Book’s Clinton Rumors Test Media

A new book by a former FBI agent that repeats a series of rumors about the Clinton White House has become the vehicle in the past few days for some of the nation’s top news organizations to air what they acknowledge to be “raw” gossip and unsubstantiated allegations.

The sometimes salacious charges--aimed at President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and unnamed members of their staffs--are outlined in the book “Unlimited Access: an FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House,” written by Gary Aldrich, a 30-year veteran of the FBI who worked in the White House during Clinton’s first three years in office. Aldrich admits in his book that many of the allegations he passes along are, at best, secondhand and that he lacks evidence for them.

In recent election years mainstream news organizations increasingly have printed or broadcast stories about candidates that in earlier years would not have been publicized--either because of their subject matter or their lack of proof, or both.

Aldrich’s case seems to mark a new step, however, because it involves allegations about which the source admits he has no firsthand evidence and about which the journalists involved say they have doubts even as they repeat the charges.

By contrast, most news organizations that in 1992 printed Gennifer Flowers’ allegations that she had conducted an affair with then-Gov. Bill Clinton justified the story in part on the grounds that Flowers was talking about events in which she at least claimed to have direct involvement. In another case, in the 1988 campaign, many news organizations resisted printing a rumor that Michael S. Dukakis, then the Democratic presidential candidate, had been treated by a psychiatrist, but they eventually gave up after President Reagan publicly joked about the rumors at a White House news conference.

*

In this case, Aldrich’s allegations moved into print (first in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the Washington Times) and then onto the airwaves (on ABC on Sunday morning) even before the book actually arrived in stores.

“One would expect the press to use more judgment in deciding which parts of this book should be aired and printed and which parts should be discarded,” said Larry Sabato, author of a new book on media and politics called “Dirty Little Secrets.”

“But, no, they’re using terrible judgment in this case. Where is the proof? Where is the evidence? Just because it appears in hard, cold print doesn’t mean there’s any evidence behind it. It’s very easy to get anything printed in the United States anymore.”

Sabato, like other students of the media, says he has seen a steady loosening of standards about when undocumented rumor can be eased into print or onto the airwaves.

“I expect more and more of it this year,” he added.

Aldrich’s book is published by Regnery Publishing, which specializes in conservative-oriented books. His current promotional appearances are being handled by Republican activists, including Greg Mueller, who was spokesman for Patrick J. Buchanan’s presidential campaign.

*

Other Republican activists have touted it. Mike Murphy, an advertising and media consultant for GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, said on CNN, “I think that people ought to read the book, read the news coverage of the book and make their own decision.”

In the book, Aldrich makes no secret of his intense personal dislike of the Clintons and those around them. Tight skirts on women, earrings on men, a staff member wearing black lipstick, others who were not in good physical shape--all come in for criticism. And he is particularly concerned about what he sees as chaos and lack of security at the Clinton White House.

The first wave of coverage about Aldrich’s book came in traditionally conservative media. First, Aldrich wrote an op-ed article for the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. Then on Friday, the New York Post, owned by the conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch, and the avowedly conservative Washington Times, ran front-page stories repeating his allegations of sexual misconduct in the White House. The Post ran a picture of the White House on its front page with a headline that said “THE WILD HOUSE.”

But by Friday evening, other news organizations began reporting on the book--especially after the White House began strenuous efforts to attack it.

Most journalists last week steered clear of any of the undocumented charges, but the Washington Post, in a story about the media’s dilemma in covering the issue, published several of the rumors along with denials by officials involved.

CNN also ran a story on the book, but avoided repeating most of Aldrich’s charges. Other news organizations, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, reported only the main allegation about which Aldrich claims to have firsthand evidence: his claim that a White House official told him that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was the person who made the decision to put D. Craig Livingstone, a key figure in the controversy over the White House’s acquisition of sensitive FBI files, in charge of the White House personnel security office.

*

But by Sunday morning, the lid was off for many news organizations. ABC interviewed Aldrich on its “This Week With David Brinkley” program, allowing him to elaborate on his most salacious charges while the program’s panel of journalists sternly questioned him and noted afterward that they had doubts about most of what he had said.

On the same program, White House senior advisor George Stephanopoulos charged that Aldrich had become “a tool” of “right-wing political Republican operatives who are determined to destroy the president.”

“And I think in a strange way, and I think a sad way, ABC has also become a tool by allowing this stuff to be broadcast,” he added.

In the meantime, at least one conservative journalist who believes that Aldrich used him as a source says he was disturbed by the former FBI agent’s recounting of rumors.

Newsweek magazine in its current issue reports that David Brock, the investigative reporter for the conservative magazine American Spectator, says he had a series of lunches with Aldrich last summer and that he passed along stories rumbling through the city’s active rumor mill. When he saw the one of those rumors appearing in print because of Aldrich’s book, he felt “blindsided,” he claimed, saying he tried to explain to Aldrich that such raw gossip needed to be investigated before it was published.

*

But by Sunday, Brock’s account had become yet another vehicle for some news organizations to repeat the original accusation against Clinton. CNN, for example, did a story about the rumor and the source.

“When it’s something like this that calls his veracity into question, you can’t report it without reporting the rumor,” explained Rick Davis, executive producer of CNN’s Washington public affairs programming. “But it’s not an easy call and we agonized about it before we did it.”