President Clinton's participation in ESPN's Town
Meeting last night was the second in his year-long national
initiative on race, and in Houston, Bennett Roth writes that
the "sometimes spirited exchanges between panelists came in
a setting that [included] a diverse and well-behaved
audience." Clinton and administration officials hoped that
the ESPN broadcast "would reach a broader audience than had
previously been engaged in the race debate," including more
white males (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 4/15). In Boston, Brian
McGrory also notes that White House officials were hoping
last night's forum would attract more white men to its race
crusade. McGrory added that during the almost two-hour
discussion, Clinton "spent most of his time as a witness to
a flowing conversation" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/15). In DC, John
Harris writes that Clinton "found himself more a spectator,
or perhaps an accommodating referee, than a participant in
the provocative exchanges" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/15). On the
front-page of today's PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Jodi Enda notes
that Clinton "played almost a supporting role" in the
meeting (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/15). In Houston, George
Flynn writes under the header, "Viewers On Broadcast: Thumbs
Up" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 4/15). But in Philadelphia, Rich
Hoffman writes the night "featured a little bit of heat --
mostly involving Brown and Thompson -- but not a whole bunch
of light" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 4/15). In addition, USA
TODAY's Tom Weir writes that "even this illustrious panel
that included [Clinton] essentially failed to get off the
same old treadmill" (USA TODAY, 4/15).
CRITICISM OF PANEL: On "World News Tonight," ABC's Jon
Frankel reported on criticism by Hispanic leaders of ESPN's
having only one Hispanic, Lopez, on the panel at the town
meeting. The National Council of La Raza's Raul Yzaguirre:
"Our concern is not just with the fact that there's only one
Hispanic on the panel. Our concern is that as the process
evolved, we were always the afterthought." ESPN said it
invited "two dozen Hispanic sports figures to attend, but
all declined for various reasons" (ABC, 4/14).
