The ethics of editorial judgement, however, began to go though a sea change during the late 1970s and 80s when the Carter and Reagan Administrations de-regulated the television industry.

No matter what name we give it or how we judge it, a candidate's character is central to political reporting because it is central to a citizen's decision in voting.

As electronic journalism came to be evaluated for its cost effectiveness, the network world began breaking up.

And what it depends on, of course, is whether the story itself is worth the ethical compromise it requires and whether the competition is onto the story.

The networks found themselves having to compete for an increasingly Balkanized audience.

Journalists, who are skeptical to begin with, simply do not like to be lied to or made fools of.

Most journalists now believe that a person's privacy zone gets smaller and smaller as the person becomes more and more powerful.