LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: SOMETIMES THE STORY IS LOST IN HOOPLA

Connie Chung, CBS television new anchor, has been pretty well thrashed for her handling of her interview last week with Newt Gingrich's mother. Even Dan Rather, Chung's on-air partner, stepped into the fray to assure America that Chung is a professional and has the highest ethical standards.

Despite those standards, Chung asked Mrs. Gingrich during an interview to be televised to whisper the answer to a question "between you and me." It seems everyone in journalism -- except the ethics-standard-bearing Rather -- agrees Chung made an off-the-record pact. Instead CBS used the whispered information to promote Chung's weekly program. By the way, the interview was taped several days before the network began using Mrs. Gingrich's remark to lure viewer. So much for news value.

In the end, how Chung and CBS handled the matter became a news story. And that is the issue I want to address, leaving aside for now the questions and judgments about the ethics involved.

So many times I hear grumbling from news sources. Their concern is that they often have important information to make public, but the news media instead will zero in on some point of secondary importance because it will make a better headline or catch the public's attention. This is not just a complaint of national news figures, although some of the most blatant examples can be found among Washington politicians.

Here is a scenario: Someone of national prominence wants to make a policy statement that could have an effect on how legislation of major importance will ultimately be perceived, both by a legislative body and by the public. So the speaker carefully prepares facts and figures or other pertinent information and selects a forum for releasing the data. Sometimes it is a press conference. Other times it is a speaking engagement before a large group.

The speech is delivered. The press is there to cover it. Listeners take in the information and begin to process it and draw some conclusions. Some people are persuaded or illuminated, while others aren't. Some of the information is worthy of widespread dissemination. Taxpayers, elected officials, movers and shakers beyond those within hearing of the speaker should have the information.

As the speaker leaves the lectern, reporters begin a bombardment of questions. Sometimes the questions are pertinent to the information just presented. But frequently the reporter has another agenda. To get something different or offbeat the reporter asks a question that has no bearing on the content of the just-delivered speech.

Bingo.

Before you know it, the airwaves and newsprint are full of clamor about the response to an offbeat question. And what about the important information the speaker wanted to share in the first place? It falls into the shadowlands. Sometimes it gets reported. Sometimes it evaporates into ether.

In the case of the talkative Mrs. Gingrich -- the interview reportedly lasted several hours -- you might wonder why what she has to say is of interest in the first place. Is this the sort of information-consuming people we have become? Are we really more interested in gossip than hard, cold facts?

Just one more thought: Reporters who ask hard questions are doing the news-consuming public a favor. People who give speeches and crank out press releases often do so to divert attention from the real issues. When reporters do their job well, they ask meaningful questions that have the potential to provide useful information. It is important to distinguish between the offbeat question of no consequence that will be used to promote a news organization and the get-to-the-heart-of-it question that brings to light significant facts.

Whatever you think about the ethics of Connie Chung and CBS after last week fiasco, remember this: She and the network did all of us a favor by focusing attention on reporting scruples. If the conversation around the water cooler or at the coffee group is about this, it was worth it.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.