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American Morning
Editors Discuss 2001's Top Stories
Aired December 21, 2001 - 09:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The events of September 11 dominate the news of the past year in a way that makes most of us forget much of what else happened in 2001.
But here to help us remember, at a reporters' roundtable, are Michael Elliot, senior editor of "TIME" and Rich Lowry, editor of the "National Review."
Welcome back.
Happy winter. Did you know it was the first day of winter today?
MICHAEL ELLIOT, SENIOR EDITOR, "TIME": I did.
ZAHN: You guys are thinking people here.
What was the most embarrassing journalistic moment of the year 2001?
ELLIOT: You know the answer to that. Gary Condit was the most embarrassing moment of the year. I had forgotten until the clip that we did before this little segment that he wore those shirts, the ones with the white collar -- that one there, yes. I think, look: It was a slow news summer. It really was.
ZAHN: But the fact is those stories drove an audience. People bought magazines when he was on the cover, they read the stories, they watched the television news programs.
ELLIOT: You never see it on the cover of "TIME" magazine.
RICHARD LOWRY, EDITOR, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW: I'm a moderate defender of the Gary Condit coverage, just because there is nothing else there. We live in a 24-hour news environment now; you have to fill it with something, so you go with what you have, which is sharks and Gary Condit.
Looking back to that pre-September 11 world, it is notable that even the political substance was frivolous. Does anyone remember the Social Security trust fund, the total political fiction that was supposed to be the substantive issue we were arguing about then.
The fact is the whole world changed after September 11. ELLIOT: I was sitting here trying to remember ahead of the segment, I remember Condit, and pre-Gary Condit, I couldn't come up with anything that significant until I got back to January and trying to sort out the presidential race.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: What is your evaluation of our coverage of the inauguration and first 100 days of Mr. Bush's presidency.
ELLIOT: Well, if I can think back it that, I think it was slightly sour, actually, because there was substantial hangover from Florida.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: At least this was more interesting than covering the election.
ELLIOT: I think it was slightly sour, and people were waiting for the president to give himself up. There was a lot of criticism of certain aspects of the administration. But that's a long time ago now.
LOWRY: It wasn't slightly sour; it was quite sour -- even very sour. You had the idea out there driven, mostly by the Democrats, but the media played along, to a large extent, that George Bush was somehow incompetent and dumb. I don't think that was ever the problem.
There was a problem with seriousness. If you talk to reporters that spent 1 1/2 years with him on the plane, they'll say when he came back to talk to him, never anything serious; he seemed to be amused by the whole thing. That was a big joke, that he was going to end up president of the United States. Now, I think, with him, that lightness of his being is totally wiped away, and with everyone else, all those doubts about his seriousness are totally wiped away as well.
CAFFERTY: Is the rest of the media going to pick up on this story in "The New York Times" this morning about former President Clinton making some sort of active effort to repolish his image.
(CROSSTALK)
ELLIOT: That is today's great story, because it is so Clinton, isn't it? Can't someone take the guy aside and say this is the sort of thing you don't do.
CAFFERTY: It's not about you any more.
ELLIOT: Exactly: me, me, me.
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: You almost feel a little bit sorry for him, like Sisyphus, always pushing the spin up and up, and the effort never ends. There is a famous incident: We had conversation with Dick Morris about will I be considered a great president or not, and Dick Morris says a great president needs a to win a war. The fact is he had a war, and he doesn't realize it, or didn't do enough about, and that will be an important part of the legacy now.
ELLIOT: On the other hand, I saw him in a restaurant in New York a few weeks ago. I was on a restaurant on the Upper West Side, and he came in, and I have to tell you, the star power of the guy is still there. People actually flocked to see him.
ZAHN: No one can work a room like Bill Clinton.
ELLIOT: He was absolutely fabulous. He was pressing the flesh, and he had a word for everyone. I was quite interesting how many people wanted to be with him.
ZAHN: The bottom line for folks who haven't read this piece today, he has sort of summoned his old team together to talk about ways to remind the American public of some of the accomplishments during his administration.
You're not off the hook yet, Michael Elliot. "TIME"'s Man of the Year.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: It will be announced tomorrow. Ted Turner is aboard now; we can get you into trouble with Ted Turner too.
ELLIOT: I checked what I could say. So one, I don't know.
ZAHN: What a copout!
Two, as the lawyers would say, if I did know, I can't tell you.
Three, if I did know and I told you, I would have to shoot you.
I can't go to that.
ZAHN: Can you answer this question, though: Do you have to be alive to land this cover?
ELLIOT: I'm relatively new at "TIME" magazine.
(CROSSTALK)
ELLIOT: I think it is fair to say that there are two views on this question.
ZAHN: You could be dead or alive.
ELLIOT: There are some who say you have to be alive, but I've heard, actually, just a few minutes ago, someone say that's not true. I don't think there ever has been a dead person on the cover.
ZAHN: Who is your nominee?
LOWRY: Maybe I'm too cynical, but I think the bin Laden stuff has just been flirtation with publicity. Forgive me, Michael, I know that's too dark of you. But I think Bush is an obvious candidate. My other two ones would be men in uniform, whether it's firemen, cops, Marines, and Special Forces guys. But I think a dark horse candidate would be Don Rumsfeld, who has been increasingly the public face of this war: He has had a brash common sense that, I think, really captures the cultural moment, and he is the secretary of Defense at a time when we're winning a war in a smashing way. So that's pretty good.
ZAHN: You are going to have to shell out -- how much is the magazine now? $1.50?
ELLIOT: You know, I never have to pay for it. Paula: Oh, man!
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Rich Lowry, Michael Elliot, thank you very much for your time, and Merry Christmas.
(CROSSTALK)
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