My former colleagues played like a drum

A jury in Washington today convicted Igmar Guandique, 29, of murdering Chandra Levy in 2001. Now, will my former colleagues in the news business apologize to former U.S. Representative Gary Condit.
It's a story that has faded into the background. After Levy disappeared in 2001, her parents played the press like a drum by pointing the finger at Condit, a California Democrat. The theory was that Condit had an affair and disposed of the evidence. Her family asserted that Condit wasn't being forthcoming with the authorities.
Well, it wasn't true.
But that didn't make much difference to a lot of editors and reporters who dogged him for months. The story didn't really fall off the radar screen until 9/11. Predictably, Condit lost his re-election bid and his life was career went down the toilet. For a while, he ran an ice cream franchise but that went out of business. Now, he describes himself as retired.
When Condit testified in Guandique's trial this month, he continued to refuse to admit he had an affair with the 24-year-old former government intern. He said his refusal was on principle.
I don't blame Levy's parents for doing everything they could to drum up interest in their daughter's disappearance. I have a daughter and probably would think about doing the same thing. But that is no excuse for those editors and reporters who took up the banner for them and dragged Condit through the mud.
At worst, Condit had an affair with an adult woman who was about half his age. If every member of Congress -- or for that matter, every business executive or lawyer or judge or anything else -- was on the front pages for this kind of relationship, Washington would be a much emptier place.
We forget that when President Clinton was impeached for an affair with a White House intern, several Republican members of Congress leading the charge resigned from Congress after their similar affairs were outed.
Reporters and editors are supposed to keep things in perspective and not trash someone's reputation without proof. It's just wrong.
I spent 15 years as a reporter at the Houston Chronicle and looking back, I can see it is easy to forget that when I wrote a story, I was telling it to a half million people. It's easy for reporters and editors to go for the cheap story but they should remember that they are dealing with people's lives.
Yes, the Condit case also involved a bungled police investigation. But the focus on Condit allowed Guandique to hide in plain site until he went to prison a few years later for attacking young women in the park where Levy's body was found a year after her disappearance.
So, the long and short of it is that Levy's parents played the press with their speculation about Condit's involvement in their daughter's disappearance. And the press went along with it. They had a good story, even without the facts to back it up.
Is anyone going to give Condit his reputation back? How about his career?
Nope. They are shot.
And, will there be editorials in the Washington Post, the New York Times, on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CNN apologizing to Condit?
When pigs fly.
And, it will happen again, just count on it. Decades ago, retired Admiral Daniel Callaghan, a WWII hero who took to writing fiction, said the ethical standards among reporters is the lowest of any person involved. His theory was that no one wanted to "miss" a good "story" even if it wasn't true.
I think he was right.
As for my former colleagues, all I have to say is:
Shame On You.