September Cooke Award Recipients Reply
Page Five
Two ABC reporters received the September
Janet Cooke Award for stories on Sen. Dan Quayle's background. Each,
however, reacted far differently to the honor.
In a letter to MediaWatch,
Nightline correspondent Judd Rose agreed "the depiction of
what I said and who I spoke with was, by and large, accurate," but
complained "the comments that I made to [MediaWatch]
on the phone were out of context and certainly not faithful to the
spirit of what I was saying."
Rose cited several examples before
concluding with this colorful rebuke: "Taking a quote out of
context is something that has happened before, and no doubt, will happen
again. But since you squeaky-clean watch-dogs at MediaWatch
are so concerned about our conduct, I wonder why you aren't more
conscious of your own... Again I'm flattered that your publication would
honor me with this dubious award. But forgive me, gentlemen. Having only
been in Washington for a bit under one year, I'm not as accustomed as
some of my colleagues to your narrow, neanderthal, and slanted
perception of what you see in the news media. Consider me
educated."
ABC News colleague John Martin noted what
he felt was one omission in our story, but felt the article was balanced
and fair: "I've just read your piece giving me the Janet Cooke
Award. While I don't relish receiving the award, and don't believe I
deserve it, I wanted you to know I felt you did a good job. You took the
time to ask my views; you obviously spoke with [former Indianapolis
News Editor M. Stanton] Evans at length; you attempted to assess
both sides; you included my side of the story. That's all a journalist
asks."
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