High-Profile Hearings, Low-Profile Coverage

Lightman, David, American Journalism Review

It's conventional wisdom that Congress' campaign finance hearings are news the public can excuse. In times of peace, prosperity and cynicism about all things Washington, politics seems particularly remote.

The ongoing shrug presents a problem for Washington journalists: Do they stick with a story they know has the elements of power, money and intrigue they covet, or move on to other subjects?

Before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee campaign finance hearings topped the news in early October with the discovery of videotaped White House coffees, the story rarely excited the press -- though reporters were rewarded with the antics of oilman Roger Tamraz and Buddhist nuns recalling Vice President Gore's visit.

Routine were the days when former Commerce Department officials or intelligence …

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Publication information: Article title: High-Profile Hearings, Low-Profile Coverage. Contributors: Lightman, David - Author. Magazine title: American Journalism Review. Volume: 19. Issue: 9 Publication date: November 1997. Page number: 14. © 2009 University of Maryland. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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