The timing for the recent revelations about the personal life of Newt Gingrich by his ex-wife was rightly questioned by the Speaker in last night’s debate. Word has it that the media had this exposé for two weeks prior to leaking it at a time when Gingrich was beginning to surge in South Carolina. Coincidence? Hardly. But it affords us an opportunity to discuss the role of the media and the right to privacy.
Mainstream journalism in the United States keeps spiraling downward into the abyss of yellow journalism veering away from factual material and the three sources rule to “she said, he said” tabloids and venues of entertainment. Remember when ‘Nightline” reported on the American Embassy hostages held in Iran in the late 70′s and in depth reporting that we now look to Frontline and PBS for?
Can exposing the vagaries of one’s personal life give us a better idea on what kind of leader they would make? Hardly. If it did, this nation would have been sadly bereft of some of its’ greatest leaders.
Can Gingrich be called to task on these matters? Yes, only because he and others in Congress opened this Pandora’s box during the Clinton years when he brought up for official investigation the Lewinsky-Clinton affair. It was no more fit then for public consumption than it is now. It was no more a measurement of public fitness, as it is now, and it surely did not warrant the time and money spent in a partisan attempt to wrongly impeach a President. Such wrongdoing in a ‘gottcha’ attempt should raise the ire of us all who value a free, independent press. We should all question the motives and timing who deemed this newsworthy material.
However, we must also recognize that what goes around often comes around. Payback is a bitch, Newt.
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by admin on January 20, 2012 · 0 comments
in 2012 Primary, Commentary, Gingrich, Media, Politics, Reformed Liberal, Uncategorized
The timing for the recent revelations about the personal life of Newt Gingrich by his ex-wife was rightly questioned by the Speaker in last night’s debate. Word has it that the media had this exposé for two weeks prior to leaking it at a time when Gingrich was beginning to surge in South Carolina. Coincidence? Hardly. But it affords us an opportunity to discuss the role of the media and the right to privacy.
Mainstream journalism in the United States keeps spiraling downward into the abyss of yellow journalism veering away from factual material and the three sources rule to “she said, he said” tabloids and venues of entertainment. Remember when ‘Nightline” reported on the American Embassy hostages held in Iran in the late 70′s and in depth reporting that we now look to Frontline and PBS for?
Can exposing the vagaries of one’s personal life give us a better idea on what kind of leader they would make? Hardly. If it did, this nation would have been sadly bereft of some of its’ greatest leaders.
Can Gingrich be called to task on these matters? Yes, only because he and others in Congress opened this Pandora’s box during the Clinton years when he brought up for official investigation the Lewinsky-Clinton affair. It was no more fit then for public consumption than it is now. It was no more a measurement of public fitness, as it is now, and it surely did not warrant the time and money spent in a partisan attempt to wrongly impeach a President. Such wrongdoing in a ‘gottcha’ attempt should raise the ire of us all who value a free, independent press. We should all question the motives and timing who deemed this newsworthy material.
However, we must also recognize that what goes around often comes around. Payback is a bitch, Newt.
Tagged as: abc, CNN, gingrich exwife, january 19 2012 gop debate, media v. privacy, Newt Gingrich, open marriage and gingrich