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| WHAT IS NEWS? | |
 July 11, 2001  |
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Does the Gary Condit/Chandra Levy story warrant the news coverage it has received? Four views on this story follow this background report. The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts
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 RAY
SUAREZ: It started as a story of a missing 24-year-old intern in Washington
in the spring.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC: Good evening. Tonight the plot has thickened. RAY SUAREZ: It has blossomed into a summer blockbuster of a media story, leading some national and local newscasts and playing on the front page in many papers. Initially, the reporting focused on the fact that a young graduate student, Chandra Levy, from a well-to-do California family, could not be located. Her parents hired a public relations group, which had dealt with the media on other high-profile missing persons cases, to give their case a full court press. SUSAN LEVY: If for my reason my daughter hears this, somehow we can get her home. RAY SUAREZ: When the "friendship" that Levy, a paid intern at the Bureau of Prisons, had with California Congressman Gary Condit was reported, coverage of the case increased significantly. |
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RAY SUAREZ: In post-Monica Washington, the story of a young woman, a government intern linked to a married Congressman, proved irresistible for 24-hour cable news channels which, in some cases, gave the story play at the top and bottom of every hour, whether there were new developments or not. Over the weeks TV and radio talk shows – ABC NEWS ANCHOR: That he did tell the police – the Congressman – that she spent the night in his home.
RITA COSBY, Fox News Channel: Do you believe that Congressman Condit and his staff were asking you to sign something that they knew was false? ANNE MARIE SMITH, Flight Attendant: Yes. RITA COSBY: How so?
RAY SUAREZ: A change in the intensity of the coverage came last week when the media, quoting sources -- not the Congressman or police -- reported that Condit admitted in his third interview with police that he had a relationship with Levy. The family has tried to keep the story of their missing daughter in the news, especially in cable stations, on the air around the clock. SUSAN LEVY: Thank you very much. We’re going in to watch CNN. RAY SUAREZ: The CBS Evening News has not mentioned levy in its weekday
coverage at all. ABC's World News tonight has aired coverage of the
story twice. The NewsHour has not mentioned the story until tonight.
NBC Nightly News has run ten stories. The Washington Post has largely
put the story in its metro section, giving the story front ABBE LOWELL: Go take your cameras and your pads and your pencils, and try to see if there is somebody else out there who might have some information that could actually find this woman. RAY SUAREZ: And, Tuesday as Condit's fellow House Democrats tried to brief reporters about energy policy, they faced this reality: Many in the media are focused on another story. REPORTER: Has he told you the truth about this matter? REP. F. ALLEN BOYD: Never talked to him. Any other questions on energy?
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FOX
NEWS ANCHOR: Fox on top of shocking new allegations about the private
behavior of Congressman Gary Condit. 
RAY
SUAREZ: -- and the network morning shows gave the story a great deal
of time while some newspapers, especially the New York tabloids, devoted
banner coverage to it. Congressman Condit's aides, and then attorneys,
denied that he had an intimate relationship with Levy and took the media
to task, by writing letters correcting details in stories-- such as
these letters to The Washington Post and The New York Daily News --
and refuting charges in the press. Then came an interview with a flight
attendant, Anne Marie Smith, who told Fox News she'd had an affair with
Condit, and that the Congressman asked her to lie to authorities about
it. Condit says Smith's story is not true. 
ANNE
MARIE SMITH: Well, obviously Mr. Condit knew it was false. And he was
asking me to sign it. 
page
play only three times. The New York Times has given it no front-page
coverage, while USA Today ran its first front page piece this week.
Many in the media tried to couch their coverage in terms of a political
story. What did Condit’s constituents think? How would it affect
his re- election? But Condit's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the press they're
missing the real story of where is Chandra. 
RAY
SUAREZ: The picture of the throngs of journalists covering Condit's
attorney's press conference are reminiscent the scenes outside Monica
Lewinsky's lawyers' office three summers ago. And once again the news
business is asking itself, "what is news?" -- and "when
does a story with no known crime, no charges, no named suspects, become
fair game?"