Remember the major headlines and media buzz in March when it was alleged that Richard Perle, then chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, had engaged in ethics violations?
At the time, media reports suggested that Perle was benefiting from private business deals while holding an advisory position at the Pentagon.
The media stir led to an investigation of Perle by the Pentagon's Inspector General Joseph Schmitz.
Well, in his report released on Nov. 15, Schmitz said, "We found
insufficient basis to conclude that Mr. Perle created the appearance of
impropriety from the perspective of a reasonable person."
The IG also noted that Perle's business associations "consisted of general commentary on the world situation ... and did not include information acquired by virtue of his position" on the Defense Policy Board.
Where are the media reports about Perle being cleared?
Of the 40-plus stories (a paltry number considering all the bad press Perle received in March) listed in the Lexis-Nexis database that appeared in the press in the four days immediately following Perle’s exoneration, less than half bothered to mention that he was cleared of all charges.
In fact, in several places – particularly in Canadian publications and in Financial Investor and European Intelligence Wire – articles mention the accusations but not the dismissal.
One item that did come to Perle’s defense appeared in the Letters to the Editor section of the New York Times, that great American bastion of journalistic ethics:
"Your grudging and complex news article about the outcome of the Pentagon inspector general’s investigation of Richard N. Perle’s conduct as a member of the Defense Policy Board (Report Finds No Violations at Pentagon by Adviser, Nov. 15) lacks the one word describing Mr. Perle that would have made a trip through these labyrinthine regulations intelligible to most readers: 'vindicated.'”
That letter came from a reader in Chevy Chase, Md., who was a member of the Clinton administration: R. James Woolsey, the director of central intelligence from 1993 to 1995.
Perle’s exculpation does not negate the victory for his enemies, however. Though still an advisory member of the DPB, Perle resigned as chairman in March, after the smear job began.
Of course, the press filed hundreds of stories on Perle’s alleged "misdeeds” and the charges levied against him prior to his vindication.
A 48-word editorial in the Wall Street Journal did note: "One obligation of editors is to distinguish phony political scandal from the genuine article. On that standard, any number of writers and editors owe Richard Perle an apology.”
Editor's note:
CBS whistleblower Bernard Goldberg exposes the media's biased bigots in "Arrogance."
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Media Bias
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