Faith in Journalism

For sometime now I have been railing against the lack of challenge by interviewers of their guests on their shows. I must say that my faith in true journalism has been restored. I saw an interviewer ask a question and wait until after he had been given a political answer before he asked the same question again, refusing to accept that political answer.

That person was Bob Schieffer of Face the Nation. I was drawn to the remainder of the show after that and was honored to see him chase down a real answer instead of accepting whatever they wished to say. He was not demeaning in his endeavor to get a straight answer nor was he disrespectful. He patiently waited until the interviewee was done before repeating his question. I thought that this style of journalism was dead after Walter Cronkite and Tim Russert but man was it nice to see it again. You could tell that he had great experience at this job because he did all of that with a smile. At no time could you determine that he was aligned with one side or the other, completely impartial.

Mr. Schieffer has reaffirmed my faith in journalism and for that I will be greatly appreciative. I did not really want to think that those tasked with the job of providing the public with the facts was so partial that all facts were never disseminated. I had begun to think that one would have to switch from one channel to another in order to get the full story. Well not anymore. Now I believe that I only have to seek out one person to get the full story and that person is Bob Schieffer.

Bottom line for me, if you want to see how journalism is supposed to work, check out Bob Schieffer on Face the nation or any where else you are able to catch him. Watch how he navigates an issue by refusing to ask soft questions but makes the tough questions seem not so tough by his cool and calm demeanor. This man has the experience and it shows in his work. Thank you Mr. Schieffer and keep up the good work. My Christmas wish this year is that other journalist learn from Bob Schieffer and return to the nature of facts only, leaving the public the right to make up their own minds.