MediaWatch: February 1998
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: February 1998
- Enlisting in White House War on Starr
- NewsBites: Who Set the Sex Precedent?
- The Monica Story's First Casualty
- Editors Realize Liberal Slant
The Monica Story's First Casualty
As the nightly network news shows focus on the Monica Lewinsky story — or rather, the debate over whether Ken Starr is "out of bounds or just tone deaf?" (as Tom Brokaw asked on February 16) — the fundraising scandal has almost vanished.
The Justice Department’s task force achieved its first two indictments and Attorney General Janet Reno named another independent counsel for a cabinet official, but the networks aired almost nothing.
On January 28, a grand jury indicted Charlie Trie and his associate, Antonio Pan, for funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal foreign contributions into the Democratic National Committee. That night, it drew 28 seconds from Peter Jennings on ABC, and nothing on CBS or NBC. The next night, CBS gave it less than a minute, and NBC aired 24 seconds. Of the three morning shows, only ABC’s Good Morning America aired a brief item read by the anchor.
Bob Schieffer observed on the CBS Evening News: "At the least, this is embarrassing for the President in that Trie was one of his biggest fundraisers and their friendship goes back to when then Governor Clinton ate in Trie’s Little Rock restaurant." Of course, it’s not so embarrassing when it gets just seconds on the networks.
Trie surrendered on February 3 to federal authorities after arriving from Asia at Washington Dulles Airport. That night, CBS aired a full story by Phil Jones, but ABC pawned it off in 13 seconds, and NBC disposed of it in 29 seconds. The ABC and NBC morning shows each offered one brief read by the news anchor.
On February 11, Janet Reno recommended the appointment of an independent counsel to probe Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s inaccurate testimony to Congress about a rejected federal permit for a Wisconsin Indian casino proposal (Tribes opposing the casino later donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC). Once again, the network output could be measured in seconds: ABC 20, CBS 28, NBC 38. The next morning, NBC had a brief, and ABC aired a full story by Linda Douglass.
On February 18, the grand jury indicted Al Gore fundraiser Maria Hsia over illegal fundraisers at the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in California, where Buddhist nuns were reimbursed for contributions they made. CBS gave it 19 seconds, ABC and NBC nothing. None of the morning shows touched it.
NBC’s Claire Shipman tapped the zeitgeist in a laudatory February 2 Today show profile of Al Gore: "On the bright side, Gore’s poll numbers are up and his role in last year’s campaign finance scandal seems a bad dream. After all, who’s thinking about Buddhist nuns when the issue is illicit sex in the White House?"
