Apologetics

WILLIAM JAMES once called journalism "criticism of the moment at the moment," and Edward Epstein thinks that's still the best that can be said for the press. According to Epstein, the glamour surrounding investigative reporting in the post-Watergate era is misplaced. "Journalists are rarely, if ever, in a position to establish the truth or themselves," he says, "and they are therefore almost entirely dependent on self-interested 'sources' for the version of reality that they report." Journalists can only report the sides of an issue--the very nature of their work keeps them from getting to the bottom of anything.

In Between Fact and Fiction, Epstein examines ten cases he says the press mishandled or manipulated, comparing what appeared in the papers and on television with what he considers the objective truth. Not surprisingly, given Epstein's original bias, the press comes off looking a little bit tarnished. His analysis of the Watergate coverage is that "at best, reporters, including Woodward and Bernstein, only leaked elements of the prosecutors' case to the public in advance of the trial." Of the New York Times's version of the Pentagon Papers, he says, "Substantial revisions in the history were made on major points" in order to convert what was in fact a bureaucratic study into a journalistic expose. This theme runs through Between Fact and Fiction: Because of the nature of the press; because journalists work with deadlines, limited space and biased sources, they can never discover--or disclose--the real truth.

Some of Epstein's points are telling. His description of the press's mishandling of rumors that the FBI conspired to wipe out the Black Panthers is convincing. So is his examination of the coverage given the multinational empire of Bernie Cornfield, whom the press presented to the American public as a financial wizard rather than the shyster he's been exposed as. An essay on ABC's successful attempt to increase its newstime Nielsen ratings by tailoring its news to fit its viewers is also persuasive; his evidence makes it clear the network views news as an item to be sold rather than simply and fairly presented.

Epstein's main objection to the press is that journalists are overanxious to root out government duplicity, Yet his own establishment bias colors his presentation as clearly as the journalists' desire to create issues colors theirs, and Epstein ends up looking like an apologist for Agnew's desire to smother the "effete intellectual snobs" of the media. The press may not be able to give the whole story. But the fact that journalists do consider themselves "active pursuers of the truth"--a role that Epstein thinks plausible only for unbiased social scientists--rather than "agents for others who desire to disclose information" increases the likelihood that the public will at least be made aware of the issues of the day.