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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Katharine Graham Dead at 84

Aired July 17, 2001 - 20:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight: from Watergate to Chandra Levy: as journalism loses a towering figure, has it lost its way? She took over "The Washington Post" with little experience and helped make history. We'll remember Katharine Graham and speak with another towering figure in journalism, Walter Cronkite.

As the search for Chandra Levy intensifies, so has the media coverage. When is enough enough? I'll ask legendary broadcaster Hugh Downs and radio host and social commentator Michael Medved.

And stem cells often derived from human embryos may be the key to treatments for diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Should the U.S. government fund the research? Will the research encourage abortions? President Bush and Congress are squeezed by both sides.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Capitol Hill.

She may have been the most influential woman in American journalism ever. Today, former "Washington Post" publisher Katharine Graham died at the age of 84. She fell on a sidewalk over the weekend in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she had been attending a business conference. She suffered critical head injuries that required emergency surgery. Today Katharine Graham succumbed, and that's our top story.

Walter Cronkite, the legendary CBS anchorman and managing editor joins us now live for some perspective of Katharine Graham. Mr. Cronkite, thank you so much for joining us, and give us some perspective, please. How important was Mrs. Graham to American journalism?

WALTER CRONKITE, FORMER CBS ANCHOR: I'm having a very difficult time with the sound here. I cannot hear you at all well.

BLITZER: All right, let's try to fix that, I'm sorry about that, Mr. Cronkite. If you can hear me, give us some perspective, please, on how important Katharine Graham was to American journalism?

CRONKITE: Very important. As a publisher, she had the courage to let her editorial departments handle the news, and she did it exceedingly well. I'm having trouble. I'm trying to do something to improve the volume at this end.

BLITZER: All right, well, if you can hear me, if you can bare with me, Mr. Cronkite...

CRONKITE: Try it once more.

BLITZER: ... I will ask you specifically about Watergate. She gave the go-ahead to her reporters, her editors at "The Washington Post" to effectively take on Richard Nixon and the White House during Watergate. You of course, covered all of that as well. Give us your thoughts on what she did as a publisher of "The Washington Post" during Watergate?

CRONKITE: What Kay Graham did at that time was give complete support and with faith in her staff, let the editorial staff run with the story. She was under extreme economic and political pressure from the Nixon administration, and despite that she had the courage to stand up to their assaults and their threats to the economic health of "The Washington Post," and put her full faith in Bradlee and her staff, Woodward and Bernstein, in their reporting of this important story of an administration attempting to steal our democracy.

BLITZER: And as you know, she also was instrumental during a critical moment during the Vietnam War, when "The Washington Post," under her leadership, as well as "The New York Times," went ahead and defied the Pentagon and published the Pentagon Papers, as they were called, even though they were classified and even though the administration at that time warned that there would be irreparable harm to U.S. national security. The Supreme Court in 1971 later vindicated that decision. How important was that decision to publish the Pentagon Papers?

CRONKITE: Well, it established in the independence of newspaper and the American system of government. The -- she was threatened with legal action of dire sorts, but she understood that the newspaper, the freedom of the speech and press was paramount in the understanding of our government and its actions, and she supported that fully.

BLITZER: Walter Cronkite, thanks so much for joining us for your perspective, we really appreciate it.

Now more on the life and times of Katharine Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): She influenced a generation of journalists. During "The Washington Post's" aggressive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the early '70s, Katharine Graham set in motion the investigative reporting that has become a feature of today's news media.

As publisher of "The Washington Post," she came under enormous pressure when her then young and inexperienced reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, began detailing sensational allegations against President Richard Nixon and his top aides. The Nixon White House, backed by some of the most powerful members of Congress and the business community, hammered "The Post," questioning its credibility and motives.

For the newspaper, the stakes were enormous. But Mrs. Graham stood by her reporters and her editor, Ben Bradlee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHARINE GRAHAM, FORMER PUBLISHER, "WASHINGTON POST": I was checking with Ben all the time about our accuracy and our fairness and how did he know, and how did he know we weren't being misled.

BLITZER: Their reporting resulted in this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The same aggressive journalism occurred in 1971, when Rand corporation researcher Daniel Ellsberg leaked the classified Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War to "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post," both of which began publishing excerpts, despite government warnings of, quote, "immediate and irreparable harm to U.S. national security."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: It was my decision, and I thought, hearing the editors out and the reporters, that we really did have to go with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The Justice Department won a temporary restraining order from the U.S. district court ordering a halt to the publication. But on June 30, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a six-to-three decision, freed the newspapers to publish the documents.

Katharine Graham, dead today at 84.

In other news: here on Capitol Hill, Congressman Gary Condit, who's been linked romantically to Chandra Levy, was back on the job today. But back home in California, protesters called on him to give up his job. Meantime, police combed through two Washington parks, searching for clues to Levy's disappearance. Let's go live to CNN national correspondent Bob Franken in our Washington bureau for more -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as every day passes by with no trace of Chandra Levy, the police respond by almost daily expanding their investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Washington, D.C. police plan to release new details gleaned from Chandra Levy's computer the last time she logged on. ASSISTANT CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: But it had sites in California. It had some sites, newspapers, both here and in California. She surfed the Web for plane and train information, as well as newspapers and some government sites where congressional committees were meeting.

FRANKEN: One of the sites Levy visited on May 1, the day after she was last seen, was the House Agriculture Committee Web page. Congressman Gary Condit is a member of that committee, and 11 weeks after she disappeared, he was in attendance, trailed by his usual retinue these days of reporters and cameras.

REP. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-GA), AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE: When we get this kind of national media attention for a farm bill, I think it really says something. I can't imagine why else they are here.

FRANKEN: The media were there, of course, to get any pictures they could of the California congressman.

REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: Could you not achieve that without that money?

FRANKEN: Condit's handlers have had little success convincing the media that their focus should move away from the congressman, despite investigators' insistence that he is not a suspect in the former intern's disappearance.

The visible police focus for a second day seemed to be on the careful search of Rock Creek Park, an area not far from Levy's apartment. Police say that Levy browsed a Web site that included information about the Klingle Mansion area. But after combing the woods for eight hours, they found little, recovering only a box- cutting knife and a pair of men's athletic shoes with no expected link to Levy's disappearance.

A simultaneous search across town at Fort Dupont Park also turned up nothing. Investigators did say they have now received the raw data from the polygraph test that Condit took last week. That test was administered by an expert hired by Condit's team. The material has now been sent to the FBI for analysis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And police also tell us that the FBI has been asked to develop a psychological profile of Chandra Levy, in the hope that something about her personality might give them knowledge about her whereabouts -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bob, you say the police in Washington are preparing to release some additional information perhaps as early as tomorrow. Do we know anything specific about what information might be?

FRANKEN: Well, it's information they also gleaned from the computer information, for instance, about a restaurant that she might have gone to. What they are trying to do is get out as much information as they can about her activities in that period in the hope that somebody's memory is jogged.

BLITZER: Bob Franken in Washington, thank you very much.

And there are people missing all over the country, although as far we know they are not linked to members of Congress. Still, are the news media going overboard with their coverage of this one intern who is linked to a member of Congress?

To help us address that issue, I'm joined now from Phoenix by Hugh Downs, the noted broadcaster and journalist for more than six decades. He helped start NBC's "Tonight Show," hosted its "Today Show," and was the longtime co-host of ABC's "20/20."

And joining me from Seattle is Michael Medved, an author and film critic. He hosts a syndicated radio talk show and brings his social commentary to the newspaper "USA Today." Thanks to both of you for joining us.

And Mr. Downs, let me begin with you and ask the simple question: Are we going overboard in our coverage of this Chandra Levy story?

HUGH DOWNS, BROADCASTER: My answer to that, Wolf, is that no, we are not. And there's a good reason for that. I know sometimes we do. Sometimes we learn more than we care to know about something, because a news story sometimes can arrive at a self-igniting threshold and then it develops a life of its own that's almost out of control.

That's not the case here, because when you have people elected to high office who are in any way involved in something as sinister as the disappearance of somebody, it needs investigating and the public has a right to know what that investigation is finding out.

BLITZER: But I know that over the years you've expressed some concerns Mr. Downs about a deterioration of television news into what's called :tabloid news." You're not concerned about that in this case, though, are you?

DOWNS: I'm not, for this reason. Life has sensational things happen, and sensationalism that's manufactured just for the purpose of generating ratings or readership is not right. That's what the tabloid situation is. But there was a lot of sensationalism connected with John F. Kennedy's presidency, and you know, from Marilyn Monroe and other people. And it was not journalistically fashionable then to cover it quite the way we do now.

But I think this is something that needs to be reported on, and so far, in my experience, what I've seen and read, it has been covered quite properly by American journalism.

BLITZER: Michael Medved, I wand to read to you two e-mails that we received overnight on the decision by CBS News, the "CBS Evening News With Dan Rather," effectively over these many weeks not to touch the entire investigation of the missing Chandra Levy. One of these e- mails from Ray in Iowa says this: "Instead of a news channel, you have become the local tabloid. The majority of us normal people in your viewing audience hope you come to your senses. Until then, I guess I will have to watch CBS."

But Luetta in Indiana writes this: "I have watched CBS for years, but when they did not cover this important story, I changed to NBC and CNN coverage."

A question to you, Michael Medved: Is the "CBS Evening News With Dan Rather" correct in avoiding covering this story?

MICHAEL MEDVED, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Absolutely not. I agree very firmly with Mr. Downs. I think that Dan Rather, frankly, is being a pompous ass, and it's that simple. I mean, this is something with which the American people are justifiably fascinated.

This isn't Jenna Bush, all right, get cited for using a false ID. This is someone who's been elected to office, who is at least implicated in involvement in a potential murder.

And I'll tell you, a tabloid story would be the disappearance, the murder of Robert Blake's wife, because Robert Blake has never been elected to anything. He's not even a celebrity anymore.

This is an elected official. There may be a resignation from Congress. And if there is a resignation from Congress based upon suspicion and the investigation of a disappearing person, that is a legitimate news story and people are rightly fascinated with it.

BLITZER: But what about what's called the excess of the coverage? I know that we've hammered, we've been getting a lot of criticism at CNN, and I assume the other cable news networks have been getting a lot of criticism, for the -- for what has been called the excess of coverage, going overboard. Are we going overboard?

MEDVED: Well, occasionally you guys do, and I'll tell you one story where you went overboard. You kept pushing this story in our faces, you kept hitting it again and again and again even when there was no dead body, and that was the story of campaign finance reform.

That is a story that people don't care about. It impacts people's lives not it all. It frankly is an absolutely inside-the- Beltway story that seems to be driven by a media agenda.

Chandra Levy, on the other hand, has everything. It's classic tragedy: an older man and a younger woman. It's sex and potential murder. There is a mystery to it. I think that the story will start to taper off if there is no genuine news. But if we ever find the body or anything like that, that's news.

BLITZER: Well, Hugh Downs, let me bring you back into this discussion. We received one e-mail from a woman named Pam in Virginia. She writes this. She says: "The excess of media coverage has caused irreparable harm to Mr. Condit's reputation."

The question is this: If in the end it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Congressman Gary Condit had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy, we have in effect, though, caused irreparable harm to his reputation by publicizing all of his dirty linen.

DOWNS: Well, in a way it's unfair. You know, you've got to be innocent until proven guilty of something, and I don't think -- I don't think the excess coverage is going to hurt his reputation as much as the factual coverage of his duplicity at the beginning, when he denied the relationship. That probably was a tactical blunder.

And in defense of what CNN or anybody covering it is doing, if a televiewer sat for 12 hours in front of the thing, then it would be too much repetition. People don't get the news all the time, and as a result, you've got to repeat stories that are important to get across to the public.

BLITZER: I know, Hugh Downs, you've been a great admirer over these many years of Katharine Graham. She passed away today, as you know. If she were still here over these coming weeks and this coverage were to continue -- "The Washington Post" has been covering it very aggressively -- how do you think she would look at this -- at this coverage of the Chandra Levy investigation?

DOWNS: I can't speak for her, but I can tell you this: I firmly believe that whatever she did would be done with the journalistic coverage that she showed in "The Pentagon Papers" and in Watergate. And we'll really miss her. I got to know her a bit, and she was a delightful person as well as one hell of a journalist for our country. And that's -- that's a sad loss.

BLITZER: And what about you, Michael Medved? Katharine Graham, speak about her legacy to American journalism looking back over these many decades.

MEDVED: Her legacy is not just to American journalism. It's to Washington, D.C., because she not only oversaw the transformation of "The Washington Post" from basically being a small-town paper to being an international journal, she also oversaw the transition of Washington, D.C. from being sort of a provincial, Southern-style, small-town capital city to being this international capital that rivals Paris, London. It's as if we moved from the capital from Bonn to Berlin without actually having to physically move. She was part of that.

BLITZER: Do you have a final word, Hugh Downs, on what we should be careful about as we pursue this story in the weeks, perhaps months ahead?

DOWNS: I would say you're being careful about it, as far as I've seen so far, and that is not to put any slant on as regards people's demands that Condit resign. That seems unfair, and that is damaging to a reputation.

Until the investigation proceeds to a point where it really does produce some evidence that is damaging to him, which should be reported along with everything else, that's my only concern, is that somebody might slip into an editorial mode, and have it in for him or try to defend him unjustly, whichever. So far, what I've seen has been done pretty much down the middle. BLITZER: OK, Hugh Downs and Michael Medved, thanks to both of you for joining us. We appreciate it.

And could things get any worse for the FBI? How about the beleaguered bureau losing track of hundreds of guns and computers? And researchers and patients believe stem cells from human embryos could work wonders in treating diseases, but try telling that to parents who are raising children from adopted embryos. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

More trouble for the FBI tonight: an internal review has discovered that hundreds of firearms have been lost or stolen and close to 200 laptop computers are missing. Let's go live to CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena in our Washington bureau -- Kelli?

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's an another embarrassing admission for the FBI, which is already undergoing several reviews. 449 weapons, including machine guns, rifles and pistols are missing.

Also unaccounted for: 184 laptops. One of them contains classified information. And at least 3 others may as well.

The total span over an 11-year period, and an FBI official says the weapons were lost for a variety of reasons. Everything from agents retiring and never turning in their weapons, to guns being stolen out of agent's vehicles.

As for the laptops, 13 were stolen, the rest have been accounted for, the rest may have been discarded because they were outdated. The problem is paperwork was never properly filled out.

This is not the first time inventory has been missing. But the figures are the result of an extensive four-week search by the FBI in response to questions from Congress and others. Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked for a department-wide review of inventory wide controls, which will cover not only the FBI but agencies such as the DEA and the Bureau of Prisons.

The missing inventory is likely to be a hot topic of discussion for the Senate Judiciary Committee. It had previously scheduled a hearing for tomorrow, on FBI oversight. Members of Congress have grown increasingly concerned about what they call FBI mismanagement, in the wake of the Robert Hanssen spy saga, the missing Timothy McVeigh document fiasco -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli Arena in Washington, thank you very much.

Here on Capitol Hill, the debate over stem cell research intensifies just as President Bush prepares to make a controversial decision on federal funding for research using human embryos. Researchers believe stem cells can be used to create treatments for Alzeimer's, Parkinson's, and other conditions. The federal government's own national health institutes of health, in a report to be issued tomorrow, argues against barriers to embryonic stem cell human embryos, saying they hold clear advantage in research.

Meantime, families on both sides of the issue, stepped up the pressure on Congress today. More on that now from CNN Congressional correspondent Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John and Lucinda Borden adopted their 9-month-old twins, but not at birth. Two years ago, the Bordens went through an agency and adopted frozen embryos. Three were implanted in Lucinda, and Luke and Mark were born. The Bordens are emphatic about their views that using embryos for stem cell research is ethically wrong, a point John Borden made passionately to a House panel.

JOHN BORDEN, ADOPTIVE FATHER: And I would like to ask every member of this committee, especially the members that aren't here. And that question is: Which one of my children would you kill?

SNOW: But proponents of embryonic stem cell research say there are thousands of frozen embryos in fertility clinics around the nation that would never be adopted.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: The reality today is that each year, thousands of embryos are routinely destroyed. Why shouldn't these embryos slated for destruction be used for the good of mankind?

SNOW: And their side has a human face as well. Twelve-year-old Mollie and Jackie Singer skipped a vacation to attend a press conference in Washington. Mollie has juvenile diabetes. She says research on stem cells offers promise for a cure.

MOLLIE SINGER, JUVENILE DIABETES PATIENT: So far, I have had 21,000 shots and 28,000 finger pokes. At age 5, I had open heart surgery, which made it harder because of my diabetes. Because of all of the problems I've had, I worry about my future and I don't want Jackie or anyone to go through what I've been through.

SNOW: The ethics are as complex as the politics. Some of the most adamant anti-abortion forces here on Capitol Hill are actually in favor of embryonic stem cell research. If the president decides to block federal funding for that research, they say they'll use legislation to try to restore it.

Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Moving to the gas pump, the federal government is considering a move to require better gas mileage for all U.S.-made vehicles, including light trucks and SUVs. The change would mean a 7 to 58 percent boost in efficiency for all vehicles, and an 8 to 11 miles-per-gallon boost for light trucks and SUVs. A testing group finds safety problems with the country's top selling minivan. The 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan has received the lowest crash-test rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It found an intrusion in the foot well, and after one crash test, there was a fuel leak. The company says it has no plans for a recall, but models made after July 6th, and 2002 model Caravans, have been redesigned.

It's been grounded for a year, since a terrible crash near Paris. Ahead on the "Leading Edge", the latest on efforts to get the Concorde back in the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight on the "Leading Edge," the world's only supersonic passenger jet was back in action today. The Concorde made its first supersonic test flight since being grounded after last year's crash near Paris. The modified British Airways plane took off from London, looped north near Iceland, then landed in Central England.

The IRS blames a computer glitch for a mistake that might upset hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. It incorrectly promised tax refunds larger than people will actually receive. 523,000 taxpayers received the letters. The IRS says the actual checks will be the correct amount.

Please stay with CNN throughout the night. Mike Wallace, Barbara Walters and Nancy Reagan pay tribute to Katharine Graham on "LARRY KING LIVE" at the top of the hour.

Up next, "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN."

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