Investigative journalism in the past wasn't all as great as we like to think. Yes, there was some outstanding work, but there was also a lot of junk from lazy w

Investigative journalism in the past wasn't all as great as we like to think. Yes, there was some outstanding work, but there was also a lot of junk from lazy writers. The news hack who hung out in bars and generated stories from bits of rumor was a stereotype. My own experience with the press was during Gulf War I. Traveling around the Mid-East, it was eye-opening to me seeing how many reporters mostly hung out at the hotel, swapping gossip, and adding datelines for wherever they supposedly had been. It was a joke among photojournalists that they were the only ones who actually had to go there.