Big chill for U.S. deterrent measures.(Commentary)

0 Comments | Washington Times, The, September, 1999 | by Gaffney, Frank J., Jr.

News Item: "A senior Energy Department official and his wife, one of the lead attorneys involved in the Karen Silkwood case, were arrested this week on charges of growing and possessing marijuana." The Washington Post, Sept. 4, 1999. The revelation that a political appointee in the Clinton Energy Department, Robert Jason Alvarez, was busted for pot was considered to be of sufficiently little news value that The Post ran the story in its Metro section on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

In such coverage as it gave the matter, moreover, priority was given to the fact Mr. Alvarez was subsequently fired from his position as a senior policy adviser in charge of environmental safety and health. One might be forgiven for thinking it should be newsworthy that...