In an article by the San Francisco's Chronicle's Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross – the paper's investigative-reporter-version of Batman and Robin – the pen-capped crusaders bravely tackle the latest scourge to hit the City by the Bay: Are Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife Kimberly Guilfoye Newsom dating, even though they announced plans to divorce?
Heady stuff, I know. And while I am usually a fan of soft news (if the New York Times wants to run an article about stuffed animals tied onto truck grilles and blabber on about "found art" then they have every right to), sending two seasoned investigative reporters on an Us Weekly style mission is a low point for the paper. It is generally acknowledged that a public official loses a certain amount of privacy when he's elected to office, but that doesn't necessarily grant a reputable news organization free license to report such things as:
Then there was the mayor's on-camera interview with KPIX Channel 5's Mike Sugerman a few days before the royals arrived. Sugerman asked Newsom, who has been going out with other women, whether he had a date for the upcoming Prince Charles bash at "Beach Blanket Babylon." "He just started blushing and went to mush," Sugerman said.
Or, in the closest thing to a nut graph in the article:
Confused? Don't be -- such ambiguities are pretty much par for the course with the two. Sometimes they stay together, sometimes they don't.
The status of the mayor's matrimony isn't a scandal analogous to the Monica Lewinsky affair, nor does it affect public policy in any way. And, semantically, is a scandal a scandal if nobody is hiding anything? Both Newsoms opened up about their private lives to the Chronicle, despite having every right to decline to.
Rather than breaking any real news, Matier and Ross' article desperately tries to create news when there isn't any. A ploy to sell papers? Who knows. But in the end, the Chronicle should send its investigative reporters on assignments that actually need investigating: corruption, government, taxes, the environment, unions, public education, social services …
willemmarx @ November 16, 2005 - 4:03pm
When I read that story about bumper decorations, I felt rather sorry for the reporter assigned to the story, but there is something rather amusing about the "Stewie" doll being tied to some guy's truck grille.
This all looks like another example of the "dumbing-down" of broadsheet news, and a big waste of investigative talent...perhaps it was the impending arrival of the Royal couple which drove them to plumb such gossipy depths.
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