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“Veiled threats” by Edwards campaign staff

Kansas City writer also cites “Vigorous Denials”
As Likely Reasons Press Didn’t Report on Story

Our adversarial Mainstream press scrambles to explain to readers why they were left in the dark about the John Edwards scandal until 7 months later.

A Few Trial Balloons about a Trial Lawyer

Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart made a damning confession about how the Mainstream Media reports–or in the case of the John Edwards scandal, failed to report–news on political candidates it covers. [The John Edwards love-baby story: What took so long?]

Edwards was still running for president last December. Why didn’t his opponents jump on this? Why didn’t the story get any traction? One likely reality is that vigorous denials from campaign staffers, veiled threats to put reporters off the bus if they persisted, and the absence of any follow-up reporting from the Enquirer or any other source combined to take the air out of the story.

Thanks, Aaron, you said a mouthful.

John Edwards Scandal News UPDATES at end of story:
News UPDATE #1 14:14 EDT August 1 2008
News UPDATE #2 14:25 EDT
UPDATE #3 14:38 EDT
UPDATE #4 14:55 EDT August 1 2008

Reporters presented with “veiled threats” by a campaign staff?

NOW, wouldn’t that be news? You could just see the headline–unless you were familiar with how the mainstream press operates.

Wouldn’t that have been a story in itself? Wouldn’t those “veiled threats” to reporters not to ask uncomfortable questions, have excited some interest or curiosity among their press brethren?

DBKP has repeatedly stated that the “cozy relationship” between reporters on the Edwards press bus and the campaign staff was partially responsible for why they shirked their constitutionally-protected job as an adversarial press.

We said in it December. We said it last month. And now, Aaron Barnhart has confirmed it.

* John Edwards Scandal, The Press: Edwards Campaign’s Curious Connections with Rielle Hunter Excite No Mainstream Curiosity

* The Edwards Scandal, The Press, The Enquirer and the Blogosphere

This “cozy relationship”–as opposed to the adversarial duties they’re supposed to perform–leads us to a second point: those “vigorous denials from campaign staffers” that Aaron talks about.

Because of those “vigorous denials from campaign staffers”, not one reporter posed the question to Edwards that DBKP kept repeating, “Do you deny that you’ve been in telephone contact with Rielle Hunter since she found out she was pregnant?” Did the reporters on the Edwards’ campaign bus perhaps assigned a larger weight to the campaign staff’s denials than their readers would have?

We’ll never know: nothing was said in the mainstream press about their “vigorous denials”.

After all, what’s a little scandal among friends?

The third part of Barnhart’s faux pas trifecta, “the absence of any follow-up reporting from the Enquirer or any other source” highlights the incestuousness of the MSM. Eight days after the Enquirer released the second series of Edwards love child allegations, “John Edwards Love Child Scandal“, DBKP published the following: [Rielle Hunter Housed by Former NBA Player]

Question: What former NBA player’s latest charity outreach involves providing housing for unwed, pregnant women?

Hint #1: The player and various family members have each contributed the allowable limit each to the John Edwards campaign, for a total of over $15,000.

Hint #2: The unwed, pregnant woman is actually just one: Rielle Hunter, the former producer of videos for the Edwards campaign that traveled around the country last year with the presidential candidate.

Doug Ross responded–within hours–with “The John Edwards Love Child Saga, the NBA and the MSM“.

Okay, so I was curious. Went to OpenSecrets and did a donor lookup.

The only ex-NBA player and heavy Edwards donor I found is Eric Montross, who is listed in Chapel Hill. That’s not to say Montross is hosting Rielle, but if the DBKP story is accurate, he’s someone for the MSM to check into.

DBKP was curious, Doug was curious, and our readers were curious.

Ross was even curious enough to take a second look at the Enquirer story, especially this next sentence.

A source close to Young vehemently denies that he funneled campaign money to Rielle – who drives a BMW SUV registered in Young’s name.

Doug says, “What an odd denial! Who accused Young of funneling campaign funds to support Rielle in the first place? I wonder if any member of our crack mainstream media will bother to check into this interesting thread.”

Readers on top of the story can supply their own answers to that last question.

How curious were Aaron and his buddies on the press bus?

Their curiosity was finally piqued seven months later–after a team of Enquirer reporters chased Edwards around the Beverly Hilton, where Aaron and his buddies were spending the night, coincidentally.

In the wee hours of Tuesday, July 22, John Edwards — the former senator from North Carolina, former presidential candidate and running mate in 2004 — was confronted by reporters for the National Enquirer at a men’s room of the Beverly Hilton, the very hotel where TCA summer press tour had concluded a few hours earlier.

Fox News, at that point was curious enough to interview on the hotel security guards who confirmed the confrontation.

PJ Gladnick, of Newsbusters Writer Claims Edwards Scandal Story Has Finally ‘Trickled Out’ Into MSM, does a complete demolition of Barnhart’s other claims about why the MSM didn’t cover the story.

Of course, NewsBusters also took a pass on the story in December. But, NBs has been all over the story in its July reincarnation, chiefly through the efforts of Gladnick. Gladnick’s NewsBusters coverage has been a key element in holding the media’s feet to the fire over the last two weeks.

Barnhart and his MSM friends weren’t curious enough about the highly-curious aspects of the story in December; what will Kansas City readers have to say about that?

Aaron attempts to quell any unease of readers left in the dark with a bit of revisionist history.

“If I were you, I’d dispense with the idea that a liberal conspiracy of silence kept this story under wraps.”

Okay, we’d take him at his word–except he forgot to provide any proof. Perhaps, because he can’t. Not one word was published in the Kansas City Star–or in any MSM outlet–about the Enquirer’s December allegations. We know. We kept checking.

Gladnick sums up nicely.

While the MSM continues to drag their feet, the blogosphere is up front investigating this scandal story. The National Enquirer and the blogosphere are going where the liberal media fears to tread. Meanwhile newspaper circulation continues to tumble. And their lack of coverage on a topic that the public is interested in provides a great example of why they are on the decline.

Pretty hard to improve on that.

A Child is Born

Hunter/Druck Birth Certificate

Doug Ross asks some questions in “Edwards Love Child Birth Certificate Shows No Father!” that the traditional press could have asked months ago.

But, at least some in the traditional press are pursuing the story with gusto now.

The Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer, both in Edwards’ home state of North Carolina are asking questions and running down leads. At least two of the reporters Edwards was forced to dodge Wednesday in Washington DC were from those papers. Both papers published copies of the birth certificate yesterday, and others in the media followed suit.

Editor & Publisher commented on this today: Charlotte Paper Obtains Birth Certificate for Alleged Edwards ‘Love Child’

Following up on claims by the National Enquirer regarding former Sen. John Edwards, the Charlotte Observer in his home state of North Carolina posted a story on Thursday revealing that it had taken the extraordinary step of obtaining a certain birth certificate.

E&P notes that the papers, part of the McClatchy chain, “which owns the two major North Carolina dailies, has distributed the story to all of its papers.”

Seven months late, we might add.

UPDATE #1 14:14 EDT August 1 2008

John in North Carolina describes the mainstream coverage of the John Edwards affair in Edward’s home state of North Carolina [N&O Finally Touches Edwards Affair Story--sorta]:

That’s the way an Anon commenter described today’s Raleigh News & Observer’s first story ever reporting on former Sen. John Edwards’ affair with his filmmaker friend Rielle Hunter.

The N&O put the story in the “B” section on pg. 3 with a print edition headline: “Facing questions, Edwards evades reporters.” At newsobserver.com the story’s posted a few clicks back from the main page beneath the headline: “John Edwards ducks questions on tabloid story.”

And what about the “sorta?”

The story refers to “a former campaign videographer,” but doesn’t name Rielle Hunter.

John also points out that “The N&O makes absolutely no mention of Hunter’s stays at the gated Governors Club, just a few miles from Edwards home and the N&O’s Chapel Hill office.”

For a hard look at the slow stumbles to the story by one of NC’s two biggest papers, check out John’s post. He also touches on unrest among the NC editorial community in “N. C. Editor Decries Raleigh N&O’s Edwards Affair …“, which DBKP plans to comment on in the very near future.

We hope John continues to report the NC media situation close to the source.

UPDATE #2 14:25 EDT August 1 2008

Gossip site, Jossip, points out one possible reason the Mainstream Media is might now be dragged–kicking and screaming into the story, albeit 7+ months late: [The First ‘Photo Evidence’ of the John Edwards Sex Scandal]

With the birth certificate — available to anyone, as it’s a public record — there is now some “photo evidence,” though not the kind that the Enquirer’s David Perel claims to have, of Edwards at the Beverly Hilton visiting his allegedly lady friend. But still not enough to get Edwards to answer any questions.

One thing readers used to trust the traditional press to do was to investigate gossip and tips and to report what they’d learned. In the Edwards’ scandal, the press didn’t investigate, but it issued it’s own denials based on their personal feelings were about both the National Enquirer and John Edwards.

It was this press-acting-as-PR-shills for the Edwards campaign that has furthered distrust in their ability to fulfill their adversarial duties. The MSM apologists might be further ahead to admit, “We were wrong, we’ll do better.”

Then, next time do some reporting,–even if the candidate has a “D” behind their name–present the facts and let their readers come their own conclusions.

We’re not holding our breaths on that one.

UPDATE #3 14:38 EDT August 1 2008

Brit Hume echoes our report yesterday [John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Bolts from Reporters Once Again] that Edwards “ran from reporters again”. [John Edwards Slips Out the Back Door of Another Hotel].

Hume’s report is significant however, as it’s posted at Fox New’s website in the Political Grapevine section. Fox’s reporting on the Edwards scandal is belated, but it looks positively Speedy Gonzalez-like when compared to its competitors in the TV news biz.

UPDATE #4 2:55 EDT August 1 2008

Not all North Carolina newspapers are interested in the Edwards scandal yet. The Raleigh Telegraph [Mainstream Media Reports On Edwards Sex Scandal] reports on the reaction of Greensboro News and Record editor, John Robinson, who is employing the adage “It’s news when the rest of my buddies in the MSM say it’s news” to guide his paper’s coverage.

John Robinson, editor of the Greensboro News & Record daily newspaper, said in his blog on July 26th that they were not running anything yet (in the news section of the paper) on the John Edwards situation as reported in the Enquirer.

“We have talked about this John Edwards story for a couple days…for our part, we got nothing to publish,” said Robinson in his blog. “AP hasn’t moved anything. The New York Times hasn’t moved anything. The other wires we use have sent us nothing, all because they don’t have any independent confirmation that what the Enquirer is reporting is actually true.”

Robinson apparently doesn’t watch Fox, which confirmed the Enquirer’s reporters’ run-in with Edwards at nearly 3 AM at the Beverly Hilton last week by talking to a hotel security guard involved with escorting Edwards–who was not registered at the hotel–off the premises. He doesn’t think Greensboro readers wouldn’t be interested in what a former NC senator/VP candidate was doing running from reporters attempting to ask questions about whose hotel room he was leaving?

John might be waiting for a long time for the NY Times or AP to confirm anything: you can’t confirm what you haven’t investigated.

by Mondoreb
image: sabii