-Caveat Lector-
keleton is rattling in George Will's closet.
From: (Mark Dawkins)
Media Beat March 8, 2001
Triumph of (George) Will: When Media Might Makes Right
By Norman Solomon
A skeleton is rattling in George Will's closet. But it's difficult to
hear above the steady applause from his elite boosters inside the
media business.
Widely viewed as one of the nation's most influential journalists,
Will churns out syndicated columns that appear in hundreds of daily
papers. He also writes for Newsweek. And he's a regular on ABC's "This
Week." He is definitely outspoken -- but don't expect him to speak out
about the fact that Juanita Yvette Lozano now faces up to 15 years in
prison.
"A woman who worked for a media company that produced ads for
President George W. Bush's campaign was indicted for secretly mailing
a videotape of Bush practicing for a debate to Vice President Al
Gore's campaign," an Associated Press story explained the other day.
Accompanying the 60-minute video were about 120 pages of the Bush
team's confidential material for debate preparation.
Ordinarily, such a transgression might cause Will to express his
law-and-order zeal in no uncertain terms. But it's understandable that
he isn't eager to weigh in when the subject is theft of debate prep
documents. The circumstances of the incident last fall were far less
egregious than what happened -- with Will's active participation -- in
1980.
Six months ago, when Gore campaign adviser Tom Downey received a
package containing the Bush campaign material prior to the first
debate, he immediately turned it over to the FBI. In sharp contrast,
20 years earlier, top operatives in Ronald Reagan's presidential
campaign pored through Jimmy Carter's lengthy briefing book swiped
from the White House. Back then, behind the scenes, Will was part of
the effort to make the most of the illegally obtained papers.
Will looked at the Carter briefing materials and then helped coach
Reagan for a crucial debate with Carter. Promptly after the debate,
Will went on "Nightline" to praise Reagan for a "thoroughbred
performance." Viewers had no way to know of Will's involvement in
prepping Reagan for the debate.
For years, Will was able to cover up the deception. But in mid-1983,
the "Debategate" story finally broke, and he took some flak.
At first, Newsweek merely mentioned in passing that Will had been
shown the stolen briefing book "and thought nothing of it." A week
later, devoting several sentences to the intrigue of its star
columnist, the magazine reported that he "saw the Carter materials"
and later helped to prepare Reagan "for his confrontation with Carter.
Then, in his role as television commentator, Will gave Reagan a
favorable review for his performance -- without explaining that he had
personally taken part in the event."
During the summer of 1983, various media pillars rumbled with
disapproval. As Newsweek observed, "some of Will's fellow journalists
have heatedly criticized his partisan role. Jack Nelson, Washington
bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, called it 'outrageous.'"
The New Republic declared Will to be "the one person who has been most
embarrassed by Debategate" and faulted him for two aspects of his
behavior: "Appearing on ABC's 'Nightline' the night of the debate, Mr.
Will was one of the commentators who awarded the 'victory' to Mr.
Reagan; he posed as a referee without ever making it clear that he had
been one of the seconds." In addition, the columnist "knew about the
purloined briefing books" but kept the knowledge to himself. "Mr. Will
said nothing about this on 'Nightline'; nor did he write about it."
Perhaps a bit taken aback by the uproar, Will devoted a Washington
Post column to his own defense. In essence, Time magazine noted, "Will
said he was glad he had done what he had done, but would not do it
again."
The controversy blew over. And in retrospect, Will's prominence in
Debategate probably helped rather than hurt his career. The incident
certified that he was a power player at the highest reaches of
presidential politics.
Nearly three years after his stealth role in the Carter-Reagan debates
came to light, a front-page Los Angeles Times profile called Will "the
pre-eminent American political commentator." When the story briefly
touched on Debategate and quoted Will, the tone was far from
apologetic: "I simply reject the idea that I misled anyone. It wasn't
a state secret who I was for."
But George Will knew that those Carter briefing papers were stolen. He
made use of them. And he kept mum for as long as he could.
On the day after Lozano's indictment, I requested a statement from
Will about the criminal charges against her -- or about his own role
in the Carter briefing-book caper. At the end of the day, the office
of his syndicate, the Washington Post Writers Group, informed me of
Will's response: No comment.
_________________________________________________________________
Norman Solomon's latest book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive
Media."
More Media Beat | FAIR Home | Look for Solomon's work at the FAIR
bookstore
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