Yep, professional journalists for much of the 20th century aspired to be conscious of what they were covering and how that served the public interest. There was

Yep, professional journalists for much of the 20th century aspired to be conscious of what they were covering and how that served the public interest. There was a duty being honored. It was exactly this understanding that allowed closeted public figures in politics, entertainment, to navigate a time when it wasn't okay for their personal lives to be made public. Journalists and editors were often aware of stories that could be told, but believed that their duty wouldn't be served by reporting on them. Journalism did not always look like that, and did not everywhere look like that, but it was the prevailing norm. We're now in a very different time again, where any "scoop" that stirs moral outrage, earns lurid eyeballs, or undermines a public figure is not only fair game, but the ideal career-making story.