The Los Angeles Times decided Thursday that allegations from six women claiming that California gubernatorial front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger groped them was front-page news.
But four years ago the paper could barely bring itself to report a far more serious rape accusation against then-President Bill Clinton – and later banned mention of the episode from its editorial page.
The Times dived right into the Schwarzenegger allegations, some decades old, reporting in often disgusting detail alleged comments and physical interaction between the former action star and several women who say they were left humiliated but not injured.
But when the Times covered Juanita Broaddrick's account of a brutal sexual attack that she said left her bruised and bleeding, the paper led with denials from Clinton's lawyer.
Even then, Los Angelenos had to turn to page 16 to read about the bombshell development, which began:
"President Clinton's spokesman and his personal attorney on Friday denied a published account in which an Arkansas woman, Juanita Broaddrick, contends she was sexually assaulted by Clinton 20 years ago while he was the state's attorney general."
A denial issued by Schwarzenegger's spokesman, however, didn't appear till the 10th paragraph of today's report.
Two years after the Broaddrick story exploded, the L.A. Times had ceased downplaying the news – and instead decided to censor it altogether from a column by George Will.
"It is reasonable to believe that [Clinton] was a rapist 15 years before becoming president," Will wrote, assessing Clinton's merit as president.
A few days later the L.A. Times ran a letter from Will complaining about the censorship.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
California Governor's Race
Clinton Scandals
Media Bias
Editor's note:
Gerald Posner reveals how Bill Clinton could have prevented 9/11 – Click here for details!
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