MediaWatch: October 1990
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door: Next Stop Cuomo Campaign
Next Stop Cuomo Campaign? Two years of what Electronic Media described as "continuing strife with top executives at CBS" forced CBS News President David Burke to leave in late August. Burke lasted almost exactly two years in the job he took after spending eleven years with ABC News. He's been replaced by Eric Ober, a CBS executive since the 1960s. Burke, Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy from 1965 to 1971, "may be planning to re-enter politics," the Los Angeles Times reported. "His name has often been mentioned in connection with a possible presidential bid by New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a good friend," wrote Times reporter John Lippman. Watch this space for any announcements.
Jane's Jaunt. Biographies and profiles of Jane Pauley often note that after she graduated from Indiana University in late 1971, she accepted a position with the Indiana Democratic State Committee. An August 20 Time profile of Pauley revealed something less publicized. In the Spring of 1972, she went to work for the presidential campaign of former New York City Mayor John Lindsay, a liberal Republican who had turned Democrat a few years before.
Talbot's Return. David Talbot has taken the Managing Editor slot at Image, the San Francisco Examiner's Sunday magazine. Back in 1986 he left Mother Jones, where he was a Senior Editor since 1981, to join Image for a few months. Last year he co-authored Burning Desires: Sex in America.
Public Radio's Business. The American Public Radio network hired John Dimsdale to open a Washington bureau for Marketplace, its daily half-hour international business show. Since 1988, Dimsdale has been a spokesman for Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Bob Casey, working out of the commonwealth's Washington office. From 1975 to 1979 he was an Associate Producer at National Public Radio.
Texas Travel. Last year Wendy Benjaminson left United Press International's Washington bureau to become Press Secretary for Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly (D-CT). Now Benjaminson, who National Journal reported has run the national desk at night in the Associated Press Washington bureau since May, has gone South to the AP's Houston bureau.
Meet the Boss. Tim Russert, Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News, last month signed a new three-year contract which includes an additional duty: occasional panelist on Meet the Press. The former counselor to potential 1992 presidential candidate Mario Cuomo promised NBC News President Michael Gartner that he'd remain Bureau Chief through the 1992 election season.
