Journalism Questions

Did you want to be a reporter when you were young? Did you study journalism in college?

No. When I was in high school I worked part time as a janitor in my father’s law office, and I was able to rummage through everything in the office. That may have sparked an interest in finding out the secrets that people keep.

I studied history and English at Yale, which I attended on an NROTC (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps) scholarship. After college I served in the Navy five years.

How did you choose journalism for your career?

When I got out of the Navy I was considering going to law school, but I decided that I didn’t want to go to school for three more years and be thirty years old before I started a career.

So I had to find something to do, and I tried to get a job at The Washington Post. I had no real journalism experience, but they gave me a two-week tryout in August of 1970.

I wrote about fourteen stories, none of which were very good. The metropolitan editor, Harry Rosenfeld, who I worked for on Watergate two years later, called me in and said, “You don’t know how to do this.” And I said, “Thank you. But I found out something. I love it. I don’t know how to do it, but know that I love it.”

And I went and worked at a weekly paper in Maryland for one year, and then they hired me at the Post.

How has the internet changed the news business?

The Internet is a mixed blessing.

It creates pressure to do things fast, often too fast, and a news organization operates on the continuous deadline, leading to impatience. The incentives for speed are too great.

The best journalism involves patience, often a lot of it. Reporters need to spend time against the problem. The Internet has leveled the playing field somewhat, but the facts and backup and documents still matter.

I’m still optimistic that newspapers and the more traditional media can provide essential information to people—in context, in depth. But we have a great deal of work to do to prove that on a regular basis.

Where were you assigned during your time in the Navy?

I was first assigned to the USS Wright, a floating emergency relocation ship for President Johnson in the case of nuclear war.

I was one of two officers ordered to be present if the top secret authentication codes for nuclear war orders were handled or transferred in any way. The codes were at that time secured with two combination locks, one of which I had the combination to.

I later served on the USS Fox, a guided missile frigate that was stationed off the coast of Vietnam.

Do you feel that news coverage today digs too far into the lives of individuals at times?

It is the responsibility of reporters to be aggressive, as long as they are fair and accurate. The media has a responsibility to question the actions of our leaders and to investigate any concentration of power.

But reporters have an equal responsibility to prevent their own biases from influencing coverage.

The media today probably does not dig deeply enough or spend sufficient time on stories. The best way to ensure that sources will be open and honest is to treat them fairly.

Do you think it should be the duty of the media to help keep watch on political leaders?

I agree that it is the responsibility of the media in a democracy to inform the public about what their elected officials are doing and how they are handling their responsibilities, but it is equally important for non-political figures to be held accountable for what they do.

Business and community leaders of all kinds can greatly affect the world, and it is the responsibility of the media to ensure that both positive and negative aspects of business and government are made public.

It is equally important that the public demands thorough, honest reporting from the media.