Staff's misstep with press mars Johnson homecoming

By the Journal Editorial Board | Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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A lot of South Dakotans will turn out to greet Sen. Tim Johnson at his welcome home party in Sioux Falls today.

Even more, probably, will tune into reporter Bob Woodruff’s “Nightline” report on Sen. Johnson on ABC later tonight.

Woodruff will be in attendance when Johnson, his wife, their three children and five grandchildren host a “Thank You South Dakota” celebration that begins at 4 p.m. today.

The celebration will serve as a culmination to the story of Johnson’s recovery from a brain hemmorhage that Woodruff has covered, sporadically, for months.

The “Nightline” broadcast promises to be a great human interest story, not only for Johnson’s South Dakota constituents, but for stroke and traumatic brain injury patients nationwide.

We can certainly understand why Sen. Johnson decided to share that story with Woodruff, himself a medical miracle of survival following a brain injury suffered while covering the war in Iraq. We applaud Johnson for that decision and look forward to Woodruff’s unique take on the story.

What we don’t understand is Sen. Johnson’s failure to divulge that he was doing interviews with ABC, while his staff was telling the South Dakota press that he wasn’t yet ready for interviews.

Many in the South Dakota media cried foul when it was belatedly revealed that Johnson had opened his rehabilitation and recovery to Woodruff’s cameras at the same time his staff was shielding him from contact with in-state press.

The public may think this is simply the case of the media complaining about getting scooped on a big story. Maybe, but we wonder if Johnson’s staff didn’t put “Nightline’s” publicity needs ahead of its duty to communicate with his constituents about the senator’s condition.

We appreciate that the Woodruff piece is expected to be a non-political story chronicling Johnson’s recovery from head injury, and not the launch of a re-election campaign.

We hope so, otherwise the months-long explanations that Johnson was too ill to meet face-to-face with any in-state reporters might ring hollow.