Winter 1999 Vol. And one good reason for that is that the press itself is much too secretive about what it does. One of the prerequisites for greater understanding of watchdog journalism is to demystify the press. Fear of the abuse of power was the galvanizing force in the American Revolution and continues to be the strongest justification for a challenging and thoroughly independent press. The press, in turn, is obliged to perform honestly, fairly and with civility at all times.
Journalism is an odd mixture of chutzpah and humility.
Some of our colleagues tend to mix the two like they mix martinissay, five parts chutzpah to one part humility, as in gin and vermouth. Others stretch that to a 10 to 1 mixture, while our extremists seem to use all gin, with not even a whiff of humility. In our business, none of us can impose rules on anyone else, especially for behavior. You might say that is one freedom of the press. But we should have the strength of our own convictions to disassociate ourselves wherever we can from crude, discourteous behavior whether by packs of elbowing news people lying in wait for Monica Lewinsky, or by shouting, snarling participants in a television encounter posing as news commentators.