shot from Newsday via InternetGov. Eliot Spitzer's prostitution problem that came to light 3/10/2008 is a textbook case of how scandal is covered by the multitude of media these days. A chronology of how it has played out includes these elements:
*Jockeying for trophies The New York Times breaking the story on its web site rather than on paper in order to avoid being beat by television reporters. James Odato, a reporter for the Albany Times-Union, wrote in his story on the scandal today that: "The allegations, first reporter on the New York Times Web page, came to light after a reporter from the Times Union began asking questions last week about Spitzer's use of a state airplane for a trip from Buffalo to Washington, D.C. (where he met the hooker) on Feb. 13. The paper then made a formal request for the records of Spitzer's Washington, D.C. trip."
*Repeated airing of the governor's odd press conference in which he sort of apologized for bad behavior -- without saying exactly what he did.
*Sharing Newspapers, broadcasters and web sites picking up the stories from each other -- some with sketchy or no sourcing on their own to verify the information being used.
*Bad sourcing Media including New York Times and Washington Post referring to "law enforcement" or other anonymous sources.
*Saturation coverage including a two-hour special by an Albany TV channel yesterday even though there was hardly enough news to fill that time slot.
*Sidebar coverage Stories began appearing about topics related to the scandal including women who stand by their man featuring a saddened Silda Spitzer at the odd news conference but also referring to Hillary, Sen. Larry Craig's wife and others. In this case the effect of Spitzer's possible resignation on Hillary's presidential campaign. (Can you tell me why?)
* Comic relief Late night humorists love political scandal. David Letterman came up with a list of Eliot Spitzer's top 10 excuses (No. 7 was HAVE YOU BEEN TO ALBANY?) Tabloid newspapers also cash in on the rich comedic material. The headline in the Daily News 3/11 was "LUV GOV."
see http://polijamblog.polijam.com/
*World-wide play within hours of the story. Last night friends in Wisconsin wanted to know if I was watching the Spitzer Sex Bulletins and this morning colleagues in Sarajevo told me they thought my governor looked like a Stalinist. (There is no such thing as sexual harassment or sex crimes in eastern Europe.) Look up Spitzer on www.youtube.com
* Journalism ethicists wring their hands over how the story is being covered. See http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=139277
*Bloggers gleefully dissect the story and its implications. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
*The public blames the media, as in: Why don't they write about all the bad things Bush did? or The media just loves tearing a man apart.
1 comment:
Veteran newsman Richard Ellers, now retired from the Cleveland Plain Dealer offered some thoughts about a reporter faced with covering a scandal like the Spitzer affair. Basically, reporters must confront their own and their readers biases and try to deal squarely and fairly with even a sleazy story.
Richard notes that a smirking ho, ho, ho, might be most every adult's first reaction to word of Eliot Spitzer's sex scandal. But reporters must abandoned that smirk and instead think about the serious issues involved, such as blatant hypocrisy, considering Spitzer's crackdown on prostition rings.
This is an issue that raises the question for readers (and voters):
Do you want a man with such apparent poor judgment to be running your state?,
Another angle coming out of this story is the popularity of stories about the extravagance of the super rich. Is Spitzer being treated differently because he can apparently afford $1,000 to $5,000 for a few hours of sexual pleasure?
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