These days, of course, we’re inclined to feel that the private lives of public figures are fair game for press coverage—in part because private behavior has so thoroughly infiltrated the public realm, and because 24-hour news cycles simply demand more content. Look at disgraced New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned from office after being linked to an escort-service ring. (One suspects that in the future public figures will release some kind of affidavit of past indiscretions, misdemeanor offenses and moments of brain-dead behavior as a form of introduction to the general public.)
But what should be the standard for covering the associates or family members of public figures? What happens when the person caught in a prostitution bust is not the politician but the politician’s spouse? Such is the recent case involving Tom Athans, the husband of Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who admitted to police that he paid a prostitute for sex, though he hasn’t been charged. But should his wife be taken to task for his shortcomings?
What we need is a “calculus of coverage” for the associates of public figures, so that we might sketch a line in the sand where that coverage has news value, and where it does not. Such a calculus must somehow include not only the importance of the public figure and the degree of connection of the friend or relative caught up in the public umbrella, but also, crucially, either the associate’s “influence” on the public figure or the public figure’s demonstrated “responsibility” for the actions of the associate.
Let’s start locally. On March 21, Eric Ensign, the nephew of U.S. Senator John Ensign, pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery stemming from an incident last November, when Ensign attempted to run over emergency responders after they found him slumped over the steering wheel his car.
While press coverage of Ensign has been (thankfully) minimal, witness the media attention devoted to Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Obama has been backpedaling furiously to disassociate himself from his pastor of 20 years, whose sermons were filled with damning indictments of America. Of course, it doesn’t appear that Wright’s ideology has had any impact on the “transcending differences” position Obama has struck throughout his campaign.
While it’s tempting to focus a lot of attention on Wright’s “controversial” comments (about which most black people would, at some level, nod in agreement), in the end, you judge character on action. The actions of the associates of public figures, though occasionally interesting, should only be really valuable to us—and hence should only be covered substantively (which is to say coverage that extends past a few articles)—insofar as they impact the actions of the public figures themselves. In that case, we’re right to note Eric Ensign’s crime and move on. Hopefully we can do the same with Wright and, no doubt, countless others to follow.