U.S. journalists dwell on personality

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 18

U.S. journalists dwell on personality

NZPA staff correspondent Washington The complaint by the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, that journalists concentrated on the negative aspects of Government is a familiar cry in Washington. The complaints here — from President Reagan down -- have little effect on the reporting, but they do find a sympathetic echo in the country at large. A typical comment comes from the United States Appeals Court Judge, Irving Kaufman, who said, “Broadcast and print media are percieved by some (jurors) as aloof, arrogant and insensitive.” Much reporting here dwells on personality, and the press’s own view is exemplified by “Time” magazine which wrote that “with trick or trap questions television interviewers try to test how a (Presidential) challenger would react under pressure. The questioners often end up appearing overbearing and rude. Far from being a diversion from a sensible discussion of the issues, however, judgments about character and temperament are ’ essential in choosing a President.” Washington journalists are tough and dogged. No quarter is given once they have real or imagined wrong-doing between their teeth. It was journalists who precipitated the downfall of President Nixon, and the jailing of a number of his aides after the Watergate break-in. Now the Attorney-Gen-eral-Designate, Mr Edwin Meese, is fighting for his political life as a result of questionable actions uncovered by the press, and press coverage has been largely responsible for the resigna-

tion of other senior officials.

With almost nothing in the way of any official secrets act to contend with, journalists are also able to ventilate matters known only to a few, like direct Central Intelligence Agency involvement in the mining of Nicaraguan ports, a disclosure which has brought horror-struck reactions (and condemnatory votes) from Congress, including a stinging letter from the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Barry Goldwater, to the C.I.A. director; Mr William Casey, in which the normally stalwart Administration backer said he was “pissed off’ and that “this is no way to run a railroad.” Washington is a wideopen society, and Government departments are full of “whistle-blowers.” With well over 3000 journalists in the capital, the freedom of the press enshrined in the constitution, and defamation laws that make it virtually impossible for a public figure to win a libel case ensure that few secrets stay secret for long. Big newspapers, too, have the financial muscle to devote whole teams of journalists to investigation that may not produce copy for weeks or months. All important policy decisions by the Government are dissected by newspapers for the effect they will have on re-election chances, and the press corps at the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and other departments are sceptics who take little at face value. America’s most famous press basher was Mr Nixon’s Vice-President, Mr Spiro Agnew, who flung alliteration at journalists. His best known phrase — produced by a speech-writer

who is now a journalist with the “New York Times” — described journalists as “nattering nabobs of negativism.” Mr Agnew ended up resigning the Vice-Presidency after pleading “no contest” to tax evasion charges. American journalists tend to go for the person much more than New Zealand journalists and the private lives of public figures are considered to be in the public domain. Washington pulsates with naked power and thinlyclothed ambition. Any figure pinned down by the pack is sure to have enemies or ambitious underlings only too happy to join in and divulge real or imagined details about his or her pecadilloes, and to hand over copies of internal memos of such things as mortgage documents. Newspapers are full of leaked stories of personality clashes between top Administration officials and duels in the Cabinet room and the Oval office. The Administration won one fight when it barred reporters from Grenada during the early days of the invasion of that Caribbean island. That was like throwing a bucketful of cold water at the press, and the yelping was loud and long as editors complained about violation of constitutional rights and lack of trust. What sobered them was the discovery that many ordinary Americans agreed with the Government’s action, a finding that led to long and painful introspection that still continues. Polls show, too, that the public often believe that the press picks too long and too hard at every nit in the Administrative hair and is overly cynical about politicians motives.

It looks now as though a few reporters will be taken along if the United States invades another country, but the Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, remarked at the time that, unlike during World War 11, “it seems as though reporters are always against us.” Mr Reagan added that since the Korean war the American press, had not been on “our side,” ilyThe press — now -- is scrupulous about investigating its own wrongdoings. “The Wall Street Journal” fired a reporter recently after he admitted to the Securities Exchange Commission that he had disclosed advance information about stories he was writing for the “Journal’s” “heard on the street” column, an influential collection of tidbits that often has a dramatic effect on share prices. The story included the fact that the reporter, Foster Winans, was homosexual, lived with a lover (also formerly employed at the Journal) and wore a gold ring the lover had given him. The story also described Winans as “understood to be extremely distressed and in an emotionally fragile state”-and said he had made a “tearful telephone call” to a friend. Some newspapermen objected that such details were not necessary in the story, but the paper’s editors took the view that linen washing demanded complete disclosure. One of the people involved in the scandal was Mr Peter Brant, a highflying young broker at Kidder Peabody and Company, a firm which has often advised the New Zealand Government on investments in the United States, Mr Brant has since resigned from the firm.