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Back in 2001 when Dan Rather was anchor of CBS Evening News he made the courageous and correct decision not to turn his newscast over to tabloid sensation by following the speculation that Rep Gary Condit, the California Democrat, was implicated in the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old intern in his office. NBC Nightly News, by contrast, discredited itself, especially during the dog days of summer when then-anchor Tom Brokaw was away and Brian Williams was his substitute. During the second week in July, substitute Williams chose to lead every single weekday newscast with Levy even as Rather ignored the story altogether. For the year of 2001 as a whole, Levy amounted to a wholly-owned NBC subsidiary (86 min v ABC 28, CBS 6).
So the least NBC could do now, as District of Columbia prosecutors formally announce that Condit is not implicated in Levy's death, is to assign a reporter to publicize their announcement. Funnily enough, the lone newscast that found the time to do so was CBS. Bob Orr named Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran immigrant incarcerated on unrelated charges, as the feds' official suspect. As for Condit, he "denied any involvement and was never charged," Orr reminded us. "Condit lost his bid for reelection and moved to Arizona where he opened two ice cream shops, which failed."
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