Are the media going overboard?

In the immediate wake of the early coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, many Americans are declaring that the media made far too much of the news. "It's his private life," they say; or, "As long as he's doing a good job, it doesn't matter how many women he sleeps with."

Even the media, after the first big rush of news, began doing a "mea culpa" that questioned how fast and how recklessly they pursued the story. But surely journalists recognize that big stories require big coverage; they shouldn't get a case of the jitters the morning after.

As for consumers of the news who say, "It's none of our business," they need a reality-check. Before I believe any Catholics who said such a thing, I want them to answer "no" to most, if not all, of the following 20 questions:

1. Is it significant when a president is repeatedly accused of committing adultery?
2. Is it significant when those accusations form a pattern of misbehavior dating back 25 or more years?
3. Is compulsive sexual behavior a sign of mental instability?
4. Is it wrong to lie to your spouse?
5. Is it wrong for a leader to lie to the nation?
6. Is it wrong for a man or a woman to take an oath to tell the truth and then lie?
7. Is it wrong to tempt someone sexually?
8. Is it wrong to tempt a married man sexually?
9. Is it wrong for an employer to have sex, even consensually, with an intern?
10. Is it wrong for someone with enormous authority and power to risk blackmail?
11. Is it telling when a wife continually defends a husband who is accused of multiple affairs?
12. Should it concern citizens if dissembling becomes a modus vivendi for the nation's leadership?
13. If there is a deep-seated, well-funded right-wing conspiracy trying to remove the president in a bloodless coup, should the citizenry who elected him know about it?
14. Is your curiosity aroused when a man who says he is innocent cannot offer any concrete evidence of his innocence?
15. Should it concern Catholics when many of their fellow citizens make moral judgments based on "the end justifies the means"?
16. Does misbehavior by the most famous man in America affect children's ideas of morality?
17. Should civic leaders be held to looser standards than religious ones?
18. If a Catholic priest who is a great preacher and counselor has sex with a 21-year-old choir director in the rectory, would it bother you?
19. Is "everybody does it" an acceptable excuse for wrong-doing?
20. Have you discussed this case with anyone at work or home?

Big issues are involved in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and that merits big attention. Once it has been resolved, another big issue should be examined: Exactly when Americans decided that interest rates mattered more to them than morality.

(02-05-98)