All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Mark your calendars: On May 4th – Friday – ABC's "20/20" will air a report on Deborah Jeane Palfrey and her clients. Palfrey is better known as the "D.C. Madam," and she has apparently run an escort service in the D.C. area for more than a decade. She has also reportedly handed her client list over to ABC News – a list that includes "people…at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers — a long, long list," according to Brian Ross.

And then there's "the women who work for the service [who] include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers." Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias has already resigned after being identified as a customer of the service.

It's important to note that Palfrey, who is under indictment and has vowed to call her clients at trial if necessary, insists that the service was legal. "She says it wasn’t prostitution, it was fantasy sex, legal sex," according to Ross. Which raises the question: If that's the case – admittedly a big if – is it our business?

Howard Kurtz put the question to Ross on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." "If a government official pays for this kind of service personally and has nothing to do with his job," he asked, "is there at least an argument that it's not news worthy and shouldn't be reported?"

Said Ross: "Well, I think there -- I think it is news worthy that there is this indictment. It's part of a Bush administration effort under the Department of Justice to crack down on prostitution and this is part of it. Tobias in particular, given his role as spearheading the Bush administration effort overseas to crack down on prostitution, seemed to us to be news worthy."

The last part of that argument has to do with hypocrisy – a concept that also pops up in the response to all this from liberal blogger Duncan Black.

"Let me say now that to the extent that this is consensual, legal, and doesn't involve gross hypocrisy of public figures and the agenda they advocate it's none of our business," he writes. "To the extent that such qualifications are met I hope it doesn't become our business."

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Blogs might not be making traditional news outlets obsolete, but the unfolding scandal surrounding Rep. Mark Foley has demonstrated that they are playing a pretty significant role in advancing stories. In this case especially, it was a mainstream outlet’s blog post that set in motion what is becoming one of the most explosive political sagas of the midterm election season.

While the initial "overly friendly" e-mails between Foley and a former congressional page first appeared on an anonymous blog, stopsexpredators.blogspot.com, ABC News’ Brian Ross later reported them not on television, but on his blog at ABCNews.com, The Blotter.

And it was the initial blog post that ended up significantly advancing the story—once it was posted, other former pages contacted Ross and shared several overtly sexual instant messages from Foley that led to his resignation. (More messages continue to surface and be posted on Ross’ blog.)

Howard Kurtz reported yesterday that Ross "says the Internet made the story possible, because on Thursday he posted a story on his ABC Web page, the Blotter, after obtaining one milder e-mail that Foley had sent a 16-year-old page, asking for a picture. Within two hours, former pages had e-mailed Ross and provided the salacious messages. The only question then, says Ross, was 'whether this could be authenticated.'"

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Washington Post media watcher Howard Kurtz digs into the controversy over a report by ABC News’ Brian Ross that has brought denials and denunciations from House Speaker Dennis Hastert. On Wednesday, Ross reported that the investigation revolving around convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff included Hastert (see here for the tick-tock on the reporting and denials). The Justice Department has denied the story and Hastert has asked for a retraction. Kurtz interviewed Ross, who said of the report:

I think our story is accurate. We've gone back to our sources, and they believe what we reported was accurate as they knew it. There seems to be some disconnect between what the congressman thinks, what the Justice Department thinks and what the FBI thinks. . . . There may be a semantics issue here as to what constitutes being under investigation.

On ABC’s “World News Tonight” and on the network’s Web site Ross is standing by the story. Here’s what Ross reported knowing last night:

That the FBI interrogation of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff included specific and repeated questions about his relationship with Speaker Hastert along with other members of Congress.

That, although Hastert is not a formal target, the FBI has been looking into a letter Hastert and others sent to the Secretary of the Interior urging her to block an Indian casino that would have competed with casinos represented by Abramoff.

That a few days before the letter was sent, Abramoff hosted a fundraiser for Hastert at a restaurant he owned.

Ross noted that Hastert yesterday indicated to WGN radio in Chicago that the report might be part of an effort on the part of the FBI to “intimidate people” after the Speaker’s denunciation of the agency’s raid of Democratic Congressman William Jefferson’s office last week. Ross was also careful both in reporting the story and speaking to Kurtz to emphasize that any investigation may end up determining no wrongdoing, telling The Post it “could wash out and be nothing.” Stay tuned.

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We discovered a couple weeks ago how carefully-parsed reporting and statements can lead to confusion about a story like the USA Today’s report on the still-fuzzy NSA phone database program. A report yesterday by ABC News’s Brian Ross is another example in the science of story explanation. It all kicked off yesterday at 6:24pm, when this was posted on ABC’s blog-like “Blotter”:

Federal officials say the Congressional bribery investigation now includes Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, based on information from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.

Minutes later, on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” anchor Elizabeth Vargas led the broadcast saying: “Tonight, Justice Department sources tell us the investigation involving a convicted lobbyist and allegations of bribery leads to the highest level of Congress.” Vargas introduced the story, saying the case “has led investigators to some of the most powerful members of Congress, namely the man second in line for the presidency after the vice president.”

On the broadcast, Ross reported: “Justice Department officials describe the 64-year old Illinois Republican as very much in the mix of the corruption investigation.”

At the end of his report, Ross added: “This is an investigation clearly at the very beginning. The allegations could well prove unfounded. But what is clear from all this is that the FBI intends to take this case wherever it goes.” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos appeared on the broadcast to provide analysis on the story and cautioned that some “quid-pro-quo” arrangement would have to be proven for anything to come of this part of the investigation. He also noted that there are 33 members of Congress who wrote letters to the Interior Secretary and received similar contributions.

While all this was going on, the Justice Department was busy denying the story, releasing a statement saying simply: “Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department.”

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