By: Joel Davis First it was a Komodo dragon. Now it's a letter seeking an interview with embattled California Congressman Gary Condit that has come back to bite
San Francisco Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein.
Media critics such as Ben Bagdikian are chastising Bronstein for the Aug. 14 letter, saying it has a quid pro quo air to it.
In a private letter, Bronstein tried to elicit empathy from Condit via his own tabloid headaches. "I personally have a special understanding of some of the issues you've been dealing with," Bronstein wrote. "I suspect I may be the only newspaper editor in the country who has probably appeared in the supermarket tabloids nearly as often as you have -- I think often with same amount of reliability and accuracy.
Bronstein also pointed out that unlike
The Fresno Bee and
Modesto Bee, the
Chronicle did not call for Condit's resignation. "Clearly, we have not called on you to resign, nor do we have plans to do so," Bronstein writes.
Bronstein told
E&P that the letter went out after he learned from Editorial Page Editor John Diaz that a
Chronicle editorial would not ask for Condit to quit.
"In a perfect world I probably would have worded it differently," Bronstein said in hindsight. "But none of us saw it as anything nefarious." Bronstein added that he did not have any input on the Condit editorial, and Diaz has said his opinion pages and Bronstein's newsrooms operate independently.
"I was aware of [the
Chronicle's Condit editorial], but had nothing to do with it," Bronstein said, adding that the
Chronicle "won't pull any punches" in its coverage of Condit, who has yet to agree to be interviewed by the paper.
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