A few decades ago, it was not unusual for journalists to accept Christmas gifts from sources, take junkets from organizations they covered or collaborate with government officials.
In 1945, legendary columnist James Reston helped Sen. Arthur Vandenberg with a speech on foreign policy. In 1960, then-Washington Post Publisher Philip Graham helped broker John Kennedy's selection of Lyndon Johnson as his running mate. In the early 1970s, says Kunkel, he knew an Indiana sportswriter who routinely made up quotes from the coaches he covered.
Okrent, who got his Times job in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, says a new era of journalistic aggressiveness -- inspired, in his view, by the Watergate film "All the President's Men" -- has spawned corner-cutting and worse by would-be stars. He also cites what Slate's Jack Shafer has dubbed "the Romenesko Effect" -- the immediate publicizing of what would have been purely local flaps on the Poynter Institute media Web site run by Jim Romenesko.
Some of the transgressors "wouldn't have gotten fired five years ago, pre-Romenesko," Okrent says.
Romenesko says new technology enables him to discover far-flung incidents. By plugging certain search terms into Google News, the all-computer/no-humans service, he gets e-mail alerts about journalistic misbehavior -- such as the two staffers for the Kalamazoo, Mich., Gazette fired last week for drinking while reporting a story on a game called "beer pong" and other alcohol use by young people.
"With the Internet and the ability to expose these scandals, both mini- and maxi-, we just know more about them," Romenesko says.
When he was at the Milwaukee Journal in the 1970s, "there was one guy who just fabricated stuff," but "nobody knew outside the newsroom." As for the overall state of media ethics, "it may have been worse in those days, considering half the people in the newsroom were drunk."
The Gannon File
Jeff Gannon's seamy past leaked out months before he asked President Bush a loaded question during a news conference.
As a correspondent for the now-defunct Web site Talon News, says the forthcoming issue of Vanity Fair, Gannon was hammering Tom Daschle during the South Dakotan's campaign to hold onto his Senate seat. Daschle aides traced an e-mail -- ostensibly from a constituent who wanted reaction to one of Gannon's stories -- to an Internet profile of Gannon, wearing only dog tags and boxer shorts. "The Daschle campaign spread the word, but no reporters bit," the magazine says.
Gannon doesn't deny advertising online as a $200-an-hour gay escort, but describes himself as the victim of "a full-scale jihad" by liberals. Vanity Fair says he falsely told friends he had been a Marine -- Gannon says he displayed military paraphernalia and "didn't disabuse anyone of that notion" -- and owes nearly $21,000 in back taxes. Gannon believes God bestowed a White House assignment on him so that he could atone for past transgressions, Vanity Fair says.
In defending his name change, the man born as James Guckert says Jeff Gannon has a "nice ring to it -- like Wolf Blitzer, which isn't his real name either." Actually, Mr. Guckert, it is his real name.
Tabloid Television
Will TV's newest reality show bear any relation to reality? The New York Daily News will be the subject of six one-hour episodes that "will provide a true 'fly on the wall' look at the inner workings of a leading daily newspaper," Bravo President Lauren Zalaznick told the News. In that case, Bravo (which is teaming with Hearst Entertainment) had better do some fancy editing to turn this into a watchable "Queer Eye for the Journalist Guy."
"If they're not careful," says News Editor in Chief Michael Cooke, "it could be a lot of shots of people typing and having long conversations and moaning about their boss. You're rolling the dice with TV. TV can make you look extremely smart or stupid. But we're excited about it."
