American Politics Used To Be

A Great Deal Of Our Ratings On The Morning News Are People Who Died During The Night With Their Tv On.

There's Fierce Competition Between All The Networks To Get The Guest Who Can Bring The Most Pertinent Information About Whatever The Story Of The Moment Happens To Be.

A Police Reporter Walks Into The Worst Moment In Someone's Life On Every Single Story That He Covers. It's Not Like Being A Sports Reporter. That's A Great Job And All That And Takes Certain Skills. But, You Know, They're Glad To See You When You Show Up To Cover The Football Game. Nobody Is Ever Glad To See A Police Reporter When He Shows Up.

The Government's View Is That The Best Time To Announce Bad News, News That It Doesn't Want The Public To Dwell On Is Late On A Friday, When It Will Wind Up In The Saturday Papers, Which If You Were Readers, Then The Week Day Editions. A Holiday Weekend Is Even Better.

Obviously, If The Commander Makes Certain Decisions That The Reporter Thinks Is Inhibiting His Right To Report A Legitimate Story, He Has To Appeal To The Commander's Boss To Get That Changed.