Saturday, February 21, 2009

A Feb. 19 Page One article disclosed an FBI investigation into the personal life of the late Jack Valenti, former White House aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. The piece should have stated more expressly than it did that the investigation produced no evidence that Valenti was gay or had a sexual relationship with a photographer who was mentioned in FBI records but whose name was redacted from those files. The motivation for the investigation is not clear from the files provided by the FBI. In addition, The Post should have made clear that it contacted Valenti's immediate family before the piece was published. After considering the matter, they requested that no statement from the family be included in the article. The Post should have indicated that the family knew of and was given an opportunity to address the facts presented in the article.