Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 11 · column 3 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Rappahannock News: How do you respond to charges that the Press is irresponsible, even unpatriotic, in the way it conducts itself? Does the Press often go too far in criticizing the U.S. government and not far enough in that of the Soviet Union? Brinkley: Those questions are really not possible to answer, because when people say “the Press” what do they mean? The Press runs from those supermarket checkout, so-called newspapers to whatever you believe is the best—magazines, books, broadcast, 2000 television stations, several thousand radio stations - what are we talking about? It’s not as if it (the Press) were one single entity that speaks with a single voice. It is a vast enterprise that covers 50 states, seven days a week, so it is difficult to make any kind of flat judgment and to say “the Press” does this.
To say we’re unpatriotic is crazy. Everyone feels he is able to define patriotism in his own way. I don’t think the Press attacks the U.S. government as an institution. It attacks individual members of it or individual institutions, Congress or whatever. I will attack the Congress tomorrow or any day in the week for its mous failures, and I thinks it’s my duty to do so because they’re guilty of numerous failures.
That is not unpatriotic. It’s just doing what we’re supposed to do, telling people what’s going on, such as right now - they’re unable to agree on a tax bill, they’re unable to agree on budget cuts, because of their own personal fear of losing the next election. (Reporting that) is not unpatriotic. It’s just a factual statement.
If we sugarcoated everything, always said sweet, nice things about everybody whether he deserved it or not - who would want to hear or read that? It wouldn’t be of any value. Rappahannock News: How do you rate the president’s handling of the hostage crisis? Brinkley: I think by the time you get this in the paper, that question will be outdated. I think it’s going to be over. But he’s done about all he could do, and if it works, fine: if it doesn’t work...well, we’ll soon see. I’ll wait and see what happens. Rappahannock News: The Press has come under criticism for its handling of the hostage crisis. How do you rate its performance?
95.7%