MediaWatch: May 1995
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: May 1995
- Network News Dominated by Arguements and Soundbites Against the GOP Contract
- NewsBites: Brownout
- Revolving Door: Burke's Back
- McVeigh: Newt's Protege?
- Hosts Blamed For Bombing
- Welfare Reform Ripoff
- Today Sounds Like Talk Radio?
- Janet Cooke Award: Sticking Up for Regulatory Overkill
Revolving Door: Burke's Back
Former CBS and ABC News executive David Burke, described by John Carmody in the April 28 Washington Post as a "longtime Democratic adviser and confidant," has revolved back into politics. President Clinton nominated Burke, President of CBS News from 1988 to 1990, to serve as Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors for the International Bureau of Broadcasting. According to the Post, the board is "responsible for policy and budgetary oversight for all non-military and international broadcasting services under the U.S. Information Agency."
Last fall The Boston Globe learned that Burke, Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy from 1965 to 1971, was pitching in as an adviser to the Senator's re-election effort. In February, Burke, who served as VP of ABC News for 11 years before jumping to CBS, accompanied Clinton on a trip to California in order to "provide political and communications tips," The Wall Street Journal revealed.
Too Irrelevant to Stay?
Several Clinton officials with media ties have decided to move on. At the State Department, Douglas Bennet Jr., Asst. Secretary for International Organization Affairs, resigned to become President of Wesleyan University in July. President of National Public Radio for a decade from 1983 until Clinton tapped him, Bennet headed the Agency for International Development in the Carter administration....
Over at the Defense Department, Vernon Guidry Jr., a policy assistant to Deputy Secretary John Deutch, has left to form a lobbying and PR firm. Former Defense Secretary Les Aspin brought Guidry, a defense reporter for the Baltimore Sun from 1980 to 1987, with him to the Pentagon from the House Armed Services Committee where he had been Staff Director under Chairman Aspin....
Closer to the White House, Thomas Ross, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Public Affairs at the National Security Council, is moving to the private sector in New York, The Washington Post reported. Thomas, Senior Vice President of NBC News from 1986-89, had been Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun Times until President Carter named him Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
Switching Allegiances
Speechwriter Eliot Brenner is now pounding out the words for his third boss since leaving United Press International. After handling the defense beat for UPI, in late 1991 he signed on with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. In 1993 he moved across the Potomac to the Treasury Department where he toiled for Secretary Lloyd Bentsen. Clinton's second Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, has decided to keep Brenner as his speechwriter.
Congressional Reshuffle
Jack Kole, Press Secretary to Democratic Congressman David Obey since 1989, has moved to the Appropriations Committee to serve as Press Secretary for the minority side. From 1964 to 1989 Kole was the Washington Bureau Chief for the Milwaukee Journal....David Beckwith, Press Secretary to Vice President Quayle and Communications Director for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the past two years, has left the Texan to run the government affairs office in Washington for EDS Corp. For most of the 1980s Beckwith covered politics and the White House for Time magazine.
