Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501100021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
``We did not take advantage of Newt Gingrich's mother,'' CBS News President Eric Ober told the Television Critics Association. ``The problem was in releasing a 20-second sound bite of a 12-minute interview.''
The network erred in promoting the quote out of context as Newt Gingrich prepared to take the oath as House speaker of the newly Republican Congress on Wednesday, Ober said.
CBS and Connie Chung have been criticized for airing the remark, which Kathleen Gingrich whispered after Chung told her it would be ``just between you and me.''
But Ober said the speaker's mother, surrounded by cameras and lights, spoke in an obvious stage whisper.
Anyway, the Gingriches don't seem too upset, said Jim Murphy, executive producer of ``CBS This Morning.''
They will appear Monday on the debut of CBS' ``The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.'' They had agreed to be on the show before the uproar over Chung's interview.
Gingrich has not denied he made the remark, and Clinton has invited the Gingriches to the White House.
The public, meanwhile, was in two minds over the flap.
A Time-CNN poll released Saturday found that 47 percent of the 600 adults questioned thought Chung owed Kathleen Gingrich an apology. Forty-four percent said she didn't.
On the other hand, 48 percent said Newt Gingrich should apologize to Clinton. Forty-five percent said he didn't have to.
While 51 percent believed the new speaker ``too often says improper things,'' 29 percent disagreed.
by CNB