THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505200054
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
JOSH, WHO IS 12, should have been studying, playing ball in the park or rolling on the floor with his dog.
But he wasn't because he is special.
Special in the worst sort of way. His dad is Terry Nichols. Yep, that's him - the man charged with the Oklahoma City bombing.
So there Josh was on network television, a frightened kid being exploited by his mother and a television program called ``PrimeTime Live.''
Beautiful.
If you thought Connie Chung hit a new low during her interview with Newt Gingrich's mom, you should have caught Diane Sawyer last Wednesday evening. It is the kind of reporting that gives all journalism - electronic or print - a bad name.
She got right to the point. ``Do you think your dad did it or not, Josh? Was he involved or not?''
Great. What kind of question is that to ask a 12-year-old who will - barring a miracle - be scarred the rest of his life because of his father's notoriety - whether he was part of the Oklahoma City bombing or not?
Homer Bigart, The New York Times reporter, got it right. Bigart, who once found himself in a Korean foxhole with other journalists, proclaimed, after plucking a louse from his head: ``Gentlemen, ours is a very low profession.''
Sawyer brought it about as low as it gets with her interview of last Wednesday.
Easy enough for me to say. After all, I don't have an audience of millions that has to be entertained once a week the way Sawyer does. But I flatter myself by believing I'd have walked away from that interview with Josh.
You can almost hear the pitch she got from the producer or whomever: ``Look, Diane baby, the boy's mother, who is Nichols' ex, is coming on the show with him, right? She knows what's best for the kid. We do interviews. The kid's mother says it's OK. So interview him.''
To show what fair and sensitive people work on ``PrimeTime Live,'' Sawyer told the viewing audience they had promised Josh's mother not to show his face. ``And we're keeping our promise,'' she said, ever so piously.
Then she asked the question: ``Do you think your dad did it or not, Josh? Was he involved or not?''
And Josh, frightened, answered: ``Well, you're asking the wrong person, you know. I mean, I'm his son, you know. Of course, I say no. But no, I don't think he did it.''
Isn't it amazing how Sawyer's penetrating question added a new dimension to our understanding of his father and enriched our knowledge of the bombing episode?
A couple of questions she should have asked before Josh went on camera were: ``Why toss this innocent kid before the public like a piece of raw meat? Are we professionals with standards or predatory animals?''
It is supremely ironic that a shy - and no doubt confused - kid who has no knowledge of television news or newsmagazines should have come right to the point in instructing his proven inferiors.
``You are asking the wrong person, you know. . . . ''
No, Josh. They didn't know. God help them. ILLUSTRATION: Diane Sawyer
by CNB