David Halberstam

I’m making a brief exception to my blogging sabbatical to join Ralph in saying farewell to David Halberstam. This excellent article by John Berthelson mourns him while reminding us of how much war journalism has changed and some of the reasons for that change.

Quite rightly Berthelson goes beyond the military's partially successful attempts to restrain reporters and the reduced willingness of reporters to put their lives on the line (in an admittedly more dangerous war) to the flaws in our society itself. As Halberstam said, America has become an “’entertainment society. We want to be entertained more than we want to think.’” All too true. We get the journalists that we ask for.

Perhaps there is a slightly hopeful note in ESPN changing its obituary headline so that it no longer identifies Halberstam simply as a “sports author” (though he was very good at that, too).