Nation & World News
Bush orders senior officials to ‘stop the leaks'
The president asserts his
authority amid reports of
intense infighting among
top administration advisers
By Joseph L. Galloway and James
Kuhnhenn
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — Concerned
about the appearance of disarray and
feuding within his administration as
well as growing resistance to his poli
cies in Iraq, President Bush — living
up to his recent declaration that he's
in charge — told his top officials to
"stop the leaks" to the media, or else.
News of Bush's order leaked al
most immediately.
Bush told his senior aides on Tues
day that he "didn't want to see any
stories" quoting unnamed adminis
tration officials in the media any
more, and if he did, there would be
consequences, a senior administra
tion official who asked that his name
not be used told Knight Ridder.
An escalating turf war involving
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rums
feld, National Security Adviser Con
doleezza Rice and Secretary of State
Colin Powell has generated an un
usually bountiful crop of leaks in re
cent months, and one result is a crim
inal investigation of anonymous
officials in the White 1 louse who are
alleged to have leaked the name of a
Central Intelligence Agency covert of
ficer to reporters.
The infighting, backstabbing and
maneuvering on major foreign policy
issues such as North Korea, Syria,
Iran and postwar Iraq have escalated
to a level that veterans of government
haven't seen in years. At one point,
the senior official said, Bush himself
asked how bad it was.
"This isn't as bad as (George)
Shultz vs. (Caspar) Weinberger, is it?"
he asked, referring to a legendary
Reagan administration rivalry be
tween the heads, respectively, of the
State and Defense departments. One
top official nodded in reply and said
it was "way worse."
The infighting has strained Bush's
patience.
On Monday, reacting to reports of
internal conflict among his top advis
ers, the president told one regional
broadcaster: "The person who's in
charge is me."
Bush's attempt to assert himself ex
tends beyond the executive branch of
the government. Late Tuesday, in a
brief, brusque arm-twisting session
with nine senators, the president
made it clear that he wasn't there to
answer questions or debate the mer
its of his $87 billion Iraq and
Afghanistan aid package, lie de
manded that the aid to Iraq should
be in the form of grants, not loans, as
some of the senators have urged.
Present at the session in the Roo
sevelt Room of the White I louse were
Republicans Olympia Snowe and Su
san Collins, both of Maine; Saxby
Chambliss of Georgia; Sam Brown
back of Kansas; Lindsay Graham of
South Carolina; Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania and John McCain of
Arizona. Democrats included Maria
Cantwell of Washington and Mary
Landrieu of Louisiana.
At one point, as he discussed the
question of providing some of the
money as a loan, Bush slammed his
hand down on the table and said.
"This is bad policy." When Collins
tried to ask a question, the president
replied: "I'm not here to debate it."
One participant told Knight Bid
der that some of the senators, partic
ularly those who've never been on
the "wrong" side of an issue with
Bush, were "surprised by his direct
ness." It was very clear that the presi
dent was not there to engage in any
give and take, the participant said.
Nevertheless, Bush failed to sway
any of the pro-loan senators, in
sharp contrast to the president's
lobbying of House members last
week. One key 1 louse member who
had pushed a loan plan, Zack
Wamp, a Republican from Ten
nessee, backed away from that idea
after meeting with Bush.
"If his eyes had been lasers, mine
would have burned out," Wamp
commented at the time.
"What's most revealing is the extent
of frustration taking hold," said histo
rian Robert Dallek of Boston Universi
ty, the author of acclaimed biographies
of Lyndon Johnson and John F.
Kennedy. "It's really reminiscent of
Johnson and Vietnam. Members of tire
Senate ... and the media were giving
him grief, it sounds like Bush is falling
into that pattern. 1 le's blaming the me
dia, much like Johnson did."
(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Knight Ridder
Newspapers correspondent William
Douglas contributed to this report.
Use or fan’s name creates media
ethics quandary
Media outlets debate issue
' of newsworthiness versus
protection of the fan's safety
in Game 6 incident
By Ed Sherman
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
CHICAGO — The tale of the unfor
tunate fan in Game 6 provided a case
study in media ethics Wednesday.
News organizations wrestled over
the news value of disclosing the fan's
I
name and hometown. Would reveal
ing his identity put him in danger con
sidering the volatility of the situation?
The fan tempered some of the de
bate when he issued a public state
ment expressing his remorse late
Wednesday afternoon. Even then,
some media outlets still didn't im
mediately use his name.
The notable exception in the name
game was the Sun-Times. Late
Wednesday morning, the Sun-Times
posted a story on its Web site revealing
the fan's name, where he lived and
worked, and where he grew up. Editor
Michael Cooke had "no comment" for
the Tribune, but he did explain his de
cision to Editor & Publisher.
"It is the biggest news story in town
and this is Chicago," Cooke said. "We
talked about it for a little while and
came down on the side of publishing
it. It was not 100 to 0, but the decision
was made and on we go."
Even with the Sun-Times' disclo
sure, the majority of other news or
ganizations still opted to do their re
ports for most of the day without
revealing the man s name and place
of residence.
"If you were anywhere near the ball
park Tuesday, you know what kind of
anger existed there," WMAQ-Ch. 5
general manager Larry Wert said. "We
don't want to facilitate a fan misdirect
ing his anger at this individual."
Tom Peterson, news director
for WGN-AM 720, also advocated
caution.
"I don't want to be the guy to put
his name out there," Peterson said.
Rich Gordon, a professor at North
western's Medill School of Journalism,
said he had no problem with media
outlets trying to get interviews with the
fan to hear his perspective. 1 le ques
tioned using his name, however, "just
for the sake of using his name."
"Given the risk, I'd need to have a
compelling reason to name him,"
Gordon said. "I haven't come up
with one."
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
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