I mean literally. Hookers from Heidi Fleiss to Deborah Paltrey are an irresistable temptation for crusading journalists looking for exploitation, sanctimony and hypocrisy.
All the other news outlets were jealous over ABC’s apparent ownership of the Deborah Palfrey escort service story, and were quick to attack when the much-teased story fizzled out. Even a former stripper piled on.
Howard Kurtz led Sunday’s Reliable Sources with “The Network and the Madam.” Almost breathless, he said “ABC’s Brian Ross names some of the clients of Deborah Jean Palfrey’s Washington escort service—but only a few…Did ABC show restraint, or invade the men’s privacy and indulge in a tawdry tale for sweeps week?”
Kurtz and his guests concluded it was all a tease. They showed tape of Ross on 20/20 looking disappointed that even with 46 pounds of phone records, “We couldn’t find any members of Congress or White House staffers. Most of these people just aren’t newsworthy.”
“There was pandering in both the legal sense and the media sense,” said Kurtz guest Mark Feldstein, a professor of journalism at George Washington. ”News media is there to make a profit. Sex sells. The very first newspaper in the U.S. did a sexpose in 1690 and got shut down very soon thereafter.”
Yes, sex sells in the media (just ask Paris) but it’s not all a winking, laughing matter. State Department official Randall Tobias’ career is over, and the scandal may already have help kill someone.
