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

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.

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

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

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