MediaWatch: November 1993
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: November 1993
- Media Foundations Give Generously to Liberal Groups in the Bush Era
- NewsBites: Time Off Course
- Revolving Door:"Conservative" Advised Bill
- Reporters Knock GOP Campaigns, Puff Liberal Chances
- "Images Exact A Price"
- Adding Up Bush's Bills
- Local, NBC Reporters Involved
- Janet Cooke Award: CNN's Brooks Jackson Denounces RNC Ad On Clinton Plan as "Misleading" and "Wrong"
Revolving Door:"Conservative" Advised Bill
"In early 1992, the advisers to presidential candidate Clinton included the journalist Gergen," Michael Kelly revealed in an October 31 New York Times Magazine profile of David Gergen, the counselor to President Bill Clinton since May.
At the time, Gergen was Editor-at-Large of U.S. News and the "conservative" analyst for the PBS MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. Wrote Kelly: "In February, on the darkest day of the campaign, when the story broke of the candidate's famous 1969 letter on his Vietnam war draft status, Gergen says he `had a serious talk' with Clinton, `all about where he was going, what he was going through. I walked through with him what the essence of the charge against him was,' Gergen says, `and the essence of his response ...and I told him what particular point in his response had made the best impression on me.'"
Kelly also reported that Gergen "defends his return to the White House as an act not of opportunism but of expiation for the sins of his work in administrations past," Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan. It'll be hard for PBS to replace Gergen with anyone less committed to conservative principles.
Health Moves
After just two months as health care spokesman in the White House public affairs division, former USA Today "Money" section reporter Kevin Anderson resigned in October. The Washington Post reported that "he wants to be an outside adviser to the health care group and do surrogate speaking for the administration around the country."
Replacing Anderson in the White House until Congress adjourns in late November: Marla Romash, who has been Communications Director for Vice President Gore. After her brief fill-in stint, the one-time Good Morning America Associate Producer plans to join a Democratic political consulting firm.
Ready for Prime Time
As Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum's retirement draws near, staffers have begun to find new jobs. One leaving early: Bonnie Goldstein, special investigator for the far-left Democrat. She's joined ABC's Prime Time Live as a producer. Before joining Metzenbaum's office, Goldstein spent most of the '80s as a partner in a Washington private investigation agency.
But don't expect the show to investigate the authenticity of Anita Hill's charges. In The Real Anita Hill: The Untold Story, David Brock relayed what the Fleming report on the leak of Hill's sexual harassment allegation had uncovered about Goldstein's role. According to Brock, "Goldstein heard about Hill from the Alliance for Justice also. The Alliance apparently had been spreading the rumor around town without even having spoken with Hill. Goldstein passed Anita Hill's name to Senator Ted Kennedy's investigator, Ricki Seidman" who then called Hill to ask about the rumor.
Salinger Retires
ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary to President Kennedy and briefly a Democratic U.S. Senator representing California in 1964, retired July 30 after a 15-year ABC career. Salinger has joined the Burson-Marsteller public relations firm as a Vice Chairman based in Washington. He will serve as a consultant to ABC News and may make occasional on-air appearances.
