Mike Wallace made a few mistakes in his professional life but, overall, he was pretty close to the ideal journalist. I imagine even a lot of right-wingers should think so, even though they long ago convinced themselves that CBS and 60 Minutes were liberally-biased. I don’t think Mike Wallace could be fairly called a liberal unless you insist that reality has a well-known liberal bias. Nixon wanted Wallace as his press secretary, and the Reagans counted him as a close friend. He was a tough, tough, journalist, but he didn’t pull punches for one side or the other.
He died last night at the age of ninety-three. I hope his death provides people with an opportunity to review his career and gain some inspiration about how to be a great journalist.
