MediaWatch: June 1997
Table of Contents:
Hush Little Hubbell, Don't You Cry
Think back to the unfolding of Iran-Contra ten years ago. Imagine that instead of testifying before Congress, Oliver North suddenly made $500,000 in "jobs" from Reagan-friendly corporations and announced he would not cooperate with Lawrence Walsh or congressional investigations. Would the liberal media have yawned?
Not exactly. So where is the media firestorm around Webster Hubbell? One of Bill Clinton's best friends, the former number three official in the Justice Department resigned in disgrace in early 1994. Months later, he pled guilty to embezzling almost a half million dollars from the Rose Law Firm, where he worked with Hillary Clinton, including work on Whitewater deals. Hubbell might have considered telling all to Ken Starr to lighten his legal woes. Instead, as national newspapers have pieced together, the White House campaigned to enrich Hubbell with phony "jobs" during this crucial period. White House denials of a fund-Hubbell campaign crumbled with each new story in print outlets but the networks ignored most of them.
To document network Hubbell coverage, MediaWatch analysts reviewed evening news on four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN's The World Today), as well as the morning shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC. From January 1 through May 31, the Big Three networks combined aired only 10 full reports and eight anchor briefs on the Hubbell story. CNN didn't do much better, with six full reports and ten anchor briefs. The morning shows followed with only four full reports, two interviews, and 14 anchor briefs combined. Among the underplayed print revelations:
January 22: Associated Press reported that Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry admitted an error in suggesting Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey had "no discussion of and no knowledge of" Hubbell's $100,000 salary from the Indonesian Lippo Group. Network coverage? Zero. On January 29, the morning after Clinton was asked about Hubbell at a press conference, Tim Russert briefly discussed Clinton's "lawyerly" denial and noted McCurry's admission.
February 9: Time magazine reported Ken Starr was exploring whether Hubbell got hush money, including a "job" with Time- Warner. TV coverage? All four networks aired one evening story over the next four days. CBS This Morning aired a full report and ABC's Good Morning America aired one anchor brief.
February 24: Hubbell refused to cooperate with House and Senate fundraising inquiries, exposing him to potential contempt of Congress charges. Network coverage? On CBS, Dan Rather read two sentences. On NBC, Jim Miklaszewski threw in two sentences. ABC did nothing and neither did the morning shows.
February 25: The Los Angeles Times reported on page one "In private, the Clintons have quietly stayed in touch with Hubbell through a trusted White House aide who acted as a confidential go-between." The aide, Marsha Scott, visited Hubbell frequently in prison and traveled to Little Rock to meet with him when he first appeared before a Whitewater grand jury. Did Scott influence Hubbell's Whitewater testimony? TV coverage? Zero, even on CNN.
March 5: The Washington Post carried a front-page story reporting that Ken Starr subpoenaed the White House for information on "20 individuals and entities connected to an Indonesian conglomerate that made a payment to former associate attorney general, Webster Hubbell." Network coverage? CNN and CBS This Morning each aired one anchor brief.
March 6: The New York Times first pegged Hubbell's payments at "more than $400,000 from about a dozen enterprises, including the organizers of a multibillion-dollar development in China that received the endorsement of the Clinton administration." CBS Evening News aired a Phil Jones story on the $400,000, but did not pick up the China angle. ABC and NBC did zero.
March 20: The New York Times noted Lippo boss James Riady had five days of visits to the White House, shortly after which he paid $100,000 to Hubbell. Network coverage? Nothing. Three nights later, ABC gave it a sentence.
April 1: Former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty and current Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles admitted soliciting "jobs" for Hubbell. All three networks devoted anchor briefs to the development: CBS gave it 33 seconds, ABC and NBC 39. ABC was the only one to note Hubbell payments "amounted to more than $500,000," and are "a major focus" of Ken Starr.
April 7: The Washington Times shattered the claim the Clintons had no knowledge in 1994 of Hubbell's wrongdoing, finding a memo notifying Hillary Clinton that Hubbell was under investigation by the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). Three days later, the Times added the First Lady's office ordered the RTC to advise her of all media questions about Hubbell. Also on the 10th, New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Stephen Labaton reported: "New interviews suggest that a wider circle of White House officials at various levels were intimately aware of the [Hubbell "jobs"] effort than has been previously known." Network coverage? Zilch. But all four evening shows noted Hillary Clinton's joke that the focus on Whitewater "reminds me of some people's obsession with UFOs and the Hale-Bopp comet."
April 12: New York Times reporter Stephen Labaton found the White House "knew [in 1994] that Hubbell had already emerged as a crucial witness" in the Whitewater case. Network coverage? Zero.
April 16: Washington Post reporter Susan Schmidt discovered "Webster Hubbell had more than 70 meetings with administration officials" in the nine months between his resignation and his guilty pleas, showing "the extent of Hubbell's contacts within the upper reaches of the White House and the administration was much broader than previously known." Network coverage? Zero.
May 3: Washington Post reporter Sharon Lafraniere noted the White House conceded Bill and Hillary met with Hubbell four times in 1994. They had previously claimed only two meetings. Network coverage? Zero.
May 5: The New York Times reported Arkansas lawyer James Blair and Clinton's personal lawyer David Kendall both knew the seriousness of the charges against Hubbell. Blair warned the Clintons that Hubbell "needed to resign as quickly as possible." In the evening, only CBS addressed the story for 33 seconds. (NBC's Jim Miklaszewski mentioned it on Today on the 7th.) On the 6th, the New York Times reported the White House was now claiming "the Clintons and their aides did not 'fully' know the seriousness of the allegations" until the end of 1994. Network coverage? Zero.
May 22: USA Today revealed "Clinton Pal [Vernon] Jordan Got Hubbell Job," noting Hubbell made more than $60,000 from billionaire Ronald Perelman after Jordan introduced him in April 1994. TV coverage? Zip.
