File before Reading
A surge of news variety today. The New York Times
leads with the development that Maine, Massachusetts, New York and several
other "downwind" states are pressuring the EPA to crack down on Midwest
utilities to reduce current high levels of wind-borne smog. The top national
story in the Los Angeles Times is that scientists have found the first
clues to the precise way that the gene responsible for Huntington's disease
causes its devastating effects, which could quickly lead to successful
treatments. The Washington Post 's top national story is the very delayed
appearance of key fundraising files that the Senate investigating committee
requested from the DNC more than three months ago. The Wall Street Journal leads its front-page "Washington Wire"
column with a brief mention of the files. USA Today
leads with the news that defending champion University of Florida tops the
first preseason college football poll.
Bob Woodward has the byline on the Post file delay story. He writes
that the files include paperwork on such controversial Democratic contributors
as Roger Tamraz and Johnny Chung, and 12 fund-raising call sheets prepared for
Hillary Rodham Clinton to use in phone calls requesting donations in the range
of $50,000-$100,000 from the likes of Ralph Lauren and Steven Spielberg.
Woodward reports that the papers were found in a drawer in the only file
cabinet in the DNC's finance director's office, where, DNC officials said, they
had been sitting for at least five months. Oddly, Woodward doesn't mention the
similarity between this episode and the sudden re-appearance in the White House
living quarters of Hillary Clinton's Whitewater billing records.
And speaking of Democrat delay, the WSJ reports that a "recorded
phone message at Clinton-Gore headquarters begins, 'The campaign is still open
for business.'"
USAT and the WP both give front-page space to stories about
yesterday's 102-count Medicare fraud indictment handed down against a Miami
home health care company. The Post quotes one law enforcement official
as saying, "We have not found one patient who actually received home health
care services from this organization." The Post also runs a separate
overview piece on Medicare fraud.
The NYT goes top of the page with its report that Indiana Sen.
Richard Lugar has threatened to make trouble for North Carolina Sen. Jesse
Helms' tobacco interests in upcoming Agriculture committee hearings if Helms
doesn't grant Mexico Ambassador-nominee William Weld a confirmation hearing. A
Helms spokesperson, says the Times , responded this way: "Senator Helms
would never suggest doing anything harmful to farmers in Indiana."
The Post runs a piece inside about the newest humor trend in
Russia--jokes about the country's nouveau riche. "Look at this tie I bought in
New York," says one. "$1,500." The other says, "What a fool! Here, you can get
it for $2,000." Another: One day the Devil meets a new Russian capitalist and
offers him anything he wants. The man says he wants to pay no import tax, he
wants oil fields, he wants tax breaks, etc. The Devil says his wish is granted
provided the man turn over his soul. "So," says the man, "what's the catch?" I
think I have heard these very jokes told about yuppies, lawyers, and
Jews--which raises an interesting journalism question: How close can the butt
of a joke genre get to a newspaper's readership before the paper won't actually
repeat the jokes? And should that matter, or should the Post 's editors
give rich Russians the came courtesy they give poor blacks? When Earl Butz was
caught regaling someone with an anti-black joke, you may recall, the mainstream
papers didn't actually tell the joke.
