Some journalists write history, or at least the first draft thereof; some journalists change history through the strength of their reporting; some journalists do neither but have a good time nibbling around the edges and are often amusing in the process.
Most journalists who rise to prominence in their fields do live interesting lives, deal with interesting and often powerful people, and travel to interesting, often esoteric places. They can be our surrogates, our eyes and ears, sometimes even our advocates, and often we share their experiences vicariously. And in the era we are looking at, most journalists did all of this on other people’s money.
But when they talk or write about themselves, rather than the world they watch and investigate for us, as in autobiographies, the paradigm changes. Sure, there are additional insights gained from their war stories, but do we really care if the champagne was good, whether they cheated on their partners (or their...
Hugh Winsor is a veteran member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery who wrote a political column in the Globe and Mail for several years out of both Ottawa and Queen’s Park in Toronto. He was also a national correspondent for CBC Televison’s The Journal.
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