During the Clinton scandal, the general public relies on the American journalist to report to them on the details. Some members of the public may tire of hearing about it, they may not even want to know, but the journalist's job is to provide the information for those who want the information.

The Clinton scandal also allows journalists an opportunity for reflection.

A journalist must step back from time to time and look at his work. He must question his ethics, his morals and his ability to be fair and unbiased.

It is easier said than done.

Every person in this world is born into an environment different than that of his neighbor. During his lifetime, a person experiences different events, meets new people and discovers more day by day. A journalist is no different and lives through the same process. He develops through events, information and the people he meets. With his experiences behind him, he wants to change the world through his work.

The journalist not only develops, but his field develops, too. Journalism spreads from word-of-mouth to print to radio to television and to the Internet. News becomes more accessible to be read and to be written and modern journalists must compete with all the competition for the scoop.

"As the free press develops, the paramount point is whether the journalist, like the scientist or scholar, puts truth in the first place or in the second," Walter Lippman, an American writer and editor, said.

Since the beginning of the Clinton scandal, many journalists reported "breaking" news through "anonymous" sources to scoop other reporters. Network stations interrupted programming for a breaking story. Banners across magazines and newspapers proclaimed the latest headlines.

The media are on a roll.

Yet journalists still need to step back and question their own ethics and morals on how the coverage is being given and how the current scandal was covered over the past eight months.

Mass media faced this dilemma before during Watergate from 1972 to 1974.

President Richard Nixon was investigated by rookie Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The result was Nixon's resignation. Two reporters changed history.

When President John F. Kennedy allegedly had affairs with women, the media kept silent. The media did not report that Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheelchair for much of his presidency. Rumors over FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wearing a dress were also kept quiet by the media. The media were silent during these scandals because society did not want the respectability of the presidency of the United States to diminish. How could reporters have changed history if they had reported those scandals?

Nixon and now Clinton's scandal are giving us a look into what could have been.

Today, presidential scandals can be broken on the Internet, much like Internet gossip hound Mike Drudge did with the Clinton scandal. Drudge used to work at a convenience store. He has no formal journalism education. The media doubted him at first, but less are doing so now.

Does that mean the journalistic standards taught in colleges and universities aren't worth the thousands of dollars a year students pay? Can anyone claim to be a journalist now?

The answer is unclear.

Journalism schools are emphasizing marketing and public relations more. The Internet features information available for anyone by anyone.

On Sept. 11, 1977, more than 400 U.S. journalists were said to have given the Central Intelligence Agency information and assistance since 1950. The next day, several news organizations, including the New York Times, Newsweek and Time, as well as network news departments, denied knowledge of the alleged link.

The Constitution states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press. It is because of that fundamental freedom that journalists exist in America as they do. It is because of that freedom that anyone in America can write and say whatever they wish, providing it doesn't defame, slander or libel anyone.

Is the integrity of journalists eroding with Clinton? Will reporters be able to dig themselves out of the slime pit where some U.S. citizens believe they are?

It depends on how they deal with issues after the Clinton scandal is over, if ever it is over. If journalists reflect, think and deal with their coverage of the scandal, the pit might not be so deep.

The American journalist may be right again.

American statesman Henry Clay said it best in 1850: "Sir, I would rather be right than be President." [[In-content Ad]]