Remember the item the other day about how Ron Fournier, once a reporter in Little Rock, was reshaping the way The Associated Press covers news in the important job of Washington bureau chief?
John Brummett comments today. He approves of Fournier’s focus on, not just facts, but “truth.” There will be problems drawing lines in deciding where truth-telling about, say, a politician’s pronouncements could become a subjective game. He seems to think the problem will be bigger among “local yokel” reporters as opposed to the national big feet. Here, I don’t wholly subscribe. There have been some enormous journalistic malpractices by the big shots, including AP writers, over the years. Sometimes, I think, the journalism bigshots — yearning for the TV gigs, speaking fees and all the rest that come with journalism celebrity — are more easily persuaded about warped versions of truth from the high-dollar people who pack Washington to spin such yarns.