Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism

by John F. Stacks

Book Overview

When President Kennedy finished a difficult meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, the first person he talked to was not one of his advisers, his vice president, or his wife. Walking out of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316809853
• ISBN13: 9780316809856
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A bit academic.

I like to read about journalists so I will tenaciously forge ahead through the most boring biographies and find something worthwhile. I had the impression this book would be the same. It starts out slow and seems like the author did a lot of research and then tried to find a way to thread them together seamlessly, which he did not. Still, I found a lot to like about the book and it's historical insight into what truly was a golden age of journalism. A good biography should bring you close to the character, and this book did not. Still, I would recommend it to readers, even if you only end up knowing Reston from a bleachers vantage point.

The rise and fall of a journalism legend

James B. (Scotty) Reston was the high priest of journalism in America before the dramatic growth of television. Professionally, he was dedicated to the notion that the more you could find out...the better the health of the nation. Reston primarily made his name in Washington DC, writing for the New York Times and for most of the 1950's and the 1960's he had unparalleled prestige across America. He also had remarkable access to powerful decision makers around the world. Reston was a complex man. He was protective, kind and fatherly to a slew of great reporters but was cold and distant to his three sons. He was a dedicated husband...devoted to his wife Sally...but he was extremely insensitive to woman journalists who worked for him. Finally, he was a nurturing bureau chief in Washington but a lousy executive editor in the New York headquarters of the Times. Nevertheless, Reston was basically optimistic, moralistic, and a paean to the American ideal that the immigrant son of poor uneducated parents could succeed. Reston's great sin was being taken in by Henry Kissinger's selfish duplicity, according to author John Stacks. Reston was manipulated by Kissinger and eventually became a full-fledged insider. He stopped being a smart, analytical, objective reporter, Stacks reports. Others said that Reston stayed around too long (he kept writing into his early 70's)...that he "wound up being non-interesting and bland." Still and all, "Scotty" was a patron to R.W. "Johnny" Apple, David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, Charles Mohr and many other famous journalists. Bert Ruiz

A Farewell To A Journalistic Relic Before TV Mammal Babbles!

"Scotty," is a tremendous book worthy of your purchase and time to read with interesting tidbits to understand the Gilded Age of American Journalism has it passes from American existence. I was intrigued how the author was brave enough to tell us the truth about the rise and fall of journalism, and how they evolved and have since devolved when the new Dinosaur media took over and is now being replaced by Internet Instant Posters. A wise old man told me sometime ago about Newspaper Men of his day. He said prior to the 1930's most reporters were pencil pushers hanging out at bars looking for a free drink in return for making up a story. Men of substance at that time whether they would be labor leaders, corporate builders, college football coaches, police chiefs or men who ran bookie joints often used them for the purpose to advance a selfish cause by giving out information or misinformation. One reason why newspaper men at that time were often called "root weevils" a mammal born blind and carrying the stink of his mother to keep predators away as they grow in the dirt of tunnels in the ground. However, John Stacks uses the rise of Scotty Reston being one of the first to change both the caliber and perception of journalists. The author clearly makes a convincing case how Scotty Reston was heads above his peers and set higher standards in the White House Press Corp. He tells us, Scotty was not content with stories, but actually went out and enjoyed endearing himself to all people in government. This kind of hard work ended up with him reporting the entire account with accuracy changing the days of regurgitated governmental standard press releases. Overtime, he gained the confidence of all people due to his in depth analysis of asking good questions that were clearly intended to make everyone think of what they were saying let alone policies the people in power were passing. Mr. Reston could often promote or kill a policy or practice with his exquisite research, dependable veritable contacts and precise reporting. As a result, News organizations started to hire more reporters with the caliber of Scotty Reston and the Gilded Age of American Journalism was born to change the world. Sadly, then came the "Age of Award Winning News Readers" on Radio and Television calling themselves journalists. Where American journalism went wrong was calling the rise of Radio & Television News Readers bestowing the term of "Award Winning Journalists," on themselves. They were given such awards from their own regional tiny industry at small-arranged parties. Overtime, it was learned that if you want to sell manure in Nebraska, advertise it. So "Award Winning Journalists," were made up in seconds instead of taking the time to acquire the skills of true journalists approximating Scotty Reston. Today, you see the result of such conversions of making "News Readers," (A Term Still Used In Europe), hired for how they look more often than any proficiency of real journalists. A

Engaging Account of How Political Reporting Changed

This is an engaging biography about the foremost political journalist of his era. More than that, "Scotty" is a revealing chronicle of the transformation of journalism. Scotty Reston embodied the old school, "establishment" journalism of the pre-Vietnam/Watergate variety. His success was founded on incomparable access, born of a mutually trusting relationship with Washington movers and shakers. When Pres. Kennedy emerged from a verbal going-over from Krushchev at the Vienna summit, the first person he spoke with -- and bared his soul to -- was Scotty Reston, who, Kennedy knew, would be extremely judicious in reporting what he learned. Journalists like Reston were natural skeptics, but believed in the essential truth of what government officials told them. White House entreaties persuaded Reston and his colleagues to hold a news-story exposing the planned Bay of Pigs invasion a few days before it was launched. It's hard to imagine journalists today making the same decision.Vietnam and Watergate opened up a wide chasm between journalists and Washington insiders. Natural skepticism hardened into cynicism and the investigative journalism ethos was born. Reston -- despite his many well-earned laurels and impeccable reputation -- failed to keep up. Vacationing at the time on Martha's Vineyard, Reston was the first New York Times reporter to file a report on the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick fiasco. His lead: "Tragedy has again struck the Kennedy family." Mary Jo Kopechne was not mentioned until the fourth paragraph. Reston saw the event through the prism of its impact on the powerful, and ultimately dismissed the episode as a one-day story. It took another younger, more aggressive Times reporter to uncover the truth of the tragedy, and Kennedy's reprehensible conduct that night. Similarly, his too-cozy relationship with Henry Kissinger blinded Reston to the truth about Kissinger's role in the 1972 Christmas bombing of North Vietnam. I do not mean to be negative about Reston. He was clearly the most accomplished journalist of his (or perhaps any) era, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner whose superb reporting routinely broke major news-stories. As broadcast media multiplied, Reston also pioneered a new role for print journalism: explaining why events occurred, not merely reporting what happened. But so much of this book is focused on what the subtitle calls "the rise and fall of American journalism."Readers will also be fascinated by the internecine warfare between New York and the Washington bureau, and especially, the titanic power struggles between Reston and Abe Rosenthal, which resulted in Reston's abbreviated, 13-month reign as Executive Editor. Also notable is the long line of legendary names that Reston mentored -- Halberstam, Wicker, Anthony Lewis, Max Frankel, etc. "Scotty" is a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in the intersection of journalism and politics.

Told by a Reporter' Reporter

As author John Stacks has long been one of my personal heroes, I was delighted to discover this marvelously told biography. For all those who finished Gay Talese's The Kingdom and the Power and wanted more-and who didn't-Scotty is the perfect tonic. As most biographies written by real journalists, instead of officious professors or other biographical dilitantes-and there are plenty of retired stock brokers out there pretenging to be writers-the power of this book is in the feel for anecdotes, the natural flow of the story and the strong simple prose. Best of all is the first few pages where Stacks sums up the reporting profession in a way not seen since Thomas Wolfe's description of the pack outside of a fire in "You Can't Go Home Again." Those few pages alone are worth double the modest purchase price. Most delightfully, I discovered in print, something Mr. Stacks had told me years ago, when as young wannabe reporter I stumbled into his office to seek his sage counsel. He told he then that for every page I wrote, I should read 100. That stuck in my memory and became something I have repeated hundreds of times, sometimes with credit to Stacks, sometimes without. Imagine my excitement at finding those very words of advice in this book. An excellent three day read.