Ruralite Cafe: Published 01/31/02

By Lisa Majors-Duff - News Editor

Should media magnify Bush's mistake?

A little farther down the road, I know the nature of my worries will likely change. Who is she talking to on the phone for three hours at a time? Did she finish her American history term paper? Is that really music she's listening to?

Once I get over the shock of her first date and her first solo driving experience, it is my hope that my worries will ease up some. Of course I'll be there to help her when she makes mistakes, but I'm looking forward to my worries after high school centering around things like her choice for college, where she'll intern in the summers, what company will hire her or what business she'll start.

And as is the case with most American families, my hopes, aspirations and challenges of raising a daughter will all be contemplated and acted upon at home, maybe even discussed with close friends and neighbors should a little third-party advise be needed along the way.

Where they won't be played out is on the cover of a newspaper as is the case this week for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his family. Because she is the daughter of the governor and the niece of the president, Noelle Bush's alleged mistake - attempting to call herself in a prescription for a sedative - has made the headlines.

Several aspects of this story struck me when I heard it on the radio Tuesday afternoon. First I thought about how the 24-year-old Bush daughter got caught. Apparently she called the drug store, pretending to be a doctor. Her patient was in need of Xanax, she allegedly told the pharmacist. But the pharmacist was suspicious. He'd never heard of this doctor, even in a town as big as Tallahassee, and the "doctor" did not provide a quantity to be dispersed to her patient.

Criminals, I've learned in my years of covering the Sheriff's Department, are often caught in their lies, a fact law enforcement officers relish as it usually makes their jobs easier.

But what really interested me about this story was that a father was forced to make a public statement about his daughter's lack of good judgment. The journalist in me agrees wholeheartedly that Noelle Bush's attempt to obtain a prescription by fraudulent means is news. It's not the reporter's job to place blame or to take sides. If we have any duty with this type of story - other than to report the facts as we understand them to the best of our ability - it is to inform society that a problem exists and that it should be addressed.

Still, something about reporting so prominently the news of the fall of the daughter of the rich and famous bothers the mother in me. Sure, this is the stuff that would make an editor at the National Enquire quiver with delight, and no doubt we'll soon see blurry photos of Noelle Bush at grocery checkout counters. Even though she'll be wearing dark sunglasses, her instinct for self-preservation will cause her to cover her face when she notices the photographer approaching.

All sons and daughters make mistakes. Granted, some mistakes are more serious than others. But no son or daughter's mistake should be seen as more important based on who their mothers and fathers are.

In his statement to the press, Gov. Bush asked the public and the media to "respect our family's privacy during this difficult time so that we can help our daughter." I say that's the least we can do.

Back to Archive: 01/31/02.