MediaWatch: March 1995
Table of Contents:
Nap Time for Network News
The networks devoted 27 stories to Newt Gingrich's book deal in the six weeks ending February 1, to only three on Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. February brought fewer Gingrich stories, but Democratic scandals were barely touched. Except for Brown, no Democratic ethics issue got more than one story on any one of the four evening news shows.
Ethical questions about Gingrich's "Newt Inc." conglomerate of political enterprises generated five stories, two from NBC's Lisa Myers. On February 23 and 24, ABC's John Martin filed lengthy reports totaling over six minutes, and on February 23 CBS's Bob Schieffer focused on Gingrich's college course getting free time on a cable channel.
All four covered the Justice Department's February 16 opening of an investigation into Brown's finances. Dan Rather sounded almost regretful: "New legal trouble tonight for a widely respected member of President Clinton's cabinet." But curiosity quickly ebbed. NBC followed up with two stories, CBS and CNN World News with a story each. In all, the networks devoted eight stories to Brown in February. Even the revelation in the February 25 Washington Post that NBC had forgiven a $10 million loan defaulted on by a partnership including Brown failed to pique their curiosity, although questions about federal regulation of Fox drove the Gingrich book story.
Only CBS reported on the new Bill Clinton biography by Washington Post writer David Maraniss, which confirmed what The American Spectator revealed about women and state troopers over a year ago. The release of the list of contributors to Clinton's legal defense fund was noted briefly by NBC (CBS's Bill Plante also mentioned it in his Maraniss story.) Only CBS updated the case against Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy on February 12.
Despite a 60 Minutes story to which Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle issued a 31-page denial on February 17, the networks continued to ignore allegations that he intervened with federal airline regulators on behalf of a friend's company that suffered a deadly crash last year.
At month's end, a grand jury indicted Neil Ainley, former President of an Arkansas bank, for concealing 1990 Clinton gubernatorial campaign withdrawals. CNN aired a Wolf Blitzer piece on February 28, but no other network noted the Whitewater development.
CBS, CNN, and NBC did highlight Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice February 22. That same day, a grand jury indicted former Rep. Mary Rose Oakar (D-Ohio) for check-kiting at the House Bank. Only CNN ran a brief anchor-read story.
