MediaWatch: March 1988
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door
A presidential campaign connection MediaWatch missed: former Chicago Tribune political reporter David Axelrod has been serving as media adviser to liberal Democratic presidential candidate Paul Simon. Axelrod left the paper's presidential primary beat in 1984 to become Manager of Simon's successful U.S. Senate race.
Peggy Simpson, an Associated Press political reporter in the 1970's and most recently a Washington based economics reporter for the Hearst newspapers, named Washington Bureau Chief of Ms. magazine.
She'll be joined by Ann Lewis, an adviser to the Jesse Jackson campaign and former Executive Director of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, who will write a regular column on national affairs. Making the early March announcement, Anne Summers, Editor of the magazine created by Gloria Steinem, asserted: "Since Ms. is no longer tax-exempt, we are able to express political opinions and take a stand on issues that was not possible before."
Roger Wilkins, a Senior Fellow with the far-left Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), is Chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board which will announce its awards recipients in late March. Wilkins was appointed to a one-year term in April of last year after serving on the board since 1979.
Wilkins worked as a Senior Adviser to the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign in 1984. Under President Johnson, he served as an Assistant Attorney General. He has also sat on the editorial advisory boards of The New York Times and Washington Post.
Last month MediaWatch relayed the findings of a book uncovering the numerous ties between IPS and the media, "Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies." Author S. Steven Powell wrote that Brian Ross of NBC News taught a course on investigative journalism at an IPS sponsored seminar. Ross called MediaWatch to deny he ever taught any such course and "never even heard of IPS before." Contacted by MediaWatch, Powell explained that Ross' name appeared on an IPS brochure listing participants in previous seminars.
