Go ahead, Punch

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 4:03 PM Share

Back in the 1980s, when I worked at the Wall Street Journal and the paper considered itself the cop on the beat of corporate America, an editor once told me that "you're not a real reporter until you get your nose bloodied by a libel suit." In other words, be aggressive. I loved that tough-minded attitude, which was shared by the Journal's lawyers.

I wax nostalgic about the golden days of old media because I see where a blogger has been denounced by his chicken-hearted boss. My favorite take on this unfortunate trend comes from Jeffrey Goldberg.

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Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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