EXPERTS PRAISE, CRITICIZE ABC

Leading journalism experts interviewed by The Times praised ABC for its courage to attempt such a significant and potentially important story. When asked about The Times’s findings, however, they said that ABC had failed to verify its charges.

“If ABC wants to take that risk,” said Columbia University journalism professor Melvin Mencher, “they should live with the consequences. The consequences are, ‘Prove it.’ They haven’t made their case.”

“The ABC piece summed up almost quintessentially what’s wrong with investigative news these days,” said Ned Schurnam, a New York-based media critic and producer of public television’s former press-watchdog series “Inside Story.” “They were relying on first-person interviews. I didn’t see them supported by any real serious documentation. . . . There wasn’t anything beyond that patina--that surface of personal identification--that really supported this story, other than Rewald, his friends, the injured parties, those people who stood to benefit from this story surfacing.”

“This sounds very bad,” said Richard Salant, former president of CBS News and of the disbanded National News Council, which regularly reviewed public complaints against the press. But, Salant emphasized, “No matter how bad it is, this is not a matter that should be before a government agency.”