Beacon in a Dark Domain

We connected with David Halberstam 9 years ago almost to the day, more than 20 years after I'd watched him watch helicopters lift Americans to defeat in Vietnam. Struggles for Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War are hallmarks of his youth and ours, so of course, we leapt at the opportunity for to explore both with this thoughtful and diligent avatar of what is best about journalism.

For the first few minutes of our hour-long program Mr. Halberstam effectively interviewed himself. The immediate subject was _The Children_, his book about the dramatic effect of young people's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Clearly he'd had lots of "interviews" with people who hadn't bothered to read his important account. Once he realized that we had actually read what he'd written there and a whole lot more, we three enjoyed a warm and rich conversation.

One story he told us goes to the heart of today's ethically challenged mass media "journalism."

"I once had an argument with Mike Wallace, about 10 years ago with the Westmoreland trial. I did not like his coverage of the Westmoreland trial. It wasn't a "60 Minutes" show, but a 60 Minutes technique.  He'd come in at the last minute. The story -- which had some real legitimacy but they did it in a haphazard way. They had Westmoreland tricking Lyndon Johnson. When in the fact, the truth was, Westmoreland, in cooking the books, was doing it to give Lyndon Johnson what he wanted. And so, Mike apparently took some offense at something I said.  He called me up to ask rather angrily whether I had in fact said these things. I said, 'Yes, indeed,' I had said them.   He said, 'Is it personal?' And I said 'No, it's not. I just don't like the way you and '60 Minutes' operate. This is a story -- you got it wrong.  You went in and did a slap-dash thing. The producers did all the work, you got all the credit and you did it in a weekend.  It's a story that's 10 years of my life.' And he said, 'That's what happens ...,' I remember exactly what he said, he said, 'That's what happens when you do 35 shows a year.'  And I said, 'Mike. Do fewer.'  I could make a lot more money if I did a book every two years instead of every four years. But the books wouldn't be as good."

David Halberstam stands as a example and an indictment to today's market-based "journalism." We will miss his clear-headed analysis, his thoroughness, his courage and his warm humanity. Blessedly, his example lives on in his works.