Part of the CBS reply:
According to Wallace, he “had no idea” that the event was a fundraiser for the Brady Center at the time he was asked to speak.
Right.
How is it a relatively obscure gun blog in California knew about this back in July, but a professional journalist (as opposed to a non-government-sanctioned blogger), with the resources of one of the world's largest media corporations, was in the dark about an event he was willing to stake his name on?
The CBS reply indicates Wallace "purchased tickets for himself and some family members who wanted to attend."
So are we to assume he waived his customary $50,001 to $75,000 speaker's fee?
Who asked you to speak, Mr. Wallace? Not just anybody can call you up and get you on the line--and not just anybody can persuade you to forego such a hefty fee--as your reply seems to indicate.
In the interest of public trust, full disclosure on this is warranted.
Who invited you to speak?
What specifically did they tell you about the event?
Did you know it was a fundraiser when you accepted the engagement? How could you not know? You didn't really think a roomful of Washington's well-heeled would be treated to such an evening for free, did you? You knew people would be paying to attend, didn't you--from the onset? Who did you think the beneficiaries would be?
Did you waive your fee?
If so, why? Do you typically give birthday presents worth over $50,000 to colleagues? Or was it because you believed in some cause?
Or if you didn't waive your fee, why make such a big deal out of telling people you paid for your tickets?
If you did or did not accept a fee, what journalistic ethical principles should be considered? That's either a lot of money to waive in support of social policy advocacy--or a lot of money to accept promoting same. In either case, especially with this much money involved, how could you possibly be considered unbiased on the subject of gun control laws?
Did you have an agent/assistant help make arrangements for this event? Who did you or your representative make these arrangements with? Did you or your agent sign a contract to authorize your appearance? If so, who were the parties to the contract and when was it dated?
The Public Eye response strikes me as little more than corporate apologia and deflection. It's time for CBS and Mike Wallace to give more specific details by candidly and fully answering questions like the ones posed here.
UPDATE: One other question--were CBS facilities, resources and personnel used to produce the video Wallace took to the event?
UPDATE 2: I wonder if Washington Post Vice President-at-Large Ben Bradlee waived his customary speaker's fee?
2 comments:
Excellent questions all, but don't hold your breath waiting for an answer that resembles the truth. After seeing some of this clowns so called "investigative" "reports" on anything to do with guns, his appearance there does not shock me in the least
It's this kind of garbage that he spewed at the old goat's "birthday party", and the lies and stonewalling that disgust me. It's no wonder I call him "Mike Malice".
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