GINGRICH, GORE, DOLE SEE MEDIA DIFFERENTLY

Speaker, vice president see eye-to-eye on Electronic Freedom of Information Act; Dole defends flag bill

Politics wasn't the only thing Newt Gingrich and Al Gore disagreed on in talks to editors at the ASNE convention.

The Speaker of the House and the Vice President took opposite sides on whether there is a liberal bias in the media.

Citing a just released study that showed only 2 percent of the Washington press corps identified themselves as Republican, Gingrich said, "Just look at who reporters voted for. I unequivocally believe that the core of the news media is biased and that bias is amazing."

Gingrich criticized the media for taking unfair shots at Republicans. He pointed to Bryant Gumbel's comment on the "Today" show that no Republicans had called to offer condolences on Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown's death as proof of that bias.

The Speaker suggested that editors talk to more conservatives in their communities and see what they thought about media bias.

"Go out and find five or six local conservatives in your community and ask them what their critique is," he said.

"See if it doesn't sober you after a while and make you think, 'Gee, maybe there are some things that ought to be done to have a fairer and more open news media.' "

In his talk to editors the next day, Gore disagreed with the Speaker. "I think the Speaker has a pretty heavy burden to carry if he wants to make the case that the newspapers of America have treated Bill Clinton with kid gloves. Where is the evidence? I don't see it."

Gore, who started his career as a cub reporter at the Nashville Tennessean, said he thought the media had been very aggressive and very tough on the Clinton administration.

"It sure feels different from inside the administration than from the case he's trying to make," Gore said.

The two did agree, however, on the need to expand the federal Freedom of Information Act to include electronics records, legislation that is now in both chambers of Congress.

Asked by ASNE President Bill Ketter if he favored the Electronic FOIA and whether it would pass this year, Gingrich responded, "Yes, and I don't know. I favor any set of records that would be available in print would be available [electronically], because they are, for all practical purposes, the same record. Whether it will pass this year or not, I honestly don't know."

In responding to Ketter's question, Gore said the Clinton administration's record in making more records open has been better than any other administration.

"We will review the pending legislation and wherever possible be supportive of expanding the FOI act."

GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole spoke at the Friday luncheon and told editors that their newspapers would be playing an important role in the fall campaign because they are "among the prime transmitters of our values."

Dole, who voted for the failed amendment to ban the desecration of the American flag, was asked by Max Jennings of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News whether his administration would come down on the side of protecting the flag or protecting the First Amendment.

"I'm not certain you have to make that choice," Dole said. "I think the flag is very symbolic of this country, of America, sacrifices made by Americans the past 200 years. So I sided with protecting the flag, but I didn't do it with the thought in mind that I was somehow abridging someone's right in the amendment."

Tarleton is executive editor of the charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier.