Does the press owe Newt Gingrich an apology?

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is demanding an apology from NBC News, after the network reported that his wife, Callista, had triggered an exodus of 16 senior staffers from his campaign. Anonymous former Gingrich advisers told NBC that staff members clashed with Callista over everything from scheduling to the alleged use of the campaign to promote films made by Gingrich's for-profit production company. Gingrich calls such reports "utterly reprehensible." Should NBC say it's sorry?

Yes. An apology is in order: Gingrich has a point, says Jason Linkins at The Huffington Post. NBC's scoop "boils down to gossipy nonsense from disgruntled staffers" who abandoned their former boss en masse. Instead of heaping blame on Callista, all those whiners should own up to the role they played in what's devolved into a "terrible presidential campaign."

"Newt Gingrich criticizes departed staffers, NBC News, for bashing his wife"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Well, Callista really is damaging Newt's campaign: Gingrich certainly seems beholden to Callista, says Jeannie DeAngelis at American Thinker. He can't "complete a single sentence without mentioning [her] name," and behaves like some "smitten lapdog." The last straw for many staffers reportedly came when Callista insisted that she and Newt take a cruise to Greece and Turkey when he should have been campaigning. It's entirely plausible that Callista sank the campaign.

"Did cruising with Callista doom Newt's campaign?"

Regardless, Newt's in trouble: "This much is indisputable: Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign suffered a major meltdown last week," says SodaHead News. He lost his longtime political adviser and friend Rick Tyler, campaign manager Rob Johnson, and his entire Iowa staff. And it's simply a statement of fact that staffers have complained that Newt and Callista have let their personal issues interfere with the campaign. Instead of attacking the messenger, Gingrich might want to focus on fixing his campaign.

"Should NBC apologize to Newt Gingrich over attack on wife?"