Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jan 2000
Source: Tennessean, The (TN)
Copyright: 2000 The Tennessean
Contact:  1100 Broadway, Nashville TN 37203
Fax: (615) 726-8928
Website: http://www.tennessean.com/
Author: David Green, Managing Editor

A NOTE TO 'TENNESSEAN' READERS ABOUT OUR GORE COVERAGE

The story that began on the front page today about Al Gore's use of
marijuana years ago is strewn with complications for The Tennessean and its
staff.

Because those complications might raise questions in some readers' minds
about the fairness of the newspaper's reporting, we are going to go to
unusual lengths in this article to explain the complications and how we
dealt with them.

The front page story details allegations by a former Tennessean reporter
that Vice President Al Gore Jr. was a much heavier marijuana user than he
has publicly admitted and that Gore tried to cover this up while running
for the presidency in the 1980s.

When those allegations first surfaced on the Internet last Thursday, I
began discussing the complications with the newspaper's projects editor,
Robert Sherborne. Here they are:

* Some of the alleged marijuana smoking went on while Gore was a writer for
The Tennessean in the 1970s.

* A number of Gore's friends from that time remain on the staff today,
including Frank Sutherland, who is the chief editor of this newspaper and
my boss. Frank and his wife, Natilee, remain close personal friends with
Gore and his wife, Tipper.

* Another of Tipper Gore's close friends both then and now, photo desk
editor Nancy Rhoda, also remains on our staff. Rhoda is the ex-wife of John
Warnecke, who is making the allegations against Gore.

* There is a perception by some of our readers that because of Gore's ties
to the newspaper, we cannot be relied upon to deliver impartial coverage of
the vice president.

* There is concern by some readers and journalists alike that allegations
made against politicians on the Web or in the supermarket tabloids are
finding their way into the mainstream media without the usual scrutiny. In
other words, there is a worry that fear of competition is driving the
mainstream media to publish things it ordinarily wouldn't.

It was clear we would be walking a fine line on this story.

On the one hand, the allegations deserved our serious attention. If true,
they would cast doubt on the vice president's credibility and could become
an issue in his campaign for president. And if we failed to report fully on
them, we would be accused of covering up for Gore.

On the other hand, we wanted to be as fair to Gore as we would be to anyone
else in his position. It is certainly true that Al Gore should not receive
unduly sympathetic coverage in this newspaper just because he used to work
here. But it is also true that he should not be penalized for that
association by having us go extra hard on him just to prove we are impartial.

So we took the obvious step and assigned three reporters, Jay Hamburg,
Laura Frank and Sheila Wissner, to investigate Warnecke's allegations. They
were selected not only because they are among our best, but also because
they were not here when Al Gore was with The Tennessean. I assigned
Sherborne to supervise the story for the same reasons.

I called Frank Sutherland, the editor of the paper, to inform him that the
story had appeared on the Web. Before I got into the details of the Web
article, we agreed that it was best for him to step away from any
involvement with our pursuit of the story and leave the decisions to me. As
managing editor, I am in charge of the day-to-day operations of the news
departments other than the editorial pages. I also came here after Gore left.

Here is where we found ourselves after four days of reporting, including
interviews with Warnecke and more than three dozen current and past staff
members, among them Frank Sutherland: We had no confirmation of what
Warnecke said. We had no definitive disproof either.

We asked ourselves what we would do if this story were about another
candidate with no connections to the newspaper. The answer was that the
information was not strong enough to publish.

We then asked ourselves what we would do if the story started to appear in
other mainstream news outlets. The answer was that we would use the
information, but be sure to include a great deal of context and
explanation, such as the article you are now reading. The reason for
publishing under those circumstances was this: If other mainstream media
outlets ran the story and we didn't, our readers could draw the conclusion
that we were covering for Gore.

Yesterday, a story about the issue appeared on the Associated Press news
service, which feeds virtually every daily newspaper and TV station in the
country. A reporter had asked Gore about the allegations during a campaign
appearance in Iowa, and the vice president denied them.

We then finalized the articles you are reading today. Sutherland did not
read them before publication.

And one final note: Covering Al Gore no doubt will present us with other
complicated issues as the campaign progresses. We will do our best to be as
fair and aboveboard as we possibly can.
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