Kerrey's Story Takes the Slow Route

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Thursday April 26 10:27 PM EDT (via yahoo)

Kerrey's Story Takes Slow Route

By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Bob Kerrey's role in a deadly attack in Vietnam lay dormant
for decades. He had run for office three times in Nebraska and it didn't
come out. He sought the White House and, still, it wasn't disclosed.

Then, with a story years in preparation about to become public, the news
broke this week with a ferocity fueled by a competitive 24-hour news cycle
that didn't exist three decades ago.

One news organization, Newsweek, had taken a pass on the story in its early
stages. And the two news organizations that devoted time and resources to
its preparation found themselves scooped on their own story.

Just days before The New York Times and CBS News were to release their own,
critical account of Kerrey's role, the former senator told his version to
newspapers in New York and his home state of Nebraska.

Kerrey said the Navy SEALS team he led killed civilians in a 1969 firefight,
but that they were fired on first and did not know of the civilian
casualties until the shooting stopped. One squad member, Gerhard Klann, told
"60 Minutes II" and the Times that the victims were herded into a group
and then massacred.

Political strategists said Thursday that Kerrey, now president of the New
School University in New York, employed the first rule of crisis management
in public relations - get in front of the story, get your side out and
create some sympathy.

"This way, he's able to create his own explanation for what happened and
protect himself," said Hank Scheinkopf, who worked on President Clinton's
successful re-election campaign.

Kerrey insisted Thursday that there was nothing calculated about the timing.
"I was not trying to pre-empt the story," he said at a news conference.

Nevertheless, reporters already had their fingerprints on it.

The Times has a story coming up this weekend in its magazine that veteran
defense reporter Gregory Vistica has been working on since 1998.

After Kerrey's version of events appeared Wednesday in The Wall Street
Journal and the Omaha-World Herald, the Times took the unusual step of
posting its story several days in advance on its Web site.

Bill Keller, the Times' managing editor, said that "pretty rare" decision
was made Wednesday morning, after the Wall Street Journal and Omaha stories
were published.

"We figured if Senator Kerrey was going public with his version of the
events back in the Mekong Delta, people ought to see what he was talking
about," Keller said.

CBS News worked with the Times on the story and planned to air its own piece
Tuesday on "60 Minutes II." When Kerrey's account appeared Wednesday, it
hustled out a partial transcript to media organizations.

Newsweek magazine, which balked at breaking the Monica Lewinsky story three
years ago, decided in 1999 against running a story about Kerrey's
involvement in the killing of the women and children.

Editor Mark Whitaker told The Associated Press that Vistica's work was not
published at the time because many of the details "were still very murky."

"It was a 'fog of war' situation much more than any type of civilian
massacre," Whitaker said. "He did not deny it. It was clear something had
happened, which is why we told Vistica to keep pursuing it."

Vistica left Newsweek and continued to work on the story for two more years,
Whitaker said.

Vistica, who could not be reached Thursday, wrote the Times magazine article
and was co-producer of the "60 Minutes II" piece.

 
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