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.

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

The written tone and the spoken tone change and the reporters' disbelief in the veracity of the government spreads to the readers and the viewers.

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.

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

For decades, the journalistic norm had been that the private lives of public officials remained private unless that life impinged on public performance.

In exchange for power, influence, command and a place in history, a president gives up the bulk of his privacy.