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Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

At Last, Real Reporting Returns

I saw an amazing report on a congressional scandal the other day. The reporter laid out the issues, and then noted that he tried to talk to the congressman involved, but the man walked out of the interview. The reporter showed a copy of an email going around Congress warning them that he was asking questions and directing staff not to talk to him. He even made a point of mentioning that the legal department of his studio wouldn’t let him show the tape of the congressman walking out of the interview.

Does he give up? No, this guy is an old-fashioned, hard-hitting reporter, you know, Murphy Brown style. Nothing will stop him from getting the story. He finds a provision of the Electronic Communication Regulation Act that allows him to record a phone call and broadcast it. So he turns on the camera, hits the speakerphone, and calls the congressman who walked out of the interview for a statement. The congressman hangs up on him.

You know, this is what you expect reporters to be like: ferreting out the truth despite a powerful establishment that desperately doesn’t want the truth known. Congressmen are so scared of him that they send out a memo warning everyone not to talk to him. His own studio won’t stand up for him for fear of legal reprisals. But he’s so committed to the story that nothing with stop him. He keeps going back with another tactic, and another, until he gets the story–or clearly demonstrates the length the establishment will go to stop him, making them look ridiculous as they cower behind closed doors and dial tones. It was really inspirational to watch.

It’s just a shame that the reporter’s story was about the breakup of the Congressional Softball League.

It’s even more of a shame that the reporter was Dan Bakkedahl of The Daily Show. (Click on the "Designated Bitter" clip.)

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