Former Newsweek Editor on Why He Didn't Run Lewinsky Story: 'We Didn't Feel We Were on Firm Enough Ground'
Former Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said Sunday he chose not to run the story that former President Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky because he and his staff didn't feel they were on firm enough ground.
"If we had gotten that wrong," Whitaker told CNN's Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources, it "could have been a mortal blow to Newsweek's reputation" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
HOWARD KURTZ: More now of my conversation with CNN executive, Mark Whitaker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera) I want to come back to your career. One of the most famous or infamous decisions you made - you were filling in as editor at the time - was in the Monica Lewinsky story. Mike Isikoff basically had the goods or at least it looked that way later. The thing I never understood about the decision to hold the story, then of course Drudge got hold of it and the "Washington Post" broke it, is that you had confirmed that Ken Starr, independent prosecutor, was investigating this.
MARK WHITAKER, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT CNN, FORMER EDITOR OF NEWSWEEK: Right. Right.
KURTZ: Why wasn't that enough to go on? Well, I'm sure you've asked yourself this a hundred times.
WHITAKER: Right, right, right, right. Well, a couple things is that Mike really knew a lot. It wasn't like Woodward and Bernstein writing a little piece where they only knew about Starr. He knew a lot about it, but he had never met Lewinsky herself. All of his sources were sort of around her. So we didn't know, you know, just how credible she was. And by the time, once when Starr had her, you know, basically under protective custody to sort of, you know, question her, we couldn't get to her.
The other thing which we didn't talk about at the time but I talk about in the book is that I had stepped in for Maynard Parker, who was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time. Maynard had been aware for almost a year that Mike was working on this story, but he had never told me, and he hadn't told Rick Smith, who was the publisher. He hadn't told Don Graham. So -
(CROSS TALK)
KURTZ: You were parachuting into this...
WHITAKER: So we only found out about any of this two days before we had to make a decision whether to publish or not. So there was a lot of, during those two days, a lot of discussions and examination going back to the sources, trying to get extra information from them. But frankly, we didn't feel by, from Thursday to that Saturday that we were on firm enough ground to report a story that wouldn't just be a story about Ken Starr, that ultimately would be about accusing the president of having sex in the Oval Office with an intern, which was, if we had gotten that wrong could have been, you know, could have been a mortal blow to "Newsweek's" reputation.
(CROSS TALK)
KURTZ: The potential down side must have loomed very large.
In the end, Whitaker's decision was Matt Drudge's gain.
In the wake of the past week's media firestorm concerning the alleged sexual harassment by Herman Cain, Whitaker's decision seems even more curious.
After all, his investigative reporter had been working on the story for almost a year.
How long were Politico's people working on their hit piece that ran without the name of one of the accusers or any specifics about the alleged offenses?
Also of note was how this interview with Whitaker was pre-taped meaning that Kurtz knew he had discussed the Clinton-Lewinsky affair with him.
Yet in the previous more lengthy segments concerning the Cain allegations which totaled 22 minutes, Kurtz never once brought up how the press covered the various Clinton sex scandals by comparison.
Some fine media analysis, wouldn't you say?
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Comments
Whitaker said:
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 10:48pm.
"....which was, if we had gotten that wrong could have been, you know, could have been a mortal blow to "Newsweek's" reputation."
Newsweek had a reputation that anyone was concerned about? Who knew?
That stuck out like a sore
Submitted by amyshulk on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 2:27am.
That stuck out like a sore thumb, huh? Who believes it was really about that?
Ronald Reagan
Newsweak
Submitted by HudsonRiverGirl on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 2:36am.
Did Whitaker say this with a straight face?
"could have been a mortal blow to Newsweek's reputation"
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 10:48pm.
All I can say to that is...
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Yep, Coffee Spew of the Week Award
Submitted by Now_I_Want_Change on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 9:35am.
That one looks like it will be in the running for the Coffee Spew of the Month and possibly the annual award also! (Took me 10 minutes to dry out my keyboard and screen.)
HAHahahHhHHHahHAHHHhhAhaahHAHA....(wipes tear)
Submitted by NeoKong on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 10:56pm.
Newsweek's reputation.....?
The magazine that got sold for a dollar.
I believe Newsweek sustained that "mortal blow" anyway
Submitted by jakee308 on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 11:07pm.
as their reputation declined from that time on. (Although It was beginning it's decline even then).
So that didn't work out for you and NOW you're trying to do damage control?
They. Still. Don't. Get. It.
Don't worry Mark...
Submitted by sherlock1 on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 11:19pm.
At this point, it is impossible to lower Newsweek's reputation, and by spinning this crap as you jump all over Cain's story, you won't be raising it either.
I don't buy that story, it's
Submitted by rbosque on Sun, 11/06/2011 - 11:46pm.
I don't buy that story, it's purposefully insulting to come up with such an idiotic excuse and expect people to swallow it. The real issue here is partisanship. Clinton was a Democrat. Period.
..and yet
Submitted by gfrrman on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 12:19am.
the word "anonymous", NOW means NOTHING(Herman Cain), yet Newsweek had names, dates, etc, and it still wasn't enough to substantiate?....is that what we are now supposed to believe????....BULL-HOCKEY!!
Lay in bed with fleas, and surprise that there are fleas in the bed? And these are supposed to be the adults in the room??
Juveniles...............
G
So Maynard Parker knew about
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 12:28am.
So Maynard Parker knew about this potential blockbuster story for over a year and somehow he forgot to tell Whitaker and no one else did either?
Too bad Mr. Parker passed away (complications from pneumonia) about nine months later or we could ask him if Whitaker's story is true.
It's so funny how the msm, which has no hesitation in reporting gossip, rumor and innuendo suddenly gets antsy when it's time to report actual facts involving stories harmful to "their side": Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, Muslim Brotherhood, John Edwards, ACORN, ClimateGate, WeinerGate, Fast and Furious, Solyndra ...
This is part and parcel of..
Submitted by greggy on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 1:05am.
The difference between the way Democrat and Republican "scandals" are covered - when Isikoff had the goods on Clinton, Newsweek didn't print the story because they didn't WANT the story to be true. Juxtapose that against the conspicuous vagueness, lack of details, and anonymous sources etc. in the Herman Cain story.
Did Isikoff then leak the story to Drudge? Probably. The beautiful irony is that by NOT running the story, Newsweek was discredited, and The Drudge Report became a media, political, and social juggernaut.
Talk about your all-time backfires.
But Isikoff wasn't the last reporter who was forced to use alternative news outlets to convey supressed or under-covered stories. We saw the reporter covering Fast & Furious go on O'Reilly with word that the story was much more damaging than she has been able to disclose so far.
There was another instance of a network reporter who had to go on Fox after their own network didn't want to run another story that was unfavorable for Obama. Can't remember that reporter's name or the story, offhand.
National Enquirer
Submitted by Cactus Kurt on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 1:41am.
It reminds me when the National Enquirer scooped the MSM on John Edwards' (D) affair and bastard child.
So much of the Clinton Story Is Still Getting Missed.
Submitted by Avitar on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 2:04am.
The earlier Women in Clinton's life who fled the country while he was still a Governor have to be over looked by the Media. Elizabeth Ward Grayson who was a Miss Arkansas and international television start on the Highlander and Raven Television series shot in Europe, and a tall blonde older beauty Queen I believe named Sally Purdue who was threatened by Democrat Party Operatives according to a Village Voice article.
So now Newsweek is worth less than a dollar? If they had been discredited what would the whole magazine be worth, a wooden nickle?
Apparantly being on 'firm
Submitted by killa37 on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 2:13am.
Apparantly being on 'firm enough ground' doesn't come into play anymore - especially if the MSM is going after a Republilcan, or more to the point, a 'black' conservative!!! And they will concoct ANY excuse and alibi possible in order to justify their reasons for doing it................knowing full well that the rest of their co-horts will give them a pass on it.
Liar
Submitted by NotFondOfLibs on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 3:30am.
What a stinkiing liar. If Clinton had been a Republican, they would have printed the story so fast, the ink would have still be wet when their copies hit the news stands. I don't believe a word of this creep's explanation.
What really confuses me....
Submitted by loxmyth on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 7:57am.
is the part where he talks about Ken Starr was investigating it already, but he felt they were still on shaky ground reporting? Okay, let's assume they story about Lewinsky was shaky...and they didn't want to report it and possibly end up with egg on their faces (I don't believe it for a second, but for the sake of argument.) What, exactly, does that have to do with the hard fact there was an official investigation going on? True or not, the investigation was a fact.
"could have been a mortal blow to Newsweek's reputation"
Submitted by 26CX on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 8:02am.
Newsweek's reputation would have been ruined in the same way that a piece of pie would ruin Michael Moore's figure.
You'd think
Submitted by HockeyKid on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 8:32am.
that a wordsmith-by-trade could have come up with a better phrase than "mortal blow", considering the subject of the discussion.
But that's Newsweek.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Mortal Blow....
Submitted by connman on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 6:45pm.
...heh.. heh. heh... heh...heh..heh heh....
No Story at Newsweek gets Printed
Submitted by scottyusmc on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 8:34am.
Without going through the "R" or "D" filter... That scale is the only review conducted of political events. All "D" is good; all "R" is bad...
"We Didn't Feel We Were on
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 9:47am.
"We Didn't Feel We Were on Firm Enough Ground"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
But the vaguest of vague claims by anonymous sources against Cain qualifies as firm ground. Got it.
From Larry Sinclair's lips
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 3:06pm.
Larry Sinclair claims to have received firm evidence from Barack Obama. Did Newsweek report on it? After all, it's more than a rumor. It's a direct account.
→ More Larry Sinclair
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 3:16pm.
And why has Larry Sinclair been removed from Wikipedia? Is Larry being gagged?.
Puh-leeze...
Submitted by packman on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 6:27pm.
This is not so hard to figure out.
Newsweek = blazingly left-wing & liberal
Bill Clinton = blazingly left-wing & liberal
Any questions?
"...Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread..." ~Thomas Jefferson
Thanks A lot......
Submitted by connman on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 6:40pm.
........"If we had gotten that wrong," Whitaker told CNN's Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources, it "could have been a mortal blow to Newsweek's reputation".
Now I have Coca Cola burning through my nose and soda all over my monitor!
I have read Newsweek. Their
Submitted by jessieH on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 10:47am.
I have read Newsweek. Their reputation hasn't changed. They are still a rag-mag.