NEWSWATCH by Thomas Griffith: You Have to Be Neutral to Ask the Questions

Considering the animus that still exists toward the press, it is surprising how universal is the agreement that in the forthcoming debates, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter should be cross-questioned by those paragons of impartiality, journalists. In more paranoid times, anchor men were accused of covertly liberal inflection, and the rise of David Brinkley's eyebrows came under particular suspicion. John Chancellor once locked himself in his bathroom and tried to read a piece of copy before the mirror in ways that would give it different slants. He says he never finished the...

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