George Will

George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American columnist, journalist, and author.

Controversy

Detractors of Will point to what they call a troubling pattern of ethical lapses. Will helped Ronald Reagan prepare for his 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter, breaking with the standard journalistic tradition of neutrality. Immediately after the debate, Will--who was not a member of ABC News--appeared on ABC's Nightline. He was introduced by host Ted Koppel, who said "It's my understanding that you met for some time yesterday with Gov. Reagan" and that Will "never made any secret of his affection" for the Republican candidate. It was not explicitly disclosed that Will had been present during or might have assisted in Reagan's debate preparation. Will went on to praise Reagan, saying his "game plan worked well. I don't think he was very surprised." (Nightline Special Edition, October 28, 1980) Twenty four years later, appearing on NPR, Carter stated that before the 1980 debate, Will gave the Reagan campaign a top secret briefing book stolen from Carter's office. (Fresh Air, October 21, 2004) According to a report, he repeated this accusation in 2005. (The (Alabama) Plainsman, July 28, 2005) In a 2005 syndicated column, Will called his role in Reagan's debate preparation "inappropriate" but denied any role in the stolen briefing book. As he had done to Carter privately, Will wrote in his column that he gave the book a "cursory glance" and found it a "crashing bore and next to useless--for , or for anyone else." (Washington Post, August 11, 2005) In response to the column, Carter wrote a letter to the Washington Post retracting his accusations. Carter apologized to Will for "any incorrect statement that I have ever made about his role in the use of my briefing book....I have never thought Mr. Will took my book." (Washington Post, August 31, 2005)

Related Topics:
Ronald Reagan - 1980 - Jimmy Carter

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The liberal media watchdog group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, criticized Will in connection with the 1996 election, for "commenting on the presidential race while his second wife, Mari Maseng Will, was a senior staffer for the Dole presidential campaign", including commenting on a Dole speech without disclosing that his wife had helped write it. Will previously served on an informal board of advisors to Hollinger International, a newspaper company controlled by now disgraced Canadian-born British financier Lord Conrad Black. The board met once a year and Will received an annual payment of $25,000. The board was disbanded in 2001. In March, 2003, Will wrote a syndicated column which praised a speech by Black and did not disclose their previous business relationship. This relationship, and others Black had cultivated with various media and international figures, was exposed in a New York Times story. Will denied any wrongdoing and the story quoted him as saying "My business is my business. Got it?" (New York Times, December 22, 2003) The editor of the Washington Post editorial page, Fred Hiatt, stated afterwards, "given that (1) Will wrote his column two years or more after ending any financial relationship with Black and (2) the column wasn't really about Black, but used comments from Black to bolster Will's thesis about national sovereignty in Europe, the lack of disclosure doesn't strike me as a major lapse." (Washington Post, January 11, 2004)

Related Topics:
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting - 1996 election - Dole

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