Friday, June 11, 2004

Counterattack: I never bothered reading the piece in New York magazine by Alexandra Polier (you know, the woman who did not have an affair with John Kerry). But Howard Kurtz gave the highlights, and I admire the temerity of this woman to fight back against the rabid media.

When the "adultery" story first broke on Drudge, journalists who were too high and mighty to run a story based on rumors nevertheless harassed the hell out of her, called her family, and even hacked into her e-mail. Some papers smeared her name with no evidence of an affair.

So after the rumors were accepted as false, Ms. Polier decided to turn the tables on the journalists. She began calling them one by one to interview them and press them on how they could act so much like children:

National Review's David Frum told her he regretted it. Alexandra Wolfe, Tom's daughter, who had compared her to Paris Hilton in a New York Observer profile, apologized, saying: "I just didn't think of you as a person."

Democratic consultant Chris Lehane, who had jumped from Kerry to Wes Clark, denied peddling the rumor but was unavailable after a brief conversation. Matt Drudge, who gave the rumor huge play, told Polier: "In retrospect, I should have had a sentence saying, 'There is no evidence to tie Alex to John Kerry.' I should have put that." He added, "If Clark had not gone out there and said, 'Kerry is going to bomb,' I never, ever, would have gone anywhere near this."

Brian Flynn, a reporter for London's Sun who was the first print guy to name Polier, told her editor he had "a fantastic source" on the story. When the editor noted that the source had been, um, wrong, Flynn cried: "You've just ambushed me," he cried. "You've ambushed me!"

When Polier got on the phone and said she had some questions, this intrepid journalist said: "It's not a good time right now. Let's meet up next week."

"Why did you quote my mother when she wasn't even home?" Polier asked.

"I really can't talk about this right now, Alex," Flynn said. After that, he insisted she talk to the Sun's PR person, who refused to comment. Talk about being able to dish it out but not take it. Why is it so hard for some journalists to take responsibility for the damage they inflict?

Polier's conclusion: "I am struck by the pitiful state of political reporting, which is dominated by the unholy alliance of opposition research and its latest tool, the Internet."

I'd like to hope that this episode would have a cooling effect on the media hyenas, making them think twice before they jump on another trash story -- but I know that won't be the case. I don't understand why the media believes that sex and adultery equals news. It's up to us -- every time the media reports some sex scandal, we need to turn the news off and find something else to read.