Washington Times-May 10, 2000
Clinton ally leads march
Tony Blankley
The late, brilliant professor of semantics (and U.S.
senator) S.I. Hayakawa wrote almost half a century ago that the
act of communication is the basic moral act: "One begins with the
sharing of perceptions about commonplace or even obvious things,
so that, with the establishment of myriads of little agreements,
larger and larger agreements become possible." That would be a
pretty good mission statement for a news organization.
But, regretfully, not all news organizations report the
details accurately, thereby justifying the confidence of their
readers or viewers � which brings me to the anti-gun "Million Mom
March" (a Mother's Day march on Washington which will call for
registration of all handguns and other sundry gun-control
measures.)
CNN's coverage is typical. Earlier this week CNN reported
that "the march is the brainchild of a New Jersey mother, Donna
Dees-Thomases, who conceived of the idea as she watched footage
of a shooting at an area day camp." In a script that goes on for
more than four single-spaced pages, that is all we learn of Ms.
Dees-Thomases.
But that is just television � what about the printed word?
In a major, front-of-the-section Sunday piece, the New York Times
headlined its story: "Invoking the Moral Authority of Moms."
Befitting the greatest news organization in the universe, the
Times gives us more information. It quotes Ms. Dees-Thomases
explaining: "Our maternal instincts were just kicking in . . .
Everyone truly believes that until we get the politics out of
this, nothing much will get done . . . This is a public health
issue . . . This is personal, not political . . . We are in this
for one reason alone: to keep our kids safe."
The New York Times, whose motto is "all the news that's fit
to print," does manage to squeeze into this almost 2000-word
report the background fact that Ms. Dees-Thomases is "currently
on leave from her job as a part-time publicist for CBS." So,
apparently, she is not just any New Jersey mother, but a
part-time CBS publicist. But even the vaunted New York Times
couldn't fit in all the news about Ms. Dees-Thomases. Before she
was a part-time publicist, she was Dan Rather himself's publicist
� and by reputation an exceptionally able public relations
executive.
Oh, there is one other interesting fact about her. If the
last half of her hyphenated name rings a bell, it's no accident.
She just happens to be the sister-in-law of Susan Thomases, who
just happens to be Hillary Clinton's best friend and closest
political adviser. Just a New Jersey housewife, indeed. One might
as well identify Queen Elizabeth as "Liz Windsor, an English
mother of four."
Now, maybe all those warmhearted thoughts about maternal
instincts, the kids and getting politics out of it, are genuine.
But when the organizer of this event � so timely and politically
useful to the Clintons � turns out to be so closely connected to
the Clintons, shouldn't that be reported widely?
During the New York Republican primary, when some
anti-McCain environmental ads ran on New York television, the
major media formed a posse to find out who placed the adds. When
it turned out to be a businessman closely connected to George W.
Bush, that became the main story. For days the media itemized
every available detail about the Bush connection � as well they
should have. The public has a right to judge the motives of
political players by knowing their background and affiliations.
The absence of such information in the New York Times piece
is particularly galling, because it is an otherwise fascinating
account of the role of mothers in reform crusades. I have a
personal interest in that topic because for many years my mother,
now retired, was an organizer for the Mother's March of Dimes,
which fought polio and birth defects. Now those were public
health issues bereft of politics. So it upsets me when political
operatives cover their activities under the saintly mantle of
motherhood.
Yet, in the lead of that New York Times article Ms.
Dees-Thomases' motives are characterized as "trying to break
through ideology and partisanship and make an appeal based on the
moral authority of women as mothers." Thus it is penetratingly
probative of the story's thesis (and of Ms. Dees-Thomases'
credibility), whether Ms. Dees-Thomases is acting "as a mother"
or as a political operative. To deny the readers such necessary
(and available) information is to breach what professor Hayakawa
called the moral act of communication.
Tony Blankley is a columnist for The Washington Times. His column
appears on Wednesdays.
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