THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2002
BOOKS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 11
Review
Journalist's biography merely dull repeat
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Jayplay writer
In journalism classes, aspiring reporters are taught about a multi-tiered source evaluation system, where the best source is a primary source, someone who has seen the action firsthand or is intricately involved in what they are writing about.
Knowing this rule makes John F. Stacks' biography, Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism, troubling.
Reston, a famed New York Times reporter and columnist, is certainly the type of figure who warrants a biography: in his lifetime he schmoozed presidents from three generations, won multiple Pulitzer Prizes and is acknowledged by most as a driving force in The Times' rise to the most respected newspaper in the United States.
The problem is, the book Deadline has already been written by no less a source then Reston himself.
That being said, Scotty is well-written
and well-researched.
In preparing for the biography, Stacks tapped Reston's surviving family, former colleagues and his diaries to form a welldrawn portrait of the man.
Stacks follows a traditional chronological path as he charts Reston's life. Written in the abbreviated style associated with journalism, Scotty is an easy read that makes its subject interesting.
Stacks paints Reston as a swashbuckling type, and he backs it up with rich anecdotes.
In the book's first chapter Stacks tells of a meeting Reston had with then-president John F. Kennedy.
What made the meeting unique was that Kennedy had just met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and spoke to Reston before he spoke to anyone else, White House staff, family or otherwise.
Such access is but a pipe dream for today's reporters, and stories like this are commonplace in Reston's life.
Yet, such stories were known long before Stacks' delivered Scotty. Reston published his memoir in 1991. There's not
much new in Scotty, and certainly not the boldly stated "rise and fall of American journalism."
What is new is relatively asinine. Stacks points out in a footnote that, though Reston's kids never recall him raising his voice, Reston claims to have "spanked the living daylights out of his eldest son."
Perhaps the best "gotcha" Stacks unveils is a discrepancy in the name of a source who helped Reston win his first Pulitzer.
Ultimately, though, Stacks' revelations raise little more then a dull roar and barely warrant mention.
Stacks' background as a reporter, editor and chief of correspondents for Time makes his decision to write about Reston, especially considering he's essentially been scooped by his subject, difficult to understand.
Scotty is full of crisp, clear prose and would otherwise be an outstanding biography.
Because Reston, perhaps the most lauded columnist and reporter in the history of U.S.print journalism,has already told his own story,you have to wonder why you would want to read it again.
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