MediaWatch: September 1990
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door: Passing Away
Passing Away. Hedley Donovan, Editor-in-Chief of all Time Inc. magazines from 1964 until he joined the Carter White House as a Senior Adviser in 1979, died in early August at age 76. Time's August 27 remembrance noted that Donovan had taken over from Henry Luce, whose "Republican prejudices had poisoned Time's political coverage. Then came his pledge: 'The vote of Time Inc. should never be considered to be in the pocket of any particular political leader or party.' With that declaration Time came of age." That pledge passed away long before Donovan.
Off to the Gulf We Go. The August 27 "From the Publisher" column in Time proudly reported that Washington bureau reporter Jay Peterzell represented magazines in the Pentagon's Desert Shield pool. "The assignment was a welcome one for Peterzell, a specialist in military and intelligence affairs," wrote publisher Louis Weil in a cursory reference to Peterzell's past. Weil failed to tell readers Peterzell became a "specialist" by working for a left-wing foundation. Before joining Time in 1987 he was a lawyer and Research Associate for the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS), a project of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Fund for Peace.
While at CNSS he contributed articles to The Nation, such as "Unleashing the Dogs of McCarthyism," and wrote Reagan's Secret Wars, a book in which he argued "that a fascination with covert action had led the administration to initiate programs that have often been aimless or counterproductive or that threaten to lead the United States into war" in such places as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Libya and Nicaragua. He also represented CNSS in its successful effort to win a court order forcing the CIA to release documents about "covert" activities in Central America.
Changing Houses. ABC News has a new Director of News Information: Sherrie Rollins, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs under HUD Secretary Jack Kemp since early last year. Rollins replaces Alise Adde, a former Assistant Press Secretary to Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-LA). Reporting to Rollins at ABC: Scott Richardson, Manager of News Information and a former Deputy Press Secretary to Bob Dole; and World News Tonight Press Representative Arnot Walker, who has worked for Vice President Mondale and New Jersey's Jim Florio. Rollins handled state press for the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign and TV network support for the 1988 Republican National Convention.
Jackson's Journalists. The Jesse Jackson Show has added another network veteran to its ranks. Ken Walker, who covered Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign for ABC News, has signed on as Senior Producer of the weekly Time-Warner program set to begin in late September. He'll be working under Co-Executive Producer Van Gordon Sauter, President of CBS News from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1985 to 1986. Walker will continue as a panelist on Fox's Off the Record discussion show. Walker joined ABC from The Washington Star in 1981, working as a White House correspondent from 1986 until moving to Gannett's ill-fated USA Today: The Television Show two years.
