Donaldson Defends Media Coverage of Clinton Affair

The news media has been unfairly criticized for persistently covering the impeachment scandal, ABC reporter Sam Donaldson told an audience of 450 in an Institute of Politics (IOP) speech at the ARCO Forum on Friday.

Donaldson, ABC's chief White House correspondent and the co-host of the Sunday talk show This Week, said debate about whether to cover the events that led to President Clinton's impeachment was "mystifying to me."

"Of course you report it," he said.

Over the course of his forty-year career as a journalist, Donaldson has covered a range of events, from the Vietnam War to the Watergate scandal to nearly every national political convention since 1964.

Donaldson noted that the decision to cover Watergate was less controversial because it began with a burglary rather than with sexual conduct.

"But we couldn't do the allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice [against President Clinton] unless we talked about the antecedent, which was sex," Donaldson said.

In spite of opposition to covering President Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, Donaldson said the scandal drew in a large audience.

"Everybody who said 'stop this' was watching the story," he said. "We've done stories since then on Social Security, and they're not watching."

While the news media made mistakes in its coverage of the scandal, most stories were accurate, Donaldson said.

"Reporters have been attacked for simply reporting facts," Donaldson said. "The idea that we're passing on innuendo and rumor without checking it is just wrong."

Donaldson said reporters rarely allow their political views to influence their stories.

The same people who praised his critical coverage of President Reagan now object when he subjects President Clinton to similar scrutiny, he said. "I'm not here to bring any president down, any more than I am to build him up," Donaldson said.

Clinton's reluctance to directly answer yes-or-no questions raised suspicious, increasing the intensity of the media's coverage, Donaldson said.

"Any time a reporter gets on you because you haven’t answered a legal mate section, you're never going to get rid of them," he said. "It's like having a flea."

In response to a question whether his objectivity as a reporter is compromised by his work as a pundit on This Week, Donaldson said viewers can be trusted to separate his dual roles.

"There are a lot of us now who think that you're smart enough to figure out that when we say 'my opinion' and 'the facts', they're two different things," he said.

In introducing Donaldson, Director of the IOP and former Wyoming Sen. Alan K. Simpson quipped that Donaldson is "pesky, spirited, independent, ornery, opinionated, biased, and tough."

According to Catherine A. McLaughlin, deputydirector of the IOP, Donaldson--whose daughter isa student at the KSG--was invited to speak inresponse to student suggestions earlier thissemester.

Ram C. Gowda '02 said he enjoyed the speech.

"Even though I'm not a big fan of Donaldson'swork on This Week, I was very impressed by hiscandor and honesty about his job and the media,"Gowda said.

But KSG student Jon Scott said Donaldson tookthe media's responsibilities too lightly.

"[The media] has a lot more power than heseemed willing to acknowledge," Scott said.

Despite the criticism leveled againstreporters, Donaldson said he is optimistic aboutthe future of journalism.

"We do make mistakes," he said. "But I thinkthat journalism today is better than it ever hasbeen. [Young journalists] are better-educated andsmarter today, and they've seen more of theworld.

According to Catherine A. McLaughlin, deputydirector of the IOP, Donaldson--whose daughter isa student at the KSG--was invited to speak inresponse to student suggestions earlier thissemester.

Ram C. Gowda '02 said he enjoyed the speech.

"Even though I'm not a big fan of Donaldson'swork on This Week, I was very impressed by hiscandor and honesty about his job and the media,"Gowda said.

But KSG student Jon Scott said Donaldson tookthe media's responsibilities too lightly.

"[The media] has a lot more power than heseemed willing to acknowledge," Scott said.

Despite the criticism leveled againstreporters, Donaldson said he is optimistic aboutthe future of journalism.

"We do make mistakes," he said. "But I thinkthat journalism today is better than it ever hasbeen. [Young journalists] are better-educated andsmarter today, and they've seen more of theworld.