WHEN she was covering foreign affairs in Washington, NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell never had a problem with her love life.
But now that all news stories lead to the mess on Wall Street, Mitchell – the wife of former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who is being blamed daily for the economic meltdown – and her marriage are raising questions among colleagues.
“You wouldn’t want Laura Bush asking you about the federal government’s reaction to Katrina,” the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review wrote last week.
“There is an excessively large elephant in the [NBC] control room,” the magazine said. “Its name is Alan Greenspan.”
NBC execs concede they have been walking a fine line by keeping Mitchell – whose reporting has never been seriously challenged – on the air.
“We see a distinction between pure analysis of the bailout – such as the conditions that led to the crisis, which we’ve decided to keep her away from – and coverage of the politics related to it,” says NBC Washington Bureau chief Mark Whitaker.
“Beyond that we don’t think there is an issue,” he says. “It’s not a classic question of a conflict of interest because he [Greenspan] no longer has that job.”
“I think NBC has made the right decision not taking her off the story,” says Dr. Paul Levinson, chairman of the Fordham University communications department.
“Of course it makes the situation more complicated, but the advantages of having her do this far outweigh the disadvantages.”