Anita Hill is back in the spotlight, promoting her new book, Speaking Truth to Power. But her appearance on NBC's Dateline mainly showed how little interested in the truth journalists continue to be. Jane Pauley held a virtual pity party for Hill. "Most people concluded that Anita Hill had lied," said Pauley. "But within a year, public opinion did a flip, and now six years later, according to a Dateline/NBC News poll, more people think she was telling the truth, but an awful lot of people still don't know what to think."
Pauley wasn't about to provide them with any assistance. Viewers looking for merely an imitation of journalism had to be disappointed, as Pauley instead played the cheerleader ("I can see the steel in your spine even as you say that"). As for who violated the Privacy Act and delivered Hill's statement to the press, Pauley tried to maintain mystery: "Some of the members of the committee had never seen her statement . . . but someone who did, it's never been determined who, leaked it to the press." Sorry, Jane, everybody knows it was Ricki Seidman and James Brudney -- aides to Ted Kennedy and Howard Metzenbaum, respectively -- two liberal hired guns paid to derail Bush administration appointees.
In wrapping up the story, Pauley called attention to Hill's modesty through her troubled times. "Anita Hill has been a reluctant public figure, but writing a book seems to be an acknowledgment that notoriety is here to stay." Reluctant? Between moderating debates, accepting awards for her courage, and covering the speakers circuit, Anita Hill has been many things, but a reluctant public figure, no.