European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Jim Fain Berendzen unofficial head of elite . Clan Washington this in t such a bad town. I just takes More understanding and tolerance than most. Our mayor s under indictment for smoking crack. Victim of pressure he says. Well probably re elect him. Our most respected elder the Hon. Jack Kent Cooke proprietor of the redskins married his fourth Bride the other Day after dumping the incumbent for failure to carry out a prenuptial agreement to abort their baby. Media and politics our twin industries Are so creep ily incestuous you have to know who s sleeping with whom to understand what you see on to or read in the papers. Celebrity however come by is our god to her Prophet. The Man who Best typifies our cult is Richard be Rand zen until recently president of american univer sity. I nominated him As most representative in 1987,Long before he pleaded guilty to making obscene Calls to women who advertise in the paper As child car providers. His sojourn into dirty talk did nothing to change my mind. After a turn in court he hastened to our local confessional Abc s nightlife for absolution an probably a new career As lecturer author talk show Star. An emigre from a Small East Texas town intelligent and driven Berendzen became a fast study of All this City holds dear celebrity Power riches glitter. A breathless profile in the Washington pos style Section in 1986 captured his essence docs television jets off every two to three Days to give speeches around the country attends 1 1 parties a week shows up at everything from Charit balls to embassy soirees to live Aid keeps a diary for publication As a new Book with the title is my armo straight and collects names Walter Cronkite Larry Hagman Jackie Onassis sen. Paul Simon Dorothy Hamill Phil Donahue Farrah Fawcett Billie Jean King the Dalai Lama of Tibet Christopher Reeve sen. John Glenn and Koo Stark to name a few of hundreds who get mention in the Book which come Complete with an Index that reads like Barbara Wal ters Rolodex. Come to think of it if we could get her to leavened York Walters would make a splendid Washingto Nian by Rand in s master coup was separating from $5 million for a Campus sports Center. Of to make it it its firstb1rthww Here in Adnan is the saudi arms merchant who managed to get himself mixed up with both Iran Contra and the mar costs. Money renders morality irrelevant of course so Berendzen emblazoned Khash Oggi s name on the a Campus and made him a trustee. In turn Adna became his Mentor and pal. The tremendously wealthy and powerful can Bevery difficult to get to know Berendzen wrote. I go to receptions and dinner at his House and it s just a absolute who s who of the new York business world. You be got to go where the wealthy people Are he explained. Letters to the Post now Wax indignant that Berend zen was sacked. His social toil in a Noble cause producing mountains of Cash put him under great pressure they Point out. Anyway Freud made him Doit. Telling Points. Besides there s the old supreme court Bugaboo of defining what obscenity really is. When a Community s standards themselves Are obscene Why fret if their leading practitioner feels a need to reach out and touch strangers with what strikes him As sexy c Cox news service David Broder Bush doing his part in keeping Public informed r la x a w1 v r a i � w w . Before we All swoon in admiration of soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev s undoubted skills As a communicator let s tip the hat to the Guy on the other Side of the bargaining table George Bush. Bush has made a significant contribution to glasnost american style by reviving the badly battered institution of the presidential news conference. The session he held with White House reporters just before the memorial Day weekend was the 50th of his term a rate of better than one every 10 Days that beats every president since Franklin d. Roose velt. Astonishingly Bush has had More news conferences in 17 months than Ronald Reagan held insight years. Not Only Are the news conferences More frequent they Are More substantive More civil and More use Ful than those of the recent past. It s All tied together. Frequent news conferences permit reporters to explore a few topics in some depth. The Agenda does t get overcrowded nor is there nearly As much pres sure on individual reporters to gain recognition fro the president. They know there will be another Day. Bush deserves credit for reviving the news Confer ence from the doldrums into which it had fallen in Jimmy Carter s final embattled years and throughout the Reagan terms. Bush accepted the suggestion from Harvard s Joan Shorenstein Barone Center for press politics and Public policy that the news conferences be workaday affairs held in the White House briefing room principally for the journalists who regularly cover the president. And he has kept to a schedule far More frequent than my fellow Barone panellists and had the courage to suggest in the report we wrote be fore the 1988 election. The shift from prime time evening hours and the ornate setting of the East room where Reagan held court for an oversized press corps has proved to be crucial in improving the Quality of the exchanges. In the East room the jousting for recognition reached ridiculous extremes. And the questioning had no theme or continuity. In the briefing room by contrast the White House regulars not forced to compete with celebrity journalists or publicity seekers concentrate on gaining information for their stories rather than getting Atten Tion for themselves. A Good Deal of the time Bush cooperates with them. At the 50th news conference for example the president began with an announcement of his controversial decision to continue Liberal Trade policies with China despite its leaders repression of dissent. He took four pointed questions on that topic. Without histrionics reporters for the associated press and the Boston Globe put to the president the criticisms other sin the foreign policy world had made about the Impact of his China policy on that country and on pro democracy forces around the world. The president offered his Case. And that night on the network news and in the next morning s newspapers his answers were juxtaposed with the contrary views of chinese student exiles and Capitol Hill critics of Bot parties. The news conference exchanges became part of a broader dialogue. Thanks to the Brevity of the Well phrased question Sand the president s readiness to respond the half hour allotted to the news conference permitted eight questions and answers on relations and Gorba Chev s handling of the lithuanian Independence move ment and five questions on taxes and the budget deficit negotiations certainly the two most news worthy topics on the Washington Agenda. There were also pairs of questions and follow on the savings and loan bailout . Policy toward Israel and toward Cambodia .-mexican relations the proposed ban on semiautomatic weapons and even statehood for the District of Columbia. In almost every instance the president showed him self Well informed. He was ready to declare or reiterate a Clear policy when he had one and also willing to say that he was not ready to pronounce judgment on other issues which were still being negotiated with Cong Ressor foreign governments. As much As any politician can when he is speak ing on the record Bush shared his puzzlement and frustration at the obduracy and complexity of some of the Tough problems that were raised. It does cause discomfort he said when asked about criticism he received on his policy toward Cambodia. And he was equally ready to concede that there is legitimacy to views other than his own in most of the other policy areas on which he was questioned. Burst s and the open mindedness he display sin the briefing room Drain the news conferences of any tension and Lead some journalists to complain that Bush provides few headlines. Since he also disdains televised speeches some reporters Gripe that he is no making news. That s a lot less important however than the fact that he makes himself accessible for frequent question ing and lets the presidency become part of the political if we in the press can t find the Means to convert this Access into greater Public understanding of the issues then the failure is ours. Bush is doing his part and doing it Well. C Washington Post writers group
