And Some of It Is True

When in 1976 an excerpt from The Powers That Be, a section on CBS, appeared in The Atlantic, Eric Sevareid replied in a letter to the editor. “1 have read with interest Mr. Halberstam’s account of CBS News, with which I have spent more than 36 years of my life,” wrote Sevareid. “His material is very well written, and some of it is true.” It was a devastating riposte then, and it gnaws even more now that the complete, expansive version of Halberstam’s investigation into Big Media is available.

It is not that Halberstam is a liar, but that perhaps he is supplying only one version of the truth. The facts—in the sense of names, dates, and places— are not disputable. Instead, as in Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s account of Richard Nixon’s resignation, the situations, the conversations, the attitudes and opinions are suspect. When Halberstam reports a conversation between two men, one of whom is now dead, how reliable is the testimony of the living man, the only possible source, especially when the story is flattering to the source? Halberstam rarely attributes his statements, perhaps because attribution would clog the narrative.

PG

About the Author

Paul Gigot

When in 1976 an excerpt from The Powers That Be, a section on CBS, appeared in The Atlantic, Eric Sevareid replied in a letter to the editor. “1 have read with interest Mr. Halberstam’s account of CBS News, with which I have spent more than 36 years of my life,” wrote Sevareid. “His material is very well written, and some of it is true.” It was a devastating riposte then, and it gnaws even more now that the complete, expansive version of Halberstam’s investigation into Big Media is available.

It is not that Halberstam is a liar, but that perhaps he is supplying only one version of the truth. The facts—in the sense of names, dates, and places— are not disputable. Instead, as in Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s account of Richard Nixon’s resignation, the situations, the conversations, the attitudes and opinions are suspect. When Halberstam reports a conversation between two men, one of whom is now dead, how reliable is the testimony of the living man, the only possible source, especially when the story is flattering to the source? Halberstam rarely attributes his statements, perhaps because attribution would clog the narrative.