DECENCY

David Warren is a journalist, or what a journalist used to be. Or maybe there never was a time when journalism was ever as lofty as those who practice it claim it was, and is.. But when you do find a journalist of extraordinary talent and attitude, it gives you hope again. Even if they get discouraged, there is something worth savoring:

It is not necessary to be pro-Bush, pro-Republican, or even pro-American to tell the truth, as completely as one can. Nor is it necessary to be neutral. What is instead required is a mind that wants to know the truth, and will report what it discovers candidly. It is not even necessary to like people, to treat them fairly: only necessary to realize that hatred makes one blind.

Mr. Warren is such an individual. But he is guided by a quality that isn't even considered important in a newsroom: decency.