MediaWatch: January 1994
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: January 1994
- Conscientious Objectors to Trooper Allegations Jumped on Tower
- NewsBites: Bryant Confesses
- Revolving Door: Talbott Promoted at State
- Friend of Bill Takes Over at ABC
- Fascists, Communists on "Right"
- Boxing Helen Thomas
- TV Truth Squads Take the Day Off
- Janet Cooke Award: Newsweek Celebrates 60th Anniversary with Mostly Liberal Historical Essay
Friend of Bill Takes Over at ABC
Less than a year after naming Emily Rooney Executive Producer of World News Tonight, ABC replaced her in early January with Rick Kaplan, a Bill Clinton friend who twice helped rescue his presidential campaign.
In a September 27 Electronic Media story Rooney stated: "I think we are aware, as everybody who works in the media is, that the old stereotype of the liberal bent happens to be true, and we're making a concerted effort to really look for more from the other, without being ponderous and lecturing or trying to convert people to another way of thinking."
The Washington Post attributed her removal to "clashes" with Peter Jennings and to creating a "chaotic atmosphere" by having stories "edited and re-edited by three or four different editors." But the Post's Ellen Edwards also noted "she raised a further ruckus this fall when she said in interviews... that the broadcast would take a closer look at conservative views in order to counteract the `liberal bent' of the media."
Rooney's exit may not eliminate the effort she began. Last fall, Jennings conceded in TV Guide that the American Agenda had "revolved around a liberal axis," but promised to "pay more attention to what conservatives are saying."
But Kaplan, Executive Producer of Prime Time Live since 1989, advised Clinton in 1992. When the Gennifer Flowers story broke in February, "Clinton called Kaplan for advice," Los Angeles Times reporter Tom Rosenstiel recounted in his campaign book Strange Bedfellows. On the way to the airport, Clinton made another call to Kaplan and the "night ended for Kaplan at 4am, when Clinton called one last time."
Rosenstiel reported that Clinton "was considering doing 60 Minutes. If you do, Kaplan said, it should be with Mike Wallace or Morley Safer or Ed Bradley. Otherwise tell them forget it....[Voters] are going to remember that you stood up to Mike Wallace."
Two months later as Clinton's campaign floundered in New York, aides suggested an appearance on the Don Imus show. "The appearance was clinched," CNN producer Matthew Saal recalled in the January 1993 Washington Monthly, "when Rick Kaplan... called the radio show host to see if he could get the pair together. The answer was yes."
Kaplan's closeness has impacted coverage. In a March 11 Prime Time Live story, Sam Donaldson explained that he added a positive remark at the end of a pre-election Clinton interview because Kaplan said "the overall [interview] atmosphere was too tough." In the March 21 Washington Post Magazine, David Finkel quoted Kaplan as he watched Donaldson's interview: "I'd just like to do this one over again...I'm getting angry watching this...You didn't treat Bush this way."
