Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992 TAG: 9201300262
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOW FAR SHOULD MEDIA GO?
GOV. DOUGLAS WILDER'S relationship with Patricia Kluge has been splashed over tabloid pages. And now Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's presidential bid is threatened by allegations of infidelity. So when Wilder was in town Wednesday, we asked him about the media's responsibility.
Gov. Douglas Wilder - whose own personal life has been the subject of tabloid newspapers and rumor-mongering - says he's not sure how far the news media should go in reporting the private lives of public officials.
It's a question that has flared again in the wake of allegations that one of Wilder's erstwhile rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, carried on a 12-year affair with a former TV reporter and lounge singer. These are allegations that Clinton denies.
But Wilder, during an hour-plus meeting Wednesday with editors and reporters of the Roanoke Times & World-News, passed up an opportunity to suggest what rules he'd set if he were in the news business.
"I think it's individualistic. Gary Hart said `Follow me; I'll prove to you I'm not [having an affair].' It can touch on credibility and, to that extent, if there are things that touch on credibility, I think they can be pursued.
"But in terms of finding out and knowing everything about someone, I don't know that serves any public purpose."
So should the mainstream news media repeat allegations about Clinton - first carried in a supermarket tabloid, the Star, that paid for the story? Are allegations of marital infidelity newsworthy at all?
Wilder wouldn't say.
"You know, you can justify it on any number of things," he said. "You can put it on integrity. You can put it on truth. You don't have to approach fidelity at all and you arrive at the same results. Very difficult.
"I think there are legitimate inquiries, questions as to what is private and what is not. Some would argue that is not private for a person who is a sitting governor and who wants to be president to have carried on affairs, if that is the case.
"The question is what you did when you were in college and what you did other times - well, you can be voyeuristic. I don't know. It's a very thin line; well not thin, but it's a borderline. You have to determine what the public is interested in and what the legitimate interests are."