No Pedestals, Bob

 

Questioned at the Investigative Reporters & Editors virtual conference about why he sat on information that the president knew the coronavirus was a deadly threat, instead waiting to include it in his new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” Bob Woodward shot back:   

 

 

“‘It’s just not fair, it’s not good journalism, to leap out of the box and say I was wrong.’

“Why not? What about questioning a fellow journalist’s ethics, motivations, or approach is ‘not good journalism’? Even when, or especially when, that journalist happens to be Robert Upshur Woodward? . . .

 

“Woodward’s comment about what constitutes good journalism, and his treatment of the two reporters, points to a larger issue: When we put journalism’s icons on a pedestal, like Woodward, we do the field a disservice.”  

 

—Hannah Chin, reporter, “Questioning journalism's heroes isn't disrespectful — it's just good reporting,” The Objective, Oct. 6, 2020.

 

 

• Editorial Comment: 1970s button: “Question Authority.”

 

PeezPIX

 

Morning sky, beams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Scares Us? Check out the October issue of Senior News, Things That Go Bump in the Night. On newsstands everywhere. (Or should be.) 

 

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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard