More Coffee and Less Coffey
The Washington Post and USA Today
both lead with Janet Reno's admission yesterday that she was "mad" at the White
House because she wasn't told in a timely manner about the coffee videos. The
Los
Angeles Times leads with the destruction wrought in Acapulco by a
hurricane, and the New York Times
goes with Germany's interest rate increase.
The WP says that Reno's remarks were "an extraordinary public
critique" of the president. Reno admitted that the video controversy has
strained relations with the White House. The NYT , in its front page Reno
piece, says she has just completed "one of the most humiliating weeks in her
tenure." The WP and the NYT say that Sen. Orrin Hatch is
considering holding hearings on Reno's conduct of the fund-raising inquiry.
USAT goes further, saying Hatch "would hold a hearing." Just what we
need now: not just another investigation, but an investigation of an
investigation.
The top-front-page picture used by the NYT to illustrate its Reno
story is also an illustration of how in general papers use photos with news
stories. It's a shot of Clinton, a third person and Reno sitting in a row. Reno
has her head turned completely away from Clinton, which is natural enough,
since they are listening to a speech, but the posture looks chilly. And that's
why it's there--after all, certainly there were moments immediately before and
after this one in which Clinton and Reno shook hands and spoke to each
other.
The NYT 's lead says that Germany's decision to raise its basic
interest rate "sent shivers around the world." But none of the other majors
felt a thing: none of them led with the story nor even gave it any front-page
space.
The LAT decision to lead with one hundred deaths caused in Mexico's
leading resort city by Hurricane Pauline was not quite as lonely--the storm is
USAT 's second lead and tops the Wall Street Journal 's world-wide news digest--but was no
doubt influenced by the paper's Mexican demographic. Incidentally, for the
second week running, the WP is running a complete page (about the soccer
World Cup qualifying round) in the sports section in Spanish. This is
apparently a first for a major U.S. newspaper, and for good or ill, probably
the start of a trend.
The LAT front covers what it calls the unexpected departure of its
editor, Shelby Coffey, who is described in the piece by Mark Willes, the
recently named publisher of the paper, as "a truly remarkable man and editor."
Howard Kurtz presents a little different picture in his WP piece on the
situation. "'Shelby told me he's been through four publishers and doesn't want
to do this anymore,' said Metro Editor Leo Wolinsky. 'He's used to running the
newsroom his way, and generally speaking he's been allowed to do that. Mark
intends to get involved with everything. . . . He's thrown a hand grenade into
the middle of the system. He's blowing up what we have.'" Another LAT veteran
tells Kurtz that Willes is "convinced the newspaper business is filled with a
lot of dopes who have let the business deteriorate."
In a NYT op-ed piece, Lyn Nofziger, a former Reagan aide, bristles at
the suggestion made earlier in the week by Harold Ickes that Reagan raised
money in the White House too. Writes Nofziger: "I have talked to Mr. Reagan's
personal secretary and the two men who served as his personal aides during his
eight years in office, and each one is adamant that Mr. Reagan never phoned for
or personally solicited money. That coincides with my own knowledge of
President Reagan." Ooops. Today's WP runs a transcription of a
solicitation made by Reagan ten years ago in the East Room at a gathering of
Republican fat cats, who in response contributed $1.3 million.
