Houston column biased ??

[Sierra925]

I find the summation of this column denigrates the real investigative journalism of Bernstein & Woodward as if it was solely motivated by self-aggrandizement because eventally they did make millions. When Steffy refers to faulty reporting he comes up with Newsweek and CBS and omits the big liars - Fox, but Fox has never retracted anything. I received this from a RW acquaintance and don't quite know how to answer it.

It's not about the big break; it's about doing a job well
By LOREN STEFFY Houston Chronicle

WE are the Deep Throat generation. Those of us who went to journalism school in the 1970s and 1980s learned our craft through the lens of All the President's Men.
It's not necessarily a good thing.
The reporting on Watergate showed us as Americans the power of a free press, and more importantly, the power that open access to information gives people in a democracy.
For young journalists in the post-Watergate era, though, it set the bar high. We weren't just covering the city council meeting; we were looking for the next conspiracy. We were after the "big story."
For me, the first shot at the "big story" came in a plain brown envelope with no return address. It contained documents from an anonymous source urging me to look into the dealings of a company called Knightsbridge Petroleum.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Moderator]

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[Demit]

2. I didn't get that at all, that he was denigrating Woodward & Bernstein

He was denigrating himself for working on the Knightsbridge story for the wrong reasons--for his own benefit, thinking it would be his big break. He castigates himself for being "seduced by the drama" surrounding Watergate. He now knows the lesson is that Watergate involved "often tedious reporting" and "hard work, perseverance and commitment to the truth". He says nothing about the money Woodward & Berstein subsequently made. In fact, he specifically says the measure of success to his "Deep Throat generation" was bringing down a president.

And Watergate did make journalism suddenly glamorous. I remember that time. Kids started entering J-schools in droves. I think that's all he wanted to say, that journalism students these days aren't motivated by Watergate anymore. But the good ones still want to do their job well, and that's as it should be. Hard to argue with that.

[Bridget Burke]

3. Columns express opinions--they are not "biased"

Stories purporting to be straight news--that are actually twisted--are the real problem.

I don't see this column as particularly negative. Although the formatting makes it hard to read. And you really ought to just repeat a bit & provide a link to the whole thing. However, you probably received it in this form.

(Here's a link, by the way: www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/steffy/3211160 )

Loren Steffy is the Chronicle's Business Columnist. Here's a piece he wrote on the recent Halliburton shareholders' meeting. Perhaps he's not a "Crusading Reporter"--but he gets in a few good shots.

www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3187138

It's not every day that you get invited to a meeting you're not allowed to attend. Halliburton called earlier this week to ask if I was coming to the company's annual meeting today at the Four Seasons.

There was one catch: The company wasn't allowing outsiders in the meeting. That included the press......

While I was flattered to be included in its exclusion, I declined Halliburton's offer to attend the hallway outside its annual meeting today.

I don't have to be left on the doorstep to recognize a closed-door attitude toward corporate governance.

[TexasLawyer]

4. After WEEKS of begging a friend

at the Chronicle to cover the Downing Street Minutes, that paper has run its first story on it.

So much for "doing a job well"!