MediaWatch: November 1995
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: November 1995
- Chopping at the Competition
- NewsBites: Festering Foster
- Revolving Door: Gergen: Still a Clintonite
- Media vs. a Balanced Budget
- Gramm Should Die?
- The 800-Word Antidote
- Networks Ignore Foley, Gephardt Nipping at Newt...Again
- Janet Cooke Award: Mainstreaming the Million Man March
Revolving Door: Gergen: Still a Clintonite
A year after leaving the Clinton Administration where he served as Counselor to the President and then Counselor to the Secretary of State, David Gergen has been taken back by his old employers. This fall he re-joined both U.S. News & World Report as Editor-at-Large and the newly named NewsHour with Jim Lehrer where he now conducts a weekly interview. Gergen was Director of Communications during the early Reagan years and held the title of Editor of U.S. News in 1986-88.
Though he's spun both ways, his November 13 back page editorial made clear that he views politics from the left: "But in their eagerness to satisfy one principle, fiscal responsibility, the Republicans would ask the country to abandon another, equally vital, principle -- fair play. This is a false, cruel choice we should not make....Congress now seems intent on imposing new burdens upon the poor, the elderly and vulnerable children while, incredibly, delivering a windfall for the wealthy. Proposals passed by the House and Senate would rip gaping holes in the nation's social safety net, already low by standards of advanced nations and once considered sacrosanct."
Hillary's Ghostwriter
An October 12 Washington Post story on Hillary Clinton's weekly column for the Creator's Syndicate divulged who puts words to paper for the First Lady: a former Washington Post reporter. Mrs. Clinton tapped staff speechwriter Alison Muscatine, a sports reporter and Metro section editor in her 12 years with the Post, to write the column begun in late July.
Post reporter Lloyd Grove recounted the writing process: "Some weeks, according to aides familiar with the column-writing process, Muscatine works from Mrs. Clinton's handwritten drafts or sits down with her to flesh out anecdotes and ideas; other weeks, when the First Lady is pressed for time, Muscatine cobbles the column together from speeches, plugging in facts and figures as she goes."
No Bills for Bill
A prominent network television veteran has offered free help to the Clinton-Gore re-election effort, a short item in the October 14 National Journal revealed. The magazine reported that Pierre Salinger, the Chief Foreign Correspondent for ABC News from 1983 until last year, is among "a group of Democratic public relations bigwigs in Washington" who have offered their services gratis. "In a July memo, the honchos outlined what they could do as `an extension of the Clinton/Gore '96 reelect effort.' The proposal has been well received. Ann Lewis, Deputy Campaign Director for Clinton/Gore '96, said that `we're always glad to hear from our friends.'"
Salinger, Press Secretary to President Kennedy and briefly an appointed Democratic Senator from California, is now Vice Chairman of Burson-Marsteller.
Pushing PBS
Jumping to PBS in September as Director of Communications and Public Relations: Tom Epstein, a Special Assistant to President Clinton for the past two plus years in the White House political office. The Los Angeles Times reported he "served as the administration's eyes and ears for California issues and helped arrange presidential itineraries during Clinton's numerous visits to the state."
