WASHINGTON POST SCRIBES JUST CAN'T WIN

By: Alicia Mundy Our Columnist Praises Merida's Profile Of Thurmond


Sometimes you just can't win. That's probably the way at least a
few of the better writers at The Washington Post must feel
these days.

A couple of weeks ago, the Post's ombudsman, Michael
Getler, complained in a Sunday column that too many of the
newspaper's reporters were doing their best -- and most
opinionated -- pieces for other publications, such as GQ
and The New Yorker magazines, instead of the Post.

However, the point of a number of these outside-the-Post
pieces is that the paper does not provide a lot of space or
leeway to most of its reporters. They find they are allowed to
write with more grace, depth, and, yes, attitude, in other
locales. But Getler wants them to stay home.

Having made his statement, Getler came back the following week
with a complaint about a reporter who did stay "home." On May 4,
Kevin Merida turned out a huge article of roughly 6,000 words on
U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. It was originally intended for
the "Style" section, but was so important, according to "Style"
Editor Gene Robinson, that it ended up running on the front page.
The article captured Thurmond, his current age-related problems,
and the dilemma it presents to the Republican party.

Prominent among Thurmond's handicaps are chronic memory loss and
assorted physically debilitating matters that are expected in a
98-year-old man. The article was written in a magazine style that
is common in The New York Times and the Los Angeles
Times, but rarely seen these days in the Post.

Merida described Thurmond's appearance -- his splotchy skin, hand
gestures, and vacant stares indicating lack of connection with
events around him. And he noted that Thurmond's staff had no
intention of letting their boss give an interview. It was
reminiscent of a brutally accurate piece on Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-
Mass., that Michael Kelly, now editor of The Atlantic
Monthly, once wrote for GQ.

Several readers blew up over the Thurmond article, and Getler
agreed with them, noting in his column that the piece "went too
far and focused too heavily on his physical deterioration and
appearance ... rather than his effectiveness as a legislator."

So here's the conundrum: Post writers shouldn't take their
best writing elsewhere; they should offer it to the Post -
- where, if it isn't killed in editing, it will be denigrated by
the official Post conscience. Hmm.

Getler's thoughtful pieces have scored some points at editors'
expense in recent months, but he missed the mark this time.
Robinson, who defended the article's unflinching descriptions,
said the piece was inspired by the talk of a 50-50 Senate split
and Thurmond's increasing inabilities. In one interview just a
few months ago, Thurmond mentioned his wife as a possible
replacement for his seat if he stepped down. But Thurmond forgot
they'd been separated since 1991 and that the current Democratic
governor of South Carolina is unlikely to name a Republican to
fill in for Thurmond.

This memory mess was particularly important because, for the
benefit of those who don't keep track, Thurmond, as president pro
tempore of the Senate, is currently third in line for the U.S.
presidency after Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Speaker of
the House J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. Even so, the GOP doesn't want
Thurmond to step down while the Senate's balance of power could
shift.

For Washingtonians, watching Republican leaders keeping Thurmond
in his seat is like watching El Cid's generals prop up his body
in his saddle and send him strapped to his horse into battle. God
help everyone if the knots slip.

The "Style" section, Robinson said, covers politics "with a
difference." By that, he means pointing out the warts in ways
that may offend readers who prefer their politics in the form of
dry voting records. But any serious Washington reporter -- yes,
those Inside-the-Beltway folks everyone in the "heartland" loves
to hate -- knows the relevance of the little things. It's not the
devil that's found in the details; it's the truth.

So personal ties, personality flaws, grudges, memory lapses,
morality matters -- they play a much larger role in the political
decisions made in Washington than the merits of and debates on
the "issues." I can't say I like that state of affairs, but I
have little respect for reporters or politicians who pretend
that's not the case.

Having been denied a chance to hear whether Thurmond is still
compos mentis, Merida followed him around for weeks, observing
how staff and colleagues fronted for him in public situations,
such as meetings of the Judiciary Committee. What Merida conveyed
was the picture of a man who, whatever his party, whatever the
balance of power, should not be in office. Thurmond alone could
rebut that -- but since he obviously could not do so, he left
Merida to report what he saw.

And Merida did so perfectly.



Alicia Mundy's "Pack Rat" column appears monthly in E&P. Mundy (Mundy007@aol.com)
is Washington bureau chief for Mediaweek, a sister magazine.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.