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03/05/2006: "Love the Media, Hate the Media --- It Just Depends on Which Side You're on When."

I was covering part of the Tammy Faye Bakker, Roe Messner, Jim Bakker story for The National Enquirer years ago. It was a fun assignment. At the time it was the big national story and everyone was talking about it. People love sordid things. That's why The National Enquirer has always been so popular.

But let me tell you this, no publication in America checks facts as well as the Enquirer. They check little things. They check big things. They check and double-check. I used to tell my mother that I believed what the National Enquirer printed quicker than the New York Times. Recent years have proved me right on the mark too.

When I was in journalism school newspapers like The New York Times were held in high esteem and we were encouraged to model ourselves after its reporters and editors. Well, it can be debated from the vantage point of several decades if that was advisable or not.

At any rate, back to my story for The National Enquirer. I was in the court room behind Messner. One of his former neighbors, a rich woman of ample proportions, looked over at me and asked, "You're not with the local press. I can tell my the classy way you're dressed. You're with the Enquirer aren't you?"

I winked at her as women do to each other in the private world of women.

Well, I asked Roe a few questions before court started. All he said was, "No comment." I didn't expect much more. I'd get my story from other people anyway. I always get my story.

Here's the point of this diatribe. For years Messner courted the press. He was a big land developer in the area and he loved to get his name and picture in the paper. But when he got caught up in the Tammy Faye thing he suddenly didn't want the press near him. His smile was gone. Oh how people change.

It's that way with politicians. They love the press when they want to use it. But they hate the press when the press catches one of them with their pants down.

I guess that's the way we all are, however. We all want good attention. None of us wants bad attention.

One nice thing about being a journalist is you can write your own press releases. You just have to be careful about believing them.

My father, a former newspaper publisher, used to tell me about something some newspaper had published about him and he'd be all proud and gushing. I'd say to him, "Dad, you wrote the damn press release. You can fool the readers but don't believe your own press."

And so it goes.