The Power Of Talk

Call-In Democracy Ignited The Presidential Race. Now It's Shaking Up Government, Rattling Clinton--And Driving Washington's Agenda.

By Howard Fineman | NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Feb 8, 1993

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Let's talk about the power of talk, of calling in to your favorite show:

A Florida man goes on CNN's "Larry King Live." He says his wife died of cancer because she used a cellular phone. There is no scientific study on the question. The cellular industry scoffs and declines to put a spokesman on the show. Big mistake. The lines light up. By last Friday-eight days after "King"-a share of stock in Motorola, Inc., the biggest maker of cellular phones, has dropped 20 percent. The federal government, at the industry's urging, gears up to study the issue.

It's two days before Bill Clinton's Inauguration. On public radio in Washington, host Diane Rehm goes to the "open phones." Much of her audience is, literally, inside the Beltway, people who might be sympathetic to Zoe Baird's child-care problems. The lines light up. Opinion makers and politicos are listening. The verdict: Zoe's got to go. "If that's the feeling here," Rehm muses, "what's happening in Sioux City?" Washington begins to get the message. Three days later Baird withdraws.