Hearings Tempest Downgraded to Topical Storm

Spencer Hsu, the article's co-author, says he "tried to make clear that the source came from the administration, and that he was blaming the locals, which I believe our story made clear and broke ground in explaining by uncovering the National Guard dispute."

Should the paper identify the source who provided bad information? "We don't blow sources, period, especially if we don't have reason to believe the source in this case actually lied deliberately," Hsu says.

Rivera's Beef

Geraldo Rivera has been going ballistic against Alessandra Stanley since the New York Times television critic accused him of grandstanding in his coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

In appearances with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, Rivera last week called Stanley "Jayson Blair in a cocktail dress." He said that if her name was "Alexander," not Alessandra, he would go to the Times building and shout, "Come on down here, punk."

"Call the woman a punk and then blast her in the face. Perfect," O'Reilly said.

Stanley drew the flamboyant correspondent's ire by writing that he "nudged an Air Force rescue worker out of the way so his camera crew could tape him as he helped lift an older woman in a wheelchair to safety."

But a review of the videotape shows no nudging or other physical contact by Rivera. At a nursing home, Rivera and a staffer are shown lifting the woman's wheelchair down an interior flight of stairs. Then one Air Force man takes the wheelchair and a second one comes into the picture, looking as though he is going to help carry the elderly woman down the outside stairs. The second Air Force man leaves the picture and Rivera reappears, helping the first airman carry the wheelchair outside as the camera rolled.

Stanley says only that she and her editors reviewed the tape and decided her description was accurate. Says Times Editor Bill Keller: "It was a semi-close call, in that the video does not literally show how Mr. Rivera insinuated himself between the wheelchair-bound storm victim and the Air Force rescuers who were waiting to carry her from the building. Whether Mr. Rivera gently edged the airman out of the way with an elbow (literally 'nudged'), or told him to step aside, or threw a body block, or just barged into an opening -- it's hard to tell, since it happened just off-camera. Frankly, given Mr. Rivera's behavior since Ms. Stanley's review appeared . . . Ms. Stanley would have been justified in assuming brute force. . . . Ms. Stanley's point was that Mr. Rivera was showboating."

Still, the tape shows no nudging, so the refusal to even run a clarification gives Rivera free rein to call the paper "arrogant."

Another Katrina Spat

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi got so annoyed at CNN anchor Kyra Phillips last week that she suggested Phillips join the White House staff.

Phillips pressed the California Democrat on her denunciations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's handing of Katrina, saying, "I think it's unfair that FEMA is just singled out" when "there are so many people responsible." Phillips then interrupted Pelosi to ask about past Army Corps of Engineers warnings (and corrected the congresswoman for mispronouncing her name), prompting Pelosi to say: "If you want to make a case for the White House, you should go on their payroll." Phillips said she was doing no such thing.

On Friday, Phillips told viewers that CNN has gotten hundreds of letters, pro and con, the most critical of which said: "Kyra is an unbelievably terrible journalist. . . . Journalists should be objective." She responded: "We're asking tough questions because you're asking tough questions, and we're going to continue to do that." Pelosi says through a spokeswoman that she objected to Phillips's "personal opinions."

Off the Hook

Local prosecutors have decided not to charge former Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede for illegally taping his telephone conversation with an ex-city official who then committed suicide, citing "the uniqueness of the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Arthur Teele and his last conversation with a trusted friend."

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program.