MediaWatch: February 1988
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door
Tom Donilon, most recently Senior Adviser to the short-lived Joe Biden presidential campaign, joins the CBS News team. Donilon told The Washington Times that CBS producers "consult regularly" with him "on a variety of political matters." One of the first: Dan Rather asked Donilon's advice in preparing for the Bush interview.
Donilon previously served as Deputy Manager of the Mondale-Ferraro campaign in 1984 after working as Chief of Staff on the '84 Mondale campaign plane. In 1980 he was chief delegate counter for Carter-Mondale.
The January 18 Newsweek reported that CBS "tried John Sasso," campaign manager for Dukakis before the controversy over Sasso's role in Biden tape affair erupted, and then settled on Donilon even "before Biden withdrew." Some, Newsweek added, "say Dan Rather sees him as a counter to NBC News VP Tim Russert, ex-aide to New York's Mario Cuomo." Now that's balance.
Donilon should feel comfortable working with CBS News Political Editor Dotty Lynch. She toiled as Deputy Pollster for the 1972 McGovern campaign, a pollster for Ted Kennedy's 1980 effort and Chief Pollster for Gary Hart in 1984 before providing her services to the Mondale-Ferraro effort.
George Mair, named Chief Press Officer to House Speaker Jim Wright in December. But, after mid-January furor over tone of angry letters sent to editors protesting what he considered unfair articles on the Speaker, Mair resigned. In the 1960's Mair spent 10 years as a reporter for CBS News and later wrote a column for the LA Times syndicate.
Wilson Morris, Information Director of the House Democratic Steering Committee controlled by Wright, remains a spokesman for the Speaker. Morris worked as a Washington Post reporter from 1972 to 1978.
A new book by Boston-based researcher S. Steven Powell reveals the close relationship between a far-left think-tank and some reporters for leading newspapers. In Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies, (Green Hill Publishers) Powell uncovers numerous ties between the Institute (IPS) and the media, including:
John Dinges, a part-time assistant editor at The Washington Post, was simultaneously an IPS Associate Fellow. In the early 1980's and late 1970's he regularly contributed news articles from Central and South America. Dinges is now a foreign desk editor for National Public Radio.
Sidney Blumenthal, a Post "Style" writer, "served as the Boston correspondent for In These Times, the socialist newspaper published by IPS" in the late-70's.
Elizabeth Becker, a Post reporter who covered Asia, left the paper in early 1980's to become a visiting fellow at IPS.
Several Post reporters and editors have taught courses or lectured at the IPS policy seminar "Washington School," including: "Outlook" section editor Robert Kaiser; reporter Joanne Omang; and former senior foreign editor and now London correspondent Karen DeYoung. During a 1980 class DeYoung told her students: "Most journalists now, most Western journalists at least, are very eager to seek out guerrilla groups, leftist groups, because you assume they must be the good guys."
Brian Ross and Jim Polk of NBC News taught courses on investigative journalism.
Fred Kaplan, defense reporter for The Boston Globe authored "Dubious Specter," a 1980 IPS published book that took a skeptical look at the Soviet military build-up. MediaWatch has learned that before joining the Globe, Kaplan worked as a defense policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Les Aspin, a Wisconsin Democrat.
Raymond Bonner, who reported from El Salvador for The New York Times in the early 80's, left position as "Director of the Consumers Union, a left-wing group founded by Ralph Nader" to join the Times.
One connection Powell missed: U.S. News & World Report Associate Editor Robert Shapiro was a 1972-73 fellow with IPS. Shapiro later became Legislative Director for Senator Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) before joining the news magazine in 1985.
