MediaWatch: November 1996
Table of Contents:
A Continuing Pattern of Omission
Six days after the election, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz noted that several print media outlets had pieces of the Democratic National Committee's foreign fundraising in hand, but didn't think they had enough for a major story -- until the pieces came together in the person of John Huang in October. Just as MediaWatch found last month, front-page newspaper scoops failed to attract much network interest or intensity, even in the final days of the campaign. A MediaWatch review of October morning (ABC, CBS, NBC) and evening news coverage (ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN's The World Today) found the networks were slow or missing in action on critical campaign stories in the last few weeks before the election.
The networks aired only 26 explanatory or investigative pieces by non-campaign correspondents (8 on CNN, 7 on ABC, 6 on CBS, and 5 on NBC). To review the developments:
October 8: The Wall Street Journal front page introduced the story of John Huang and his resume: the Lippo Group, an Asian conglomerate with ties to Little Rock, followed by Ron Brown's Commerce Department, and then the Democratic National Committee, where he raised large amounts from Asian donors. Network coverage? None.
October 14: Three days after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for an independent counsel to investigate and one day after Newt Gingrich said the Indonesian story "makes Watergate look tiny," two networks arrived on the story. ABC's Jackie Judd led off World News Tonight with it, while on CBS, Eric Engberg had the newscast's number two story. The morning shows had small mentions in their Clinton stories.
October 17: The Washington Post reported on the front page that the DNC acknowledged a "mistake" in holding an $140,000 fundraiser at a Buddhist temple in April organized by John Huang and attended by Vice President Gore. Neither that nor an October 25 Post front-page follow-up drew a network news story. Also on October 17, ABC's Brian Ross investigated Yogesh Gandhi, a $325,000 donor to the DNC, noting he owed the state of California $10,000 in back taxes. which raised the question if the $325,000 was really his money, or someone else's. No other network developed this story. (None of Ross's reports were replayed on Good Morning America.)
October 19: The Washington Post reported on its front page that the DNC removed Huang from his money-raising duties and asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate the legality of Huang-solicited contributions. All four networks ran about a sentence-long update in the middle of their campaign coverage -- CBS on the 18th, the rest on the 19th. NBC's Today read two briefs on Huang's suspension. That same day, the Democrats returned a $20,000 contribution from convicted Miami cocaine smuggler Jorge Cabrera, admitting they do not systematically check the background of donors None of the networks reported the story that night. ABC's Brian Ross did a full report on October 22, noting that while Cabrera was convicted of possessing more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine in July, the DNC did not give the money back until Newsweek began asking about it. CNN and NBC followed on the 24th. CBS did not. In the morning, Cabrera drew only two brief mentions on NBC's Today.
October 23: Expanding on Brian Ross, the Los Angeles Times reported that Yogesh Gandhi, the $325,000 donor to the DNC, claimed pauper status in not paying the $20 filing fee for his divorce. Network coverage? None. Federal judge Royce Lamberth issued an order for the DNC to produce Huang. Only NBC Nightly News reported the subpoena. October 24: Lamberth issued another order demanding the DNC produce Huang. Only ABC's World News Tonight reported on the story. After Brian Ross focused on the effort to locate Huang, Asia-based reporter Mark Litke reported on the Clintons' ties to the Riady family, the Indonesians who run the Lippo Group. The morning shows were absent.
October 25: A panel of federal judges asked independent counsel Kenneth Starr to investigate whether former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum lied about Hillary Clinton's role in the hiring of Craig Livingstone. Two days later, NBC's Tim Russert insisted on the Sunday Today: "This is dead serious....I don't know how we can dismiss it nine days before an election." But only CNN's Bob Franken filed a full report. ABC and NBC had their anchors read briefs. CBS aired nothing. Other than one anchor brief on Saturday's Today, the morning shows reported nothing.
October 29: The Washington Post published a front-page story reporting the DNC would not file a pre-election contributions report with the Federal Elections Commission, and John Huang surfaced after 11 days in hiding to testify. All four networks arrived on the story that evening. (While ABC's and NBC's morning shows reported the DNC's failure to file in anchor briefs, CBS This Morning aired nothing until the next day.)
October 30: The Los Angeles Times reported that Mark Middleton, "a little-known, 34-year-old ex-White House aide from Arkansas," arranged a meeting between President Clinton and the chief financial manager of Taiwan's ruling party. The Times reported that the official, Liu Tai-Ying, offered to donate (illegally) $15 million to the Clinton campaign. Only CNN and NBC reported the story that night. ABC didn't even report a full campaign story. CBS followed the next day. NBC's Today, with a full report by Andrea Mitchell, was the only morning show on the story.
October 31: "DNC Fundraiser Huang Visited White House Often," reported the front page of The Washington Post, 78 times since July 1995. ABC and CBS reported the story, but NBC did not. ABC's Good Morning America covered the story, but CBS This Morning and NBC's Today did not. ABC's Charles Gibson suggested "if Republicans had done this, the press would be killing them."
November 3: The Associated Press reported former Clinton CIA Director R. James Woolsey criticized Democrats for inviting foreign businessman Grigori Loutchansky to a 1994 DNC dinner, where he was photographed with the President. Clinton's own CIA Director, John Deutch, had testified that Loutchansky's company, Nordex, is "associated with Russian criminal activity." Network coverage: None.
November 4: The Detroit Free Press reported on an October 21 Detroit fundraiser that netted $800,000 from Iraqi Christians who lobbied the President to lift the embargo against Iraq. CBS and NBC threw in brief evening news mentions. ABC and CNN did not. The morning shows were silent.
