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Tuesday 6 January 2009

Was this news that is fit to print?

The New York Times finally publishes its story about John McCain’s relationship with a female lobbyist today under the guise of a larger stroy about the dangers inherent in McCain’s campaign against the influence of lobbyists. There’s a bunch of stuff about the Keating Five, a scandal that McCain became ensnared in early in his political career, in the piece but the explosive part is about what kind of relationship McCain had with this lobbyist; The Times reports that some aides had become convinced it was ‘romantic’ and warned her off while trying to get McCain to keep his distance.

There is no smoking gun in the article and both McCain and the lobbyist deny any romantic relationship. The McCain camp is pushing back hard accusing the New York Times of adopting the journalistic standards of the National Enquirer and challenging it to produce evidence for its claims.

Politically, for McCain getting into a fight like this with the New York Times is going to help him rally conservatives, who view the paper much as many British conservatives view the BBC. While if The Times does not have more than it printed, it is hard to believe that this story will do that much harm to McCain. The real danger for him is if this story sets off a prolonged period of coverage on this topic but it seems like the backlash against the Times from other journalists is already on.

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