MediaWatch: March 1993

Revolving Door: Edelman Admirer

Newsweek White House correspondent Clara Bingham has left the beat she covered since late 1991 to write a book on women in Congress. Part of Newsweek's Washington team since 1989, Bingham was Tennessee Communications Director for the Dukakis presidential campaign in 1988. In February's Harper's Bazaar, she penned a glowing profile of Marian Wright Edelman, head of the left-wing Children's Defense Fund (CDF). In an editor's note to the article, Bingham oozed: "Her energy and idealism are infectious. After spending two hours with her, I felt like giving up writing and finding a cause to devote my life to."

The article reflected Bingham's enthusiasm. She described Edelman as "America's universal mother" and "the most respected voice for children in the nation." Never calling CDF liberal, she noted that Edelman is criticized by the "ultraconservative Eagle Forum."

In a particularly gushing paragraph, Bingham wrote: "Edelman is intense. She identifies herself so closely with her cause that she speaks in the first person plural. It's as if she wants to remind us that we -- you, too -- have an obligation to the nation's children. Congressmen who have crossed swords with her in legislative battles call her `arrogant,' `a bully.' But what Edelman really is is fearless. Not everyone can meet her high standards. The selfish, the uncommitted, the cynical, and the self-satisfied need not apply."

Despite evidence (reported in past issues of MediaWatch) that CDF figures are often inaccurate, Bingham insisted: "While most Washington lobbyists exert their influence with money, Edelman's currency is facts."

Planned Parenthood & Co.

When Catherine Crier left CNN last fall to join ABC's 20/20, her Crier & Co. show was re-named CNN & Co. so different reporters could host it. For the month of March CNN went outside the reporter ranks to sign former Planned Parenthood President Faye Wattleton to host the daily half-hour discussion show. Wattleton left Planned Parenthood last year to launch a Tribune-distributed daily TV talk show, but it never got off the ground.

Nightline's Clinton Line

Signing up as a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton: Carolyn Curiel, a Nightline writer and producer for the past year. Before joining ABC News in Washington, Curiel was an editor with The New York Times for four years and at The Washington Post for the previous two years.

Full Circle

During the Carter Administration, Rick Inderfurth served as a Special Assistant to the National Security Adviser and later as Deputy Staff Director to the Democrat-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From 1981 to 1991 Inderfurth held various reporting assignments with ABC News.

Now, with a Democrat back in the White House, Inderfurth's back in the administration. President Clinton has nominated him for a position as top deputy to United Nations Ambassador Madeleine Albright, a NSC colleague from the Carter days. At ABC, Inderfurth served as Pentagon correspondent, national security affairs reporter and finally Moscow reporter from 1989 to 1991.

White House Helpers. The Clinton White House is providing positions for at least a few media veterans. Anne Edwards, Director of the White House Television Office for Jimmy Carter, is back in the press office. Since her last trip through the White House gate she spent four years as a CBS News Washington bureau assignment editor, followed by a stint with the Mondale-Ferraro campaign. Mondale's loss sent her back to the media as a Senior Producer with National Public Radio. Last year she headed the Clinton-Gore press advance operation....

Signing on as a Deputy Press Secretary, Arthur Jones, a long-time Boston Globe reporter who spent the 1980s as Press Secretary to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Boston Mayor Ray Flynn.

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