Here at Big Journalism we’re pretty tough on the media when they behave badly, but we also try to offer kudos where they are deserved, even if that’s only with benefit of hindsight.
Yesterday I pointed out that three high profile network newspeople–Katie Couric of CBS, George Stephanopoulos of ABC, and Charlie Rose of PBS–had attended a party at the New York home of a convicted sex offender named Jeffrey Epstein. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, suffice it to say that Epstein isn’t your average offender. He’s a billionaire money manager who was accused of paying more than 40 teenage girls for sexual favors and, as I noted in yesterday’s post, transporting at least one teenager around the world as a party favor for his adult friends. Thanks to a plea deal offered by the FBI, he spent less than 18 months in jail.
As a father of two daughters, this is the kind of thing that gets me upset. It’s even more upsetting that reporters who should know better continue to treat him like a respectable member of high society. So yesterday I sent out tweets to the three news people who attended the party, asking them if they had any comment and/or explanation for their decision to socialize with a convicted sex offender. Late yesterday afternoon I received a message from Katie Couric in response. Because her response was made via a private channel, I believe she has an expectation of privacy. However I can characterize what she said as a sincere expression of regret. I still think Couric deserves criticism for attending the party, but she also deserves credit for not ducking the issue now that she has the benefit of hindsight.
The same cannot be said however for George Stephanopoulos or Charlie Rose. They have apparently decided one of two things. Either they don’t regret accepting the dinner invitation or, more likely, they hope by not addressing this that it will go away and they won’t have to deal with it. On a personal level I find this disappointing. I don’t know George (though once long ago he asked a friend of mine for a date) but I do know that, like me, he has daughters. It’s hard to imagine he would knowingly associate with someone like Epstein. Then again, he’s a reporter. How could he not know anything about the man whose house he was invited to visit?
Personal feelings aside, the sexual exploitation of teens is not a faux pas that can be ignored when it becomes convenient to do so. If Barack Obama or John Boehner attended a party thrown by a notorious sex offender, both Charlie Rose and George Stephanopoulos would volunteer to be the first to ask them why. They would want to know, as I do, why anyone would willingly associate with such a person. I don’t think it’s unfair to expect Rose and Stephanopoulos to hold themselves to the same standard to which they routinely hold other public figures. If they’ve made a mistake, now’s the time to say so.
Katie Couric has already stepped up, gentlemen. Frankly, she’s making you look bad.