>> sasha fifer joined wbur last year aer reporting for the globe where other award winning stories she played a key role on the spot light tinged investigation that won the 2003 public service pulitzer gold medal for its stories on sex abuse and the catholic church. she was a night journalism fellow in 2004 at stanford universitynd after eturning to the globe she created a legal fairs bt while also covering on profits and philanthropy. bu graduate and a professor there she is a co-author of betrayal the crisis in the catholic church, and atbur you have heard her reports on health science, the environment and maybe a few new things this week. and she got her start in journalism at the weekly times moving to the globe and how 1995. so as for me i wasn fact a reporter at "t wall street

journal" from 71 to 95 and i spent most my time in los angeles where i was depy chief of the los angeles bureau, 40 members, a big bureau for the journal and i covered aviation and the defense industry. moved to boston in 96 to move for the ecomist group which owns cfo magazine and later the online version, cfo.com which is a lot of journalts movinto ..

>> basically it was the lesser known story during these0 yes whe i found in the real treaser. these her case is through the years dating all the way back to world war ihe first prize went to world war i.

that showed how newspaper journalismt is increasingly play a role of exposing local regional and national problems and in those early years they were sti growing at that riod. they would do this in the early year often against great odds. 1920's pulitzer expose and charles ponzi in 1920 was exposed by the bosn post. buzero other -- other stories helped midwestern farmers selnd reflected southern leadership worki for a peaceful school integration in the fifties and they tok on a just as one example a vicious california colts in the late '70s.

from the 1930's on, as able to find journalist who were involved with these projects and i was very fornate to find journalists from as far back as 1936. of those journalists from the thirties have since died but it was truly wonderful to be abo get their stories if they felt like many other jourlists that the stories behind the stories had nev been told before. bike $0.01 from i was working on this pject starting 2002, there were two extraordinary cases of journalism of curbing in our backyard right here in boston. one, the winner in 07 was my old paper the "wall street journal" that won its first for a discovery for how the

the word backdating the stock optionshich costs stockholders a lot of moey the other was a 2002 work that expose the years long the church coverup how o church parishioners were sexually abused by priests. that cameenteie and agaii was amazed mugabe told e story behind the story. at story was rudely interrupted by yet another which was to w the public service pulitzer prize which was an 1 "boston globe" was chugging away on that story when september 11 1/2 bidnd of course, that was a local story well as a regional story national, international and "the new york time one next year for their coverage of

9/11 for their creation of a nation challenge that they invented to help handle that issue. and within a portraits of grief. and did researching the globe story that is where i met sacha pfeiffer and i discovered her racing contributions to the porting. each to reporters has a amazing blend. i ve dealt with a lot of these public service pulitzer prize that were reported by teams and o of sacha function was tinteiew the victims and she really made these interviews come alive and in many cases they had never been talked about. so tonight our discussion wi turn to the question of the first future journalism.

it will be a natural function of looking at some of these eat stories and public service tradition and the loss angeles times and other papers like them. frankly, that is a subject i did not consider a valhi began researching pulitzer goldberger never occurred to me the newspapers would enter this slippery slide so i had two reinvent the book as i got closer to writing it, i rewrote sections to get a sense for what was happening in journalism. i would like to turn things over for some thoughts on the pulitzer legacy and pulitzer gold and what is boming of public servi and the 21st century. >> it is not a totally negative prospect but i want to interject quickly that i was lucky enough to write

about pulitzer gold for a publisher at harvard but i think we should do some full disclosure and state roi has a pdrsonal connection as well this book is an extraordinary journalism and research and it is a gold mine for a journalism junkie. it was fun to read the stories about or the early stories cod you please mentioyour father? >> my father royarris sr. was involved with four teams that won four of the before people slice the onion and one of the stori is one that he had broken himself. >> they were really important.

of t book is both a labor of wonderful journalism and research and history of which we d't have enough for the most of us practicing journalism do it at a breakneck pace we're at a 24/7 schedule, sacha pfeiffer we both got phonealls in the morning after senator kennedy died. we just do it. i thoht it was both a labor of research and a labor of love which is pretty nice. i think i comes back to the passion that lies behind the motive for many of us to become journalist. i think i thought i wouldrow up to the jane austen but that did not work biden said -- instead i became lois

lane. i always had a formula which was very operative in the newsroom of all persuasion. especially the internet news room and it was four for them and one for me i would do for stories which ty assigned to me and the fifth was t one that i really cared passionately and deeply and it was always about the underdog, stvationshining a light on the injustice, that is the part that keeps us going and that is the fuel r all of us that we're always looking for the other side. that is why it will not go away. too quickly answer the future of journalism questio there a future. ma not a healthy futur at thisomento comment journalism is fi maybe not as well but we are in a state of evolution and things are

changing. we are kindf like the darman features coming out of the sea trying to decide if we will ha legs are wings or beaks or heads. or maybe all of them at once which is charming. it would bnice if we could have a crystal ball priction. i really do believe community journasm will not go away. i think print journalism is a long time it is too vital to the community based web sit do not work the same way as the community based weekly or daily use that people have. people want to readbout them salzburg but a very goo example here in bostons the african-american publication which has been floated alone

by the city. that is our important it is. that is unprecedented in the region b we're talked vy carefullyot to use in journalism, unprecedented because as soon as you say it somebody will find the exception. do not telmyditors. [laughter] i do want to report good news that now i will put my profgate hat on. we're kind of scribes or working stiffs i never buy white becse i have inkstands on everything. that is tru the professorhing is who? anyway. young people's interest remains high. i think this is a very positive sign. no less a 30 the and robert maceil recently is speaking

at the school of journalism in arizona described a journalism degree as a new liberal arts degree and why is that? because the foundation of all journalism is curiosity. that is what keeps us going. the question of somewhat older children who say why? who said? those kids that you want to sl. so we're teaching and currie, allegiance to ct, very, very deep research skills whi is what happens we teach prioritization of events try to figure out wt is most impornt and clear succinctating so much so that i often tell my students especially the ones that i love to write i say ts is of creative writing. that is what it is.

and we teach the way to funnel and present truceo identify its employment ford and defended because the only thing we have to market is our own integrity. and our own tth. those aremportant qualiti. but turning to investigative journalism which remains the:will the standard -- the gold standard i have been lucky enough be part of a pulitzer tm that was from the dney king riots in the los angeles. we have all worked on tm when you do the work you're not thinking i'm a dead day pulitzer you're thinking this is a hot story and very important.

is ver time-consuming thi kindf reporting and tht is one reasowhy it is in jeopardy and iis very expensive. most reporters, the notion o a spotlight dedicated team is growing more and more rare in the news room. instead, what we' seeing is a hybrid just like the automobile industry which is pretty exciting. we're seeing in journalism, write out of journalism school i worked with a photographer named joe rosenthal who you may know it took the famous photograph of her -- of the flag over iwo jima. he had class is like this and he used to come running and screaming stop the presses. this just in. i pulled this off of the web

today. th is rom a gup of reporters from the san diego union tribune who have launched something callea watchdog instite. there is a group of reporters who were fming an investigive journalism organizations and non-profit and the heartening thing is the saniego union. they will be providing stories for various outlets within the community, we focused on that particular area and the survey in no other place and the virgin islands, we see a very, very aggressive groep of rerting-- reporters looking at the virgin islds daily news. and here it is a gorgeous paradise place and they are digging up ambitious projects

with titles like contract showing hothe government had created a sham company to award contracts. this is a reallimportant subjects and t public needs to know this information, how else will they get it? knowhere. more and more you will see the hybrid where reporters and committed journalists who may be hard beingarginalized fr their own newsroomsand are setti up their own outfit. there is a big group bought of new york which has some of the best reporters in america. it is a wonderful thing now we're seng a lot of a partnering with univeities.

we have a new england center for investigative jrnalism which represents a partnership or practicing journalist thomas to journalists, and the univsity. it is a win-win for evebody and brandeisuniversity of wisconsin, uc-berkeley has eight excellent program going on. they haveone may work with "60 minutes" and elsewhere are regret to say harva. also would word bernstein and the water gator not the only stories they are probably one of the sexiest and hotte and best well known. and if you are played by robert redford let get

serious. the kids to learnhese stories and good news is they want to bece these journalist. my eight students look at all the president's men and they do not wanto look like those guys. or anybody else in the newsom it is not about becoming those specific people they want the hard work they know it is not an easy job but they want to the glory. we all want to the glory. that is not a bad thing. you are a cory hog because you worked so hard. th other element to note is the form of delivery will be changing and changing now. because many newspapers and chains are out rht vanishing

which is tragic. we'll worry about the hometown paper here in boston enormously. i do not think it will go aw. or those that are cutting back so muah on staff the tribune corporation which is the parent corporation of "the los anges times" has eliminated all nationalorreondents except the staff of the "l.a. times". they're not delivering national news to all tribune papers. the form of delivery will be changing and we will see much more mf the invtigative team work stories such as what we're describing from these sure group's san diego and elsewhere perfume to go investigative to analyze that -- journalism websites there are many but there is no way to monitor of ls you are with a university or a pulitzer prize winning

journalist who knows if we're kidding wikipedia? do not know but it is in a statef evotion. fo that reason i think we will get the pulitzer committee having to make some evolution of its own broker right now pulitzer is staunchly completel prhnted centric. that is it. >> it is more thing but sooner or later they have to admit there's good journalism being done on the web specific. will ve to see that. i certainly know their web sites that i read daily for certain pieces of information particulate investigative. it is all changing. th help of you have morning pape delivered well into the next century. or enter the next life

hereafter wherever we go. >> did not want to fettered sacha matured mention of what is going on in boston does create a huge issue wondering about that amazingeporting going on in 2002 and whether that can still continue so i hope you attack that. >> when i read roi book it is a reminder me of a story that i had told them you really go breakck speed to and it is endlesslynteresti its hard to be bedhe hard part is you canno control yr schedule so you loseontrol of your personal life. i have a friend of the globe who said she could never make weeknight ans with anyone i say i am a reliable person whose job makes me and reliable crazy news is not just between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 -9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..

when i was in downtown boston and asked to join the spotlight team my eight colleagues said enjoy your early retirement the reputation as one a two projects a very routine ninth and that is the expectation that you went down tre but in my case itned out the opte because we did do one project about shoy home construction and the typical pattern was a three d series, follow ups with then you write about the change when week began to write about the pre-story and publish, it became a davy beat for the globe and i think we felt we could not let ourselves be beat on the story we had started. in my cas it was not early retarement at all. it was exhausting but it was a privilege to do that type of work for the spotlight team works or it is private the private to get to and even within the newspaper very few

peop know it was happening. we basically wanted to get qo far ahead that nobody else could catch up with us when we were ready to publish. in my case, the brief history and early 2002 the clove got a new editor wh isll there he was at the "miami herald" he was fresh eyes on a new story -- old story. rememberhe quote brought about the priest and the's a laugh a suit it wld file lawsuits regnery aboutexua abuse part of a former global columnt wrote a column that mentioned the if files are sealed because the chdiocese'requested that the court al them that the churches private interest outweighed the public's need to see theapwork that means most of the gate an

files are not ailable and so the glob said why h nody questioned theity ask the globe's lawyers to go to court to overturn it when is the globe's lawyers went to court and ultimately they were succesul then he came to the spotlight team and said why don't you try to figure out how much was known about this case? the church said it was a f bad apples weave a sense there were many more priests and church and on this is happening so we began to do that. we found out t problem was much more widespread and have gone on for decades arisen incredible documentation people reptedly went to the bishops and archdioces and parents wou be placated the priests were shipped elsewhere there would go from the south shore to thenowshoer one pear had taken her kid on a

ski trip and came across the polica she had complained disappeared and she thought the church had handled it on the ski trip he had been sent to another parish in massacses. we worked on the story. weere on it for a solid year and a hal we finally decided it was time for the spotlight team move on calmat their religion reportetakeover it was a certain reaction and people were tired but we also felt that the spotlight tea have let them down but the reality is there is a point* where we had to hand off and start a new project. because you are led to me on yo own and take as much time as you need in the newsroom there is iredible pressure to be prolif and productive and sometimes you ask me if i have a quota.

never a quota but they have the 80 if you're not bancing producing enough newine to do meaningful stories tt will take lot of time to rert my old boss had an expression about digging dry wells of the think you have good story maybe it is not as good as you think and spend one weekn something you tell your editor you cannot deliver. >> or longer. >> setimes have to go down the road to figure it is worthwhile and with the investigative team you have to take four or five people's time for qui a while. that is the big concern newspapers are in a lot of trouble and how long can they continue to fund that kind of project for you put somebody offer while when you try to do asuch work with a much smaller staff can do afford to work for five people and

privacy that has impact? the glo still does the partners with the healthcare series coming very "in-depth" and detailed. we have a reporter at the globe who did a great story about the pension abuse within the state. up until now the ago but mid myogbin is committ to that their investigative team has been around since 1970 which is a good sign. and some incredible innovative programs a lot of these her nonprofits or philanthropy funded. there is a different kind of risk if you're not self-sufficien then you are vulnerable to market changes that could hurt the deep pockets of your funding so that is what we're working through. but all of us up here we hope brass newspapers tried to figure out what they c become do not lose that piece of it.

we have already giv up national and international reporting so hopefully we can do the deep the ticking local stories because the one thing i tell people is you have to question authority because if you don't, this ishat happens. that is why you need these teams that ask questions and dig around sohe bad things don't happen. >> there is one piece of this the want to bring up that takes us back to the book tha is an organization which comes intoour community and will do a story that needs to be done so often this is dependent on things bubbling up from the beach and this is one of the pieces that is missing that when publition whether be web sites for newspapers, when they begin to look at things that i can

bring in the expert reporte to find out about our problems the history in most of the cases, the story originally mes from the reporter whether religion or the court reporter, the case of watergate if you remember the movie or the book begins to bubble up from what is said in the courtroom. >> or the offhanded remarked. tell that story. >> i have a better reason for telling philadelphia. baidu want to touch on couple of sries. the case where it comes from the beat is the one thing we have to worry abo when we worry about mainstream media begins to decline purred you cannot cover t beat with amateur reporters in the way we can do right now. nothing wrong with amateurs it just that we have all of

these trained reporters that do know how to get a story, work on team, to have a blend of the young reporters who can work 24/7 and the experts like walter robinson o will come in and snd all of this time as story family. is still necessaryommodity and one of the things i think we forget. blocks can handle less come to a group of experts like "pro publica" can hane it. the reason "the philadelphia inquirer" case was raised it is just one case from thbook that has a couple of things going for it. it is easy to tell because it is a fairly short story. some of these coming you get in about 18 works and you can tell what sacha was saying, i think is fun to read about it. but it is sometimes a little

hard to relate especially in a microphone. the other nice thing about the story is that it is the kind of story that can be done by any reporter anywhe as long as the reporter has t support of the editor just to say go get me the story. he now watch for a the "washington post" but was a "the philadelphia inquirer" and just put on a new be. was covering the local business of the business page. one day he was giving blood at the office. it was just something that he did and while he was sitting there, watching thelood come out of his arm he thought, i really don't know what happens to this blood when it leaves meyer. put it in a bag and some where it becomes guess they commodity?

it might make a good little story. mecal business reporte why shouldn't i look into this? he wento his editor who was a blood donor and sai i don't know eher. he put down his notes about whatould you do? the first thing you do is go to the local red cross and set up an interview with the local office a he sid iould like to do a story. wasiving blood and figured if iid not know anythg about where the blood goes. what happens after i give it? what price do put on a liter oflood? the director said why are you asking this question? we don't he toell you anything about this. [laughter] >> that is a major red flag. [laughter] >> he wrote referred tos his and 10 and began to wobble and

that was the beginning of his decision he needed to spend some time with u luckily he had an editor that was a legend in the newspap busine and was a truly great editor of all time and they said go for it you have the time to that. ofhat is an expense the person who was supposed to recovering the medical business no longer can do those spot stories because he or she has to now house to follow-up this story and that is the expense of the investigive team. the newspapes rst cut back on the most expensive things for reporters are almost all gone. then they started to cut back on the investigative beets will come soo >> one of the much reserve

damages is often times it can beisky to have the beat reporter do a very controversial study because you can torch bridges in the process of there's a discussion aboutt what point* do bring in the religion reporter? because he will need to maintain longer-term relationships and the spotlit team could afford so again what do you lose if you don't have that team that could not worry about the long term cultivation? to rec that was pt of the ne when i discovered nobody ha come to the repr and said how did the story evolve? i could go to the reporters and for me as a 40 reporter, i was fascinated to find out what michael paulson felt abt not being the point* man of the story from the beginning. it was not great. all of this religion reporting was going on all round her while was covering the church by the time it was

over, he had written more of the stories are his name was more on the stories but it took awhile to get to that pot*. >> and ty can get upset because of an stomping on their turf, it is awkward. for instance we do not necessarily know as much as about thchurch we may use the wrong nomenclature to seek the bigger story we may not have had all the right terminolog i remember as one it reporter having to learn the catholic terminology was omething. it is like a new day glossary. >>ut will report readers don't know what i hope comes alive in the book is that each of these great stories starts

with some little germ, some little curiosity our basic question and when you go back and do theost-mortem, you find this azi i stopped using the word incredible. i do not like to talk about incredible reporting people take that literally. there is anmazi process of for a story starps to give blood in the office aost all of the stories i write back and look at the light bulb moment where some reporter 70 realizes this story that he or sh haseen coveri every day could be the story of a lifetime. that is what we need to encourage that is why i was so amazed to find that so few of these stories had been told. >> there is one more threat of

like to bring up. we talked out the finances and cut back in theudget and in the number of reporters and that is the consolidation of newspapers and news organizations a sometimes they fall into the hands of the business owners. for instance, the owner of the tribune corporation who has been trying to unload it from aasically said pulitzer, i will not use that over langua, who gives a blank about 217 after the l.a. tms has scored quite a fes. they are not important. so how, we did not get much affirmation we do not mak a lot of money. we do aull xear brian williams buthose who get the phone calls at 2:00 the moinare not making a lot

of mey but working ver hard but we'd love and care about it. ere is a sense of affirmation when a pulitzer prize and his the word did it is a delirious moment for everyone. a moment when you feel your entire organization has been recognized and in particular those that has worked so hard. e champagne flows and people are giddy and crazy. its not about us versus them but something good happened. it is remarkable. >> travel like to open the floor for some questions but one other point* i want to make the promising sayinis it should be encouraging young peoplere still studying journali and how they can serve whether on-line or print. the other thing that occurs to me is very promising is a news literacy movement.

but i think all those young people whoo not know the difference between a blog post or something that pops up on their telephone or from a friend and a fully rorted story in a newspaper. there is aovement going on to try andeach students and aders how to evaluate the material that they get how do they look at the rort? senate gives them the kind of tools that most of us looking out in this audience, most of us learned how to read sensibly when you read. a lot of kids do not have that. media it is media if it is flashing, it i true. but e news litery movement

is applying the same kind of discipline we learned and i think it is a very positive thig. you're hearing a lot of positive things probably when you saw the future churn -- journalism you thought it would be so terrible but you can do that because you are the audience. any questions? people is a me what my favorite story is i say it is judging children. i don't do that but we have talked about a couple. any burni question? somebody is going to the microphone. they follow the instructions. >> thank you for a hopeful discussion of the future of investigative journalism but what i read from a book those expecting to hear the back storof how the prizes are awarded or if there is some controversy or drummond to that is that the next but? >> it is in the book.

it was not driving me in the beginning a wanted to tell the stories of the reporting but in doing it i found myself getting deeper a deeper into the pulitzer process. i was writing a lot of that for the journalis to see how it works i've found in the early an@ middle days who, no one knew what 8 was. it is hard t imagine that. because we have an ima. the was no sense of what a pulitzer prize was. it b amazing that editors would say yodid a great job but eventually it became institutionalized come in newspapers knew abou prices and wajted totart to win them and at that point* inhe forties and fifties cong begin to have real questio raised about who was calling

the shs, but a sll group of white guys and ties, the people who were running journalism in the forties and fiies, not an 12 really after world war ii you began to have women in the news room. there are dedicated to picking up they thought were the best ries of the year and fight each other off if they saw for example, the system was being gauge. on of the rules is no publication should win more than two prices in one year. the use that against each other and one classic case is ben bradlee whwas on the board at "the washington post" cong in during watergate sure he would have to fight to get watergate to win because you remember what newspapers were not falling water gate. they thought "the washington post" was off on a tangent not

until people started to confess it was clear that they have really been on the right ac but in the late '70s there s a refor movement that ofhe pulitzer prize and i tried to track this with pple ifside and outside the organization, there were some very strong leaders to reformed the pulitzer movement to makeure was a derse group and came from small and large papers, the jury was diversified, and what has come out of it coming is a pure kind of committee that existed there now. we have a bit of a proem as elisabeth suggested coming tting dragged into the modern world of media. when it comes to the bus stories of the year, they are devoted to makg sure that certain qualities are recognized when they named t

prices. i think the book does trace hothe changes between the '70s and '80s and '90s. >> from your reporting to what extent did you think politics and illustrates the process at all or what point* is it just re merit? >> i think it is now. the only pce you have real politics when the board takes the jury recommendatn and they sit down, there are 14 prizes, one of which is public-service, journalism is what i am talking about but th look at the 14 stories that the juries have picked parker and they will serve out the ones they have overruled they figure do not belong. i wld not call that a litical decision but a pure decision of when we have this body of work for the like year we wt to make sure t 14 stories that are a top

expression of america and journalists them are the ones that areected. that eleme of politics is gone but now you have a situation where they don't worry about a publication getting four or five prices. washingtonn 2003 the era gf 9/11 vineyard times 17 prizes and there are only 14 including the public service prize. "the washington post" 15 in 2008 y will see thamore and more more prizes are awarded to one publication. >> sometimes it is true there are ces where editors plot stories with the hope for the anticipation it is a pulitzer

project and they have the resources and the quality and it works. >> i like howt gives th array of the different types of winners the near coverage after september 11 was rh and incredible and very thorough probe itransform the way we us journalists to practice our craft. it was a very important mont. >> a it was a great with tata -- win but o the other side is a great soul ever you do not@ have to be a hujdred pound gorilla. it does give you a great advantage but it can be done in small places symmetr lawyers love the underdog senate there were some underdog at "the new york times" one of the tngs that amazed

me, here is another case where i talk to the editors who had planned and put together portraits of grief and what i und we essentially had the accidental pulitzer. middle level editors just like all of us when pressed, are told one of the editors who had just came ove fm tuesday was told bring me a treatment of how we handle the victims. on the second day of 9/11. if you remember, w did not know who was dead. we did not know who was missing. but weid not know anything whether itas a couple of thousand or 20,0. you are on the newspaper, the greatest newspaper in the country trying to figurout how to cover this.

here is christine whose job is to tell me h to cover the victims. portraits of grief began t evolve because they could not call them obituaries. they did not know livg or dead. all they knew it iseople were missing. in fact, i found where this came from, it was the flyers' and sh began to collect. have you seen my husband or have you seen my cousin? last seen going up to windows on the world. and it was those pamphlets that began to suggest to her she began to develop the 200 word profile extremely controversial those of us remember profiles o grief rember tham as a tool inuding the family that would say why didn't you say that my son was the head of the rotary?

that was the biggest thing in his life but the article was about how he was a great soccer coach for his kid. they have hammered away at one low element of theirife. of some of the relatives who got involved did not think that was the case but amazing stories that came out you assume "the new york times" of and everything like the military movement but it was not that way at all. they did not know where the names would come om, portraits of grieft bubbled up and i found out later th were opposed by the top editors but they did not know what to do about aut they were already in print. >> please come to the microphone. >> >> he imagine the four reporters were their ones

to be gotten rid of. do you foresee a new model for reporting on foreign affairs? >> there's a wonderful model coming out of boston. we are so lucky to have that re. global pt.com rst is a ally excitinadventure in journalism. it is the brainchild of the former foreign correspondent for the globe. was the mager as well? i am not sure. he is a wonderful reporter, a report's reporter. he wrotehe stoes we all wi we had written and the founder of new england cable news. which by the way is the oldest regional cable news and the country. when he started that people said are you nuts?

fifth of course, it was a model for everything else. it is a web site dedicated entirely t foreign news and international. but what makes it interesting is they have correspondents based in all of the countries that are practicing journalist, nojust said ascend journalism. it ireally exciting. it made its debut in january so it is still new but so exciting. my son was worng on some of eir blogs. and i have a cou@le of students that have gone to enter wit them it is an exciting moment. it eliminates the cost of sending correspondence to a country because they are already there. it also eliminates the response of nature, a writer revolution or a coup takes place today the ecution and

nigeria, you have to send somebody there, they are there they already kno the context and something about the country, they do not have to get from a we have to parachute into this and in 30 second become the world's leading expert on paraguay. which means we had to cram our brains of these are people who are in the committee and understand it and it is very, very exciting d they know how to do for reportine they are skilled journalists. >> if you do not know the language and have to learn the currency there's a lot of obstacles and to just get the story. >> and still an island of sanity in a global madhouse but we have been cutting back so much from when the tribune had a staff follow the world, "l.a. times" have a staff all over the world. >> but that was not @ huge. >> two or three?

>> five or six or seven. [laughter] >> we really need to balance that out. my former employer, the economist, is in hogeaven because nobody is delivering for news and it is growing because it can deliver this. we aren't getting a lot of news from the associatedress and those are coming through e few reporters out there. >> but we are becoming progressively more insulated and we don't know much about wh we get to which is the quaint tradition stories. one of my editors used to call with the low gre man arriving from mars when you look at the strange habits of opposed toomebody who have some context and knowledge and understand the culture. it is very dangeus because we don't get enough from the

rest ofhe world here. >> also a danger that a lack outside? >> of course. because and totalitarian regimes whre you cant cover news very accurately or you will die or we banished. that happens with the white house. you may not die but that happened in the george debut bush white house a lot. a very good question. but now have editors in this country who can stop and say what? that may generate to our be the moment that iou do send people over and attorney did a big two were and look at the stories from the outsider perspective. you are quite write. >> we will take one more question.

we're running a little over an hour. >> first i he quick sty, iot a call from springfield massachusetts and i was up in new hampshire yesterday theyaid to get "the boston globe" there was the article where paulson ote about one of a great survivors oone of the great friends of mine. but in boston he is down too. >> they had to editions out stop the presses and put ted kennedy on the top page. >>rites. but phil is a dear friend and i followed the clergy sexual abuse month from a regional thing.

i made io one of kevin's columns and the springfield, it was a resource differential h the local newspapers say, they were not ab to compete with the globe in terms of extension it -- extensive coverage but particularly when the reporter went to several dioses and so i think looking at the new site at that time or what kathy does daily coming were able to get a flavor of it but it seemed like theseeporters were competing against resources of a great commuications systems. how does that impact, my question is, a major story

like that, how does that impact local stoy sadr just as significant in other areas? >> some can be replicated at may have been a story where you have a disadvantage if you were smaller because we needed lawyers. the pre-story was so strong because the story cannot of the fe cabinets i had to feel it was too numb when the messenger because it came from the files that came frolegal an that may be harder for smaller firms. >> bid could open it up yet the springfield newspapers had a challenge locally in trying to get that information. >> sometimes the way to tell what locally is perhaps have very specific cases and i know in new hamhire there were some very good reporting on the diocese direct and there

were some public court cases without lawyers. >> one of the wonderful things about the clothes extraordinary effort on this, and prompted investigations all over the country. it scare the pants off of the church, as marino. [laughter] -- as we know. people would say what was it with the priest in boston? that is not the point* is happening all over. that is why you need to get ahold ofhe file cabinet. >> anything that you see is worthy it is worth calling the newspaper but people are reluctant to do that. they take newsroom phone calls. >> almost all of them that have