Sawyer’s Absence Debated

When should a news reporter be allowed to opt out of covering a major story for personal reasons? And does such a decision only reinforce perceptions that journalists are increasingly too close to the major figures whom they are supposed to be covering dispassionately?

That issue is under debate in the wake of Diane Sawyer’s decision to stay away from her “Good Morning America” co-anchor chair for two days last week, after the crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane.

Sawyer was close to Kennedy; her husband, director Mike Nichols, once dated Kennedy’s mother, Jacqueline Onassis, a fact pointed out by ABC anchor Barbara Walters during coverage of the memorial service for Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Nichols read at the service.

On the Saturday that the Kennedy plane turned up missing, when all the networks preempted their regular sports programming for special news coverage of the search, Sawyer was noticeably missing on ABC, particularly in light of the fact that she and Nichols have a house on Martha’s Vineyard, where the Kennedy couple also had a home.

In fact, however, Sawyer was in New York’s Hamptons beach area that weekend, so it wasn’t a case of her not pitching in to help with a story in her backyard. But people familiar with the situation said at the time that she was not on the air--and was unlikely to be for a few days--because she was too upset by the tragedy. Sawyer didn’t show up for the Monday and Tuesday editions of “Good Morning America,” returning finally on Wednesday, when she reported on subsequent developments in the story.

Her absence for four days of a major story--one in which she knew the figures in question and could presumably have provided unique insight--prompted heated debate in the news business about the message that such a decision sends to viewers.

One senior news executive at a rival network called the decision “narcissistic”; that thought was echoed by another executive who said her action made it look “too much like it was all about Diane.” Others noted that anchors such as Sawyer are paid their salaries of millions of dollars to be there when a big story breaks, and that Sawyer should have been on the air Monday, even if she couldn’t report over the weekend.

Still others are concerned about the increasing perception that reporters aren’t detached enough from those they are reporting on. CBS News not too long ago hired former Congresswoman Susan Molinari as an anchor (she is no longer at the network), and ABC News has been grooming former Clinton spokesman and ABC News commentator George Stephanopoulos as a possible anchor--he filled in recently at “Good Morning America.”

One high-ranking executive at another network defended Sawyer’s decision. “If you have a senior employee who says she needs to be away from her job and who clearly understands the seriousness of those actions, you have to trust her,” he said.

No critics have denied that it is an awkward situation to report on a tragedy involving someone to whom a reporter has a close connection. There was no criticism that NBC’s Maria Shriver and Fox News’ Douglas Kennedy--both cousins of Kennedy--weren’t on the air. Many think Christiane Amanpour, a reporter for CNN and CBS News--and a longtime friend of Kennedy’s--hit the right balance: She did a single interview for both organizations, although some Kennedy associates were appalled that she did even that much.

At a Tuesday session with the nation’s TV critics, Sawyer denied that she stayed away because she was upset, insisting that her absence was due to “feeling that I had, I think, some personal obligations that I should make sure that I served.” She repeatedly declined to specify what those obligations were, but people familiar with the situation said that during those days she was with Anthony Radziwill, a cousin of Kennedy’s and a former ABC News producer with whom she worked closely for many years, and his wife, Carole, who still works at the network, as a “20/20” producer.

ABC News President David Westin defended Sawyer’s right to be off the air and not tell reporters why, noting: “There is a right of people to privacy, and I respect that.” But ABC News sources said Westin tried hard to convince Sawyer to return to the anchor chair earlier, but she declined. Sawyer said at the press conference that Westin “agreed with me” on her decision to stay away.

Westin also said Sawyer’s absence wasn’t a problem because ABC was fully staffed with most of its other major anchors, including Peter Jennings and Walters. Sawyer’s “Good Morning America” co-anchor, Charlie Gibson, initially reported from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., interrupting his vacation elsewhere on Cape Cod. “If we didn’t have that deep a bench and we needed Diane and we couldn’t cover the story, it might well have come out a different way,” Westin said.