An Inclusive Litany

6/16/97

National Public Radio White House reporter Mara Liasson on "Fox News Sunday," June 1, 1997, reacting to the news that Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY) would be leaving Congress for a position at CBS:
Well, I think it's disturbing. I mean, she is not going to be a commentator or a part of a show where she's clearly identified with her partisan point of view—she's going to be an anchor. And I think it means, it sends the message that there's no such thing as journalism anymore. It's all just about celebrity-hood and name recognition and I think it's, I think it's disturbing.
NPR's Nina Totenberg, "Inside Washington," May 31, 1997:
Well, this really makes me want to puke. You know, at least CBS had the decency, when they hired Diane Sawyer from the Nixon White House, to make her go out and stand in the rain for a year or so, to earn her position... it really, it just makes me want to throw up.
In criticizing Molinari's partisanship, neither Liasson nor Totenberg noted that the current and previous two Presidents of National Public Radio had been active in the Democratic Party. In fact, when Bill Clinton was first elected, the NPR President at the time jumped to a position in the new administration.