It was pure luck that a Time Warner journalist ran into
a Time Warner executive at a redwood retreat 70 miles
north of San Francisco. It was also bad luck， at least for the
journalist. The Time Warner executive threw him out.
You see， it wasn t just any retreat. The chance meeting
occurred at the exclusive， super-secret Bohemian Grove
where the old boys of America s government and corporate
elite gather each summer for two weeks of laid-back
schmoozing and speechmaking， not to mention the club s
mock-Druid fire rituals.
And it wasn t just any journalist. Dirk Mathison was，
until recently， the enterprising San Francisco bureau chief of
People magazine， owned by Time Warner. An uninvited
guest (reporters are banned from Bohemian Grove)， Mathi-
son hiked over back-country trails to sneak into the Grove s
July 1991 \"encampment\" three different times. The third
time was no charm for Mathison: that s when he ran into the
Time Warner executive who recognized him and tossed
him out.
Mathison had already learned a lot. Contrary to the
claims of the Grove， Mathison saw that the male-only re-
treat is not just innocent summertime relaxation. Newswor-
thy events occur there. Former Secretary of the Navy John
Lehman， for example， gave a lecture in which he stated that
the Pentagon estimated 200，000 Iraqis were killed during
the six weeks of the Gulf War. The Pentagon believes the
public is not ready to hear the death count; among friends，
Lehman felt no need to go dumb on the subject. The title of
his speech: \"Smart Weapons.\"
Other speakers included Defense Secretary Richard
2
The Media Elite
Cheney and former Health， Education and Welfare S~
tary Joseph Califano， speaking on \"America s Health R
lution--Who Lives， Who Dies， Who Pays.\" For
Attorney General Elliot Richardson titled his speech \"D~
ing the New World Order.\" That definition is sough
millions of Americans， but the speech wasn t aired ol
SPAN.
Expecting to read all about it in People? Don t cour
it. Even though Mathison embarked on the Boher
Grove story with his editors approval， and even thc
Mathison says his article was so well received that e
space was alloted for it， the story was mysteriously kilh
People s managing editor told our researchers
while he had authorized Mathison to infiltrate the Grow
later killed the piece (denying any input from Time Wa
higher-ups) after realizing that he had authorized \"tresf
ing.\"
Mathison believes the reason People editors spikec
story \"had to do with their bosses， not mine.\" He warne
we might never pin down the full explanation: \"It s easi，
penetrate the Bohemian Grove than the Time-Life Bt
ing.\"
One need not penetrate the Time-Life Building to
ize what this episode says about journalism today. It tel
how difficult it can be for journalists to report full}
America s political and economic elite when their bosse
loyal members of that elite.
Every year at Bohemian Grove， media executives 1
nob with newsmakers. Walter Cronkite， for example
sides at the same lodge at the Grove as George Bush.
media figures enter into a pact of silence， agreeing thai
Grove--whose membership has included every Republ
president since Coolidge， and on whose premises presi~
tial campaigns were fueled and the Manhattan (A-bc
Project ~oncefved--is off-limits to news coverage.
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