1985, including a check for $23,000 that left his account overdrawn by $32,000. His account was overdrawn for six months at a time. But none of the networks put the story on the air. Kostmayer didn't make the top 22 abusers.
CAMPAIGN FINANCING. None of the evening news shows has reported that some House members, in violation of federal election laws, gave themselves loans from the House Bank to help finance their campaigns. At least three Democrats, including Charles Wilson (TX) and 1990 losers Doug Walgren (PA) and Jim Bates (CA) admitted the practice. (The March 20 Today did carry a story on this by NBC's Andrea Mitchell.)
MEDIA CHECK-BOUNCERS. To date, nobody's reported that the sergeant-at-arms allowed reporters to cash personal checks of $50 or less at the House Bank, some of which have been held. The Democratic leadership is refusing to release the names of media check-bouncers. Could it be reporters are afraid of offending the Standing Committee of Correspondents, which operates the House and Senate press galleries? This committee not only hands out perks (such as parking spaces on the Capitol grounds) to journalists; it will also help decide who gets the best credentials for the conventions this summer. Nobody knows, because the networks haven't reported it.
The networks will have plenty of opportunities to cover the House scandals now that the special counsel is investigating. Indictments and convictions will probably follow. But when executive branch scandals like Iran-Contra broke, the networks didn't wait for the special prosecutor to publicly reveal what he had uncovered; they dug for leaks and investigated on their own. If Washington-based network reporters really want to be watchdogs of the government, they ought to apply the same zeal to Capitol Hill.
