The Week

■ “Edward Brooke of Massachusetts—Integrity and Independence in the U.S. Senate”—the cover story in the most recent issue of First Monday, official publication of the Republican Party. What a scoop!

■ Sloppiness in Media: The night before the New Jersey primary, the NBC Evening News carried a story on it, concentrating heavily on the Democratic senatorial race where ex-basketball star Bill Bradley, a political unknown, was challenging Richard C. Leone, the organization candidate. NBC mentioned that the winner would take on veteran Republican liberal Senator Clifford Case, who was himself running against “a Reaganite,” but was assured of nomination. NBC even took the time to show some clips of Bradley’s Knicks career and of one of his TV commercials, showing him tossing a crumpled piece of paper through a hoop in a wastepaper basket. But it didn’t find time to mention who it was who was running against Clifford Case, a violation of the prime rule of journalism, which is to get the Who, When, Where, and Why of a story up top. The missing Who in this case is Jeffrey K. Bell, the man who retired Clifford Case from political life on June 6, and the man Bill Bradley has to beat on November 7 if he is going to make it to the Senate.

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■ “Edward Brooke of Massachusetts—Integrity and Independence in the U.S. Senate”—the cover story in the most recent issue of First Monday, official publication of the Republican Party. What a scoop!

■ Sloppiness in Media: The night before the New Jersey primary, the NBC Evening News carried a story on it, concentrating heavily on the Democratic senatorial race where ex-basketball star Bill Bradley, a political unknown, was challenging Richard C. Leone, the organization candidate. NBC mentioned that the winner would take on veteran Republican liberal Senator Clifford Case, who was himself running against “a Reaganite,” but was assured of nomination. NBC even took the time to show some clips of Bradley’s Knicks career and of one of his TV commercials, showing him tossing a crumpled piece of paper through a hoop in a wastepaper basket. But it didn’t find time to mention who it was who was running against Clifford Case, a violation of the prime rule of journalism, which is to get the Who, When, Where, and Why of a story up top. The missing Who in this case is Jeffrey K. Bell, the man who retired Clifford Case from political life on June 6, and the man Bill Bradley has to beat on November 7 if he is going to make it to the Senate.