-Caveat Lector- <http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/22041.htm> MEDIA WATCH Tuesday,January 23,2001 COVERING (FOR) JESSE JOURNALISTS fell all over themselves last weekend trying to figure out how to cover the revelation of Rev. Jesse Jackson's out-of-wedlock child from an affair with a Rainbow Coalition staffer. The fact that the story first broke in the pages of the National Enquirer didn't help. Some publications simply shied away from reporting the story - or gave it as insignificant a play as possible. The New York Times, for example, placed the story on page A27 under a discreet one-column headline. Still, most publications and programs, gave it serious play. But at least one network was far more interested in making sure that conservatives not profit politically from Jackson's personal embarrassment. "Clearly, his critics will use this as an opportunity and hope it will be a factor in maybe him scaling back his effectiveness as a public spokesman," warned ABC News' political director, Mark Halperin. He wasn't the only one at ABC who tried to keep the focus away from Jackson's indiscretion. "This was going to be a weekend in which Jesse Jackson was very visible" protesting President Bush's inauguration and his nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general, noted Diane Sawyer, adding: "What are the consequences?" ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos raised the ominous specter of a politically inspired leak of the story: "A lot of his supporters will be . . . trying to find out how the story got out," said the former White House aide. Finally, ABC's Cokie Roberts lamented the potential loss to the nation: "I do not want his voice silenced in public debate. I think he's an important voice in public debate and I think that having it now lose some authority is too bad." Over on CNN, the panel on "Reliable Sources" pressed Enquirer reporter Pat Shipp to justify her pursuit of the story. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz challenged her: "Some in the black community and other who are supporters of Rev. Jackson say, 'This is an invasion of his private life. Why do we need to know this?'" To which Shipp rightly replied: "It's a legitimate news story, not only because he's head of Rainbow [Coalition] and the [mother] of his child worked under him, but Rev. Jackson in his public and personal life is a minister who . . . was at one time the spiritual adviser to the president." Kurtz wasn't satisfied. Like Sawyer, he was concerned about the political damage done to Jackson. (That's a far cry, incidentally, from the concerns of reporters when Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston were embroiled in sex scandals. Nor was Sawyer quite as concerned when another prominent preacher, Jim Bakker, was caught with his pants down. Back then, notes the Media Research Center's Tim Graham, Sawyer sneeringly wondered "whether this season of veiled hypocrisy is taking any toll or not on the [TV evangelism] business.") "Did you in writing this story ever consider the consequences of the revelations you made, the impact on Jesse Jackson and his image?" Kurtz challenged Shipp. No, answered Shipp, delivering a lecture in Journalism 101. "The story was solid and it was legitimate. So in my opinion, that's something that Rev. Jackson should have thought about. It's not something that is my personal responsibility." Precisely. Indeed, African-American journalists took the lead in criticizing Jackson for having let down his community - and they did so in no uncertain words. "It's time to give [Jackson] another gold Rolex, thank him for his service and send him out to pasture," wrote Time magazine columnist Jack E. White. "It was Jackson, in his arrogance, who provided [his opponents] with the squalid tale that may bring him down. To appropriate one of Jackson's slogans, his time has gone." In the Atlanta Constitution, Cynthia Tucker warned that Jackson now "lacks the moral authority with which to confront his critics or persuade the skeptics." She noted that Jackson "is an ordained Baptist minister, a man whose life should conform to high standards of morality, honesty and integrity. His obligation to those standards was of a higher order than that of a Clinton or Gingrich." So while some still hint darkly about a political assassination, those who know Jackson best seem to understand that his wounds were completely self-inflicted. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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