But the time has come for journalists to acknowledge that a zone of privacy does exist.

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.

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

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.

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

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

The relationship between press and politician - protected by the Constitution and designed to be happily adversarial - becomes sour, raw and confrontational.