MediaWatch: July 1988

Vol. Two No. 7

Study Bites

Dukakis Connections. Besides former Knight-Ridder reporter Patricia O'Brien who served as the Dukakis for President Press Secretary last year, reporters have not yet begun signing up with the Dukakis campaign, something sure to happen if he wins.

But two 1974 workers have moved into the media. New York Times Central America reporter Stephen Kinzer worked on that year's successful campaign for Governor. The Producer of CBS Face the Nation until 1986, Mary Fifield, also toiled as Press Secretary to Dukakis back then.

Back to Politics. There are also few people who used to work for CBS News who are now active in partisan politics. Wally Chalmers, Political Editor during the 1984 campaign is now the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). In 1980 he helped run the Kennedy campaign. The Senior Producer of Election News in 1984, Bob Ferrante, was Director of Communications for the DNC until early July.

Peggy Noonan, who wrote Dan Rather's CBS radio commentaries until 1984, went on to a White House job. Now, she writes speeches for George Bush.