These days mere name recognition seems to convey instant journalistic credentials. In April, CBS hired former Democratic Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey as a contributor to CBS News. Six months later Stephanopoulos was on the same show, this time as an ABC news analyst. Given his obvious allegiance to President Clinton, Stephanopoulos is referred to by some as a White House flack on ABC's payroll. It's not just celebrity politicians who effortlessly slide into journalism.
Journalists also manage to spin from news to politics and back.
In late May, ABC News announced that Jim Williams, press secretary to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley for nearly five years, would become a correspondent in its Midwest bureau. Over the years scores of reporters have tried their hand at government, toiling as press spokesmen and policy advisers, but many forgo the return trip and move on to public relations or the corporate world. Jumping back and forth, however, hurts journalism's credibility, a commodity already in tatters. Some people, of course, have made stellar transitions from politics to journalism, earning widespread respect for their work in their new field. But it's the cumulative effect that's considered pernicious.