Bill Mertens Twice in recent years, Newsweek has had to play catch-up on big stories it knew about first. Both times, the national magazine was forced to devote considerable space to explanations of its decisions not to print the stories. The first was the Monica Lewinsky affair. Newsweek had to explain again this week why other media bested the magazine on the Bob Kerrey story that its own reporter uncovered three years ago.
Competition is a compelling ingredient of journalism.
The desire to be first drives journalists, often as vigorously as the quest for truth. Competition is sharper today than it was 50 years ago, even with 300 fewer newspapers nationwide. The proliferation of other media has been staggering. Radio, television and magazines have been joined on the front lines of reporting by Internet outlets, which have few discernible standards. Newspaper readers occasionally blanch at the use of anonymous sources in stories.