Ten Years Ago... Gingrich Attacks Press as Out of Touch

GINGRICH ATTACKS PRESS AS OUT OF TOUCH
[SOURCE: New York Times 4/23/1997, AUTHOR: Kevin Sack]
Ten years ago, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), who was facing heavy criticism in the press of his ethics record, leveled a brief but blistering attack on the news media and suggested that advertisers should use their financial clout to demand change. Speaking to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, he complained that it had been difficult for the Republican majority in Congress to convey its themes of individual liberty and limited government. ''It's very hard to communicate that partly because the media, which all of you control with your advertising, doesn't have a clue what we're doing and they don't slow down and pay attention to it and they have editorial boards that are as baroque and out of touch as some tenured faculties,'' said Mr. Gingrich, a former college professor. ''I would say to all of you, the responsibility for a news media that can't report accurately how the world works rests on those who pay for it, and that's the advertisers,'' he continued. ''And I'm not talking about bias. I'm talking about rethinking the whole style of the newsroom and rethinking what we cover. If Thomas Edison invented the electric light today, it would be reported on the evening news that the candle-making industry was threatened. Ralph Nader would announce a lawsuit on behalf of poor people who might get electrocuted. And the candle workers union would have at least two senators introduce a bill to block electricity on behalf of their industry.''
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