News Media Are Missing Drug Story, Dole Tells Editors

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole took his “Just Don’t Do It” anti-drug campaign to the nation’s newspaper editors Thursday, gently chiding the executives that “the news media are missing an important story” by not reporting the social and personal costs of increased drug use among America’s youth.

“In 1989, evening network television news ran 518 anti-drug stories,” Dole told senior media officials at the Associated Press Managing Editors Assn. convention here. “By 1995, with drug use rising dramatically, that number had fallen to 91 stories. The issue simply wasn’t ‘hot’ anymore.” Dole aides later corrected the 1995 number to 101 stories.

“Information is critical,” he said. “The war on drugs won’t be won through ignorance. In some important ways, all of us are depending on you.”

Aides say Dole plans to release an ad today featuring footage from an MTV interview, conducted early in President Clinton’s term, in which the president was reminded of his notorious line that he did not inhale when he tried marijuana as a college student. In the interview, Clinton quips, “Sure, if I could,” when asked if he would inhale now. “Bill Clinton doesn’t get it,” an announcer in the Dole ad intones in response.