# Why can’t more reporters be like Mike Wallace? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 24, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010 "2006-05-24T06:09:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/21 "2006-05-26T15:12:41Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Though I haven’t thought of this before, I think it would be more fair to compare Wallace to other TV journalist and not to other genuine reporters. In that category, which has the most influence, Wallace is more courageous than the rest. I fear that after he is gone TV news will significantly become even more useless than it already is, and that there might be no hope at all to save it. Now you’re talkin’. I’ve even lost faith in my favorite TV talking heads, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, because they simply refuse to do the heavy lifting of research, choosing instead to amp up emotions while ignoring real facts, and calling it [“good television.”](http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000418.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/22 "2006-05-26T19:25:38Z")
If there’s hope for TV news, it’ll have to come from a viewer push for more content and less crap and opinion (although that’s usually redundant when we’re talking TV). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/23 "2006-05-26T19:36:22Z")
It’s sad that his bootlicking son Chris, who can never be considered in his father’s class, thinks [“the man has lost it”](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/11/100751.shtml). It’s even sadder that he said it on the air. > [@](#): > > “He’s 87-years old and things have set in,” the Fox anchor continued. “I mean, we’re going to have a competence hearing pretty soon.” That was in response to: > [@](#): > > On Thursday, the elder Wallace told the Boston Globe that if he had the chance to interview President Bush, he’d ask: > > “What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn’t want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn’t have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/24 "2006-05-26T20:27:04Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It’s sad that his bootlicking son Chris, who can never be considered in his father’s class, thinks [“the man has lost it”](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/11/100751.shtml). It’s also sad that Chris Wallace interviewed his father on the air about a month before making that comment. That’s great journalism- interview your father on the air even though you think he’s mentally incompetent. Kinda makes him look like an ass either way. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/25 "2006-05-26T20:28:13Z")
Eh. Chris Matthews is a Republican shill (don’t gimme any of that crap about him working with Tip O’Neil, that was 25 fucking years ago). Olbermann I have considerably more faith in; as far as him not doing the heavy lifting of actual reporting, maybe so, but he at least treats important stories with a sufficient level of gravitas, and gets guests who do so as well. There are no ratings grabber shoutfests on Countdown. BTW, isn’t Mike Walllace like, 90? What do you expect him to do, dodge shrapnel in Iraq at his age? ---
**Author:** ![Monty22002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Monty22002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty22002)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/26 "2006-05-27T06:52:35Z")
"Why can’t more reporters be like Mike Wallace? " The Soviet Union collapsed? ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/27 "2006-05-27T07:50:03Z")
I never thought I’d be saying this at 67, but, let’s look to the future, not revel in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010/28 "2006-05-28T09:18:58Z")
Former journalist here. I don’t think Mike Wallace is that great of a “reporter”. I don’t think he’s a reporter, period. That’s not his background. He never did the legwork to earn that title. Dan Rather and Peter Jennings did. What you see coming out of Mike Wallace’s mouth is mostly the work of others: teams of producers, reporters, and researchers. Mike Wallace comes in, reads the notes they hand them, crosses this out, underlines that, and then goes for the camera. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-t-more-reporters-be-like-mike-wallace/358010.md?page=1)