«--Previous Post | Blog Index | Next Post--»

What Was Jeff Gerth Thinking?

The new right-wing movie about Hillary Clinton ("Hillary: The Movie") is generally populated with all the usual suspects: Dick Morris, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich and other conservative commentators, along with a couple of convicted felons, none of whom have anything nice to say about the senator. One headliner, though, is not like the others: Former New York Times reporter Jeff Gerth. The Pulitzer-Prizing wining Gerth is not a pundit, and in his 30-year-career at the Times, he says he never even did so much as a radio interview about his work. But there he is, on the big screen with Ann Coulter in a film created by a conservative group known for playing dirty.

Gerth's comments are mostly limited to material from his new book on Hillary, such as observations about her attempts to redefine herself. But it's clear that the filmmakers are psyched to have someone from the mainstream media participating in the project to offset its heavy reliance on felons as sources. They've even used Gerth's interview in an ad for the film, which is now at the center of a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission. All in all, it does beg the question: What was Gerth thinking?

Posted by Stephanie Mencimer on 01/16/08 at 12:33 PM | Comments (0) | Email | Print

 facebook