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18 Aug 2009 23:19

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Politics: They don’t build journalists like Robert Novak anymore

  • For a half-century, Novak worked like a wheat thresher, feeding and grooming his sources until they gave him the harvest of news—or he beat it out of them.
  • Slate columnist Jack Shafer • Describing Robert Novak and what he did to get his scoops, no matter how small. It was a approach that worked for him, but not without imperfection – his methods managed to out CIA operative Valerie Plame, a saga which sullied his reputation late in life. (Though attacks by “The Daily Show” didn’t help his image, either.) All in all, he lived life as the ultimate D.C. insider. This is a great piece on Novak; we suggest you read it. • source

23 Jul 2009 10:12

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Politics: Was journalism icon Walter Cronkite really worthy of our trust?

  • If the nostalgia for Cronkitian news values were genuine, you’d expect PBS’s soporific News Hour would be drawing huge and growing numbers of viewers. … Alas, the NewsHour’s Cronkite-lite approach has failed to attract much of an audience.
  • Slate columnist Jack Shafer • Discussing why the legacy of someone like Walter Cronkite – the trustworthy face of journalism for a generation – was bad for news consumers. Shafer suggests that today’s era of multiple opinions all over the place is a much better market – and that trust, especially of a information source like Cronkite is a bad yardstick to follow. He ends his piece by saying: “Be skeptical, news consumers, especially of the journalists you trust most. It will make you smarter and keep them honest.” • source