I want to share some thoughts and ideas about the whole
Rep. Mark Foley scandal.
Investigative Journalism
ABC News'
outstanding investigative reporter Brian Ross has been the leading force on this story
from the start. Isn't that a strong endorsement of the importance of investigative journalism?
Could he have broken this story earlier? Yes. And so could other newsrooms if they would just invest more in journalists who have deep Rolodexes and who do not turn for the daily news churn. Give great journalists the time, resources, airtime/page space to do great work, and the public will respond.
Breaking News Between Broadcasts/Editions
ABC broke this story first in Ross' blog. On Tuesday, ABC released the newest IMs between Foley and a page online -- hours before the evening news.
Are you breaking news online or waiting until your normal news cycle?
Tuesday morning, I saw that ABC News was using its Web site to post an appeal -- "Do you have info about Foley's contact with pages? E-mail us via our secured server." (See image below.) It turns out that is exactly how ABC got enough information to run its stories. Pages contacted ABC via e-mail. Listen to this interview of Ross and CNN's Larry King, during which Ross explains how it happened.
Ross told King:
Larry, it began with messages coming over the Web site to us last Friday. Prior to that we had received the e-mails, which were tamer, not sexually explicit at all. We asked Foley about them last Thursday. He said it's just a case of being overly friendly.
We posted that on the ABC News Web site, The Blotter, and within hours we heard from former pages who said, "Foley is not telling the truth. Would you like to see some instant messages?"
And we got those, and on Friday afternoon, Maddy Sauer of my staff called the Foley office. They called back an hour later and said, "He is going to resign."
Note from Al: For the record,
this post on ABC.com from Sept. 28 (Thursday), appears to be the original story reported on this matter. It was a piece about Foley's Democratic opponent,
Tim Mahoney, who raised questions about Foley after Mahoney said he had been contacted by a former page who said he had been "freaked out" by an e-mail exchange with Foley.
This story raises a number of other questions for newsrooms to consider: How easy is it for viewers to give your newsrooms stories? How personally do you handle their tips and ideas?
Foley's Announcement Harmful to Gay Americans
Foley's
announcement (via his attorney) that he is gay, interlaced with
explanations of his mental/alcohol/sex abuse problems is harmful to other gay Americans. It solidifies a potential paranoia/prejudice/bias that gay people are sexual predators and pedophiles. (See this story from
the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about gay advocates pointing out the difference between sexual orientation and improper involvement with minors.)
It might interest you to see
that Web sites like the Southern Voice's and
Human Rights Campaign's have harshly condemned Foley.
The Washington Post, by the way,
did an interesting piece on how Foley, through the years, has denied publicly he was gay even though it "gradually became known within Washington and Florida political circles" that he was.
Imagine how hard it would be now for another person, especially a newcomer, to get elected after going public with his or her homosexuality. This is a story involving a single individual that has the potential to reinforce long-held beliefs and prejudices about entire groups of people.
Following the Money
Foley raised lots and lots of money. Don't take my word for it. Look for yourself. You can see in his campaign checkbook how he spent his campaign funds. He's held fundraisers at the Ritz-Carlton. He's also sent out lots of birthday cards.
You may also be interested to see the names of the other Republicans who have gotten contributions from Foley. They can't scramble fast enough now to give that money back, while some political action groups that have contributed are thinking about how to get their money back from Foley, too.
By the way, what will happen to the $2.8 million or so that he still has in his campaign chest? OpenSecrets.org explains the options-including keeping it:
A member leaving Congress with money left in the bank can transfer some or all of it to national, state or local political party committees, such as the NRCC. They can donate it to candidates, within federal limits, or return the donations to contributors. Leftover money can also go to charity.
Or Foley could argue to the
Federal Election Commission that his remaining cash should go toward his legal bills, which could be substantial as the FBI investigates whether his behavior violates any of the child exploitation laws that Foley championed in Congress. Officeholders can use campaign money to cover the expenses of holding office, but the connection between Foley's official duties and his behavior with former pages is tenuous. The FEC has allowed candidates to defend themselves from legal issues that could affect their campaigns, but Foley's political career is almost certainly over.
Which Records Are Public?
How public are e-mails and instant messages and how do they get stored on your computer? When you use AOL instant messaging, you can choose to store the IMs. To keep a record of everything discussed during an instant message or chat session, you can save a transcript of the conversation. To save your discussion, simply select "Save" under the "File" menu while still in the instant message or chat window. There is, by the way, no notification to the other person in the conversation that you have saved it. Click here to read more.
What, then, is a public record? Are e-mails on government computers open to public-record requests? On the state level, it all depends on the nature of the e-mail -- whether it is a private message or a message about public business. Some states see no difference -- it is all open. See this story from ZDNet.com.
Here is a state-by-state analysis of what constitutes a "public record." In many states, it makes no difference whether the record is on a computer or printed on paper in a file cabinet. By the way (and this is a little off the subject but really interesting), it is possible in some states for members of a governing body to be considered "holding a meeting" when they exchange e-mails with each other. It all depends on how much of an exchange is involved or whether actions are taken in the e-mails.
There is another question in this story, too, about whether we, as journalists, could successfully FOIA Foley's office e-mails. The answer? No, unless the e-mails wind up in a criminal/legal procedure and they make it into the public file that way. For example, if a congressional investigation surfaced the e-mails, then they could make it into the public file.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
ABC News' outstanding investigative reporter Brian Ross has been the...
