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Madam Story Keeps Mum On Clientele
One ABC inquiry became public last week when Randall Tobias, a deputy secretary of state, resigned after Ross called him. Ross said that perhaps he approached Tobias too early -- "I didn't think he'd quit the next day" -- but that if the official, who ran the Agency for International Development, had stayed quiet, "20/20" would have identified him.
"This was a guy leading a crackdown on prostitution worldwide," Ross said. "The fact that he was a repeat customer of this and other services, the hypocrisy made that important." But despite the expectations raised by Tobias's resignation, ABC found no one of comparable prominence in the phone records.
  "They just weren't newsworthy enough," ABC's Brian Ross said of the names. (By Donna Svennevik -- Abc) |
Another client contacted by ABC, Harlan Ullman, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Washington Times columnist, was identified by Palfrey in a court filing and named on the program.
Some critics have questioned ABC's pursuit of the story. "Is it really the proper duty of ABC News to look up the phone numbers of the alleged Washington madam's clients to expose them?" Jeff Jarvis, who teaches at the City University of New York's journalism graduate school, wrote on his blog. "Is that journalism? Is that news?"
ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider says suggestions that the network held the story for the ratings sweeps period are unfair. Ross said he had to finish another piece and then went on vacation before starting on the Palfrey story, and that yesterday was the first available "20/20" air date.
Palfrey made clear that she gave ABC the phone records to help her defense, because she needed assistance in identifying past clients who could be called as witnesses. But Ross said the network would not give her any of the names it uncovered but declined to air.
There may be another shoe yet to drop. ABC did not push to obtain Palfrey's earlier phone records, which cover a nine-year period. But Ross said she has given them to three journalists investigating the Clinton administration.
While he could be criticized for withholding the names of officials who may have hired prostitutes, Ross said he is comfortable with the decision. In the end, the story didn't quite live up to its much-ballyhooed billing.
"Like much of Washington, it turns out this is pretty dull stuff," Ross said.
Staff writers Sue Anne Pressley Montes and Carol Leonnig contributed to this report.
