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Page Turners: 'Deadlines Past'

Aired October 29, 2003 - 15:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to reporting on politics, few people can match the experienced eye of former Associated Press reporter Walter Mears. He writes about the most memorable events of a career spent covering 11 different presidential campaigns in a new book, "Deadlines Past: 40 Years of Presidential Campaigning, A Reporter's Story."
Walter Mears, did you love every minute of being out there as a reporter?

WALTER MEARS, AUTHOR, "DEADLINES PAST": Some minutes were better than others. We traveled all over together. You know what it's like sitting out of somebody's...

WOODRUFF: I know. I first met you in 1976, covering Jimmy Carter.

MEARS: Sitting outside of somebody's hotel, waiting for them. There's a lot of guard duty that goes with it. But I would say, make it 90 percent, and I love that. It was a great way to make a living. I would do it all again.

WOODRUFF: Well, you were waiting for the phone call, somebody asking you to go back to New Hampshire right now. Who knows, maybe that call is going to come.

MEARS: It comes.

WOODRUFF: You have a reputation as being the fastest writer around, not just writer, but the guy who gets the lead, gets it right, and does it. Where does that come from?

MEARS: I have no idea. I can't claim credit for it. I was lucky. I was, I guess, born with an ability to write. And I -- I practiced it for a very long time. And writing makes writing better. And so I can't account for it, except to be thankful that I had it.

WOODRUFF: Well, you also talk a good bit in here about how reporters used to give some of these politicians a pass with some of what they did. But, nowadays, that doesn't happen. Why -- what happened? What's that change all about?

MEARS: I wouldn't say so much a pass, as that there was a time when you could talk to a politician, a group of us could talk to a politician, we could sit down and have a drink and chat about life and things in general, and it didn't all wind up in print. I didn't regard it so much as a pass as a human relationship that isn't available anymore.

WOODRUFF: Why not?

MEARS: Too many people have been burned. So the candidates are very leery. Any time they go out in public, there's a boom mike hanging over them, there's a camera on them, there's tape recorder all around them.

So any unguarded moment can be a disaster for a major candidate -- or a minor one, for that matter. And it's put a wall, I think, that wasn't there before. I think we see a lot more of them now, particularly on TV. But we may know them less well than we did a long time ago.

WOODRUFF: Has campaigning gotten dirtier? Has it gotten rougher? How has it changed over this time?

MEARS: Well, what's around us here is what changed it, television.

I write a little about the experiences I had in my first campaign in 1960, which, my duty was a lot different then. I was 25 and not one of the senior people, obviously. But I covered John Kennedy's first speech after the nomination in 1960. It was in New York.

WOODRUFF: Wow.

MEARS: And I remember the television cameras in the back of the room, big, huge, bulky movie cameras, with lights, and cumbersome, in the way, couldn't be moved. They had to be set up long before the event began. It was hours from the time the film was made until it could be developed and put on the air, yes. And look at what happens now. It's instant. It's...

WOODRUFF: Has that made politics, made campaigning worse, because television -- not just television, but the whole 24-hour, constant deadline cycle is now dominant?

MEARS: It certainly has made it a lot more difficult.

And, as I say, it has led candidates to become much more guarded and insulated. And, in a way, it's made politics worse, because I think candidates are now packaged and sold like toothpaste, which wasn't the case a long time ago. You took the person in a different way.

WOODRUFF: But if you want to leave our viewers on a positive note, what would it be? What should they find redeeming in all of this?

MEARS: Well, all the people that I write about in here and most of the people that I met over my career were people that sort of defy the current cynicism.

I think most people who go into politics do it because they think they have something to offer. Obviously, they want power. They want to lead. But the motives are not base. And most politicians, I think, are well-motivated, honest people who work hard to try to accomplish things for their constituents.

WOODRUFF: An uplifting note upon which to talk to Walter Mears about. His book, "Deadlines Past: 40 Years of Presidential Campaigning, A Reporter's Story."

Walter Mears, an extraordinary reporter, great to talk to you.

MEARS: Well, thank you very much, Judy. It's been a delight to be here.

WOODRUFF: Thanks very much. Great. We'll be watching you as you -- we'll see whether we see you out on the campaign trail this year.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODRUFF: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 29, 2003 - 15:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to reporting on politics, few people can match the experienced eye of former Associated Press reporter Walter Mears. He writes about the most memorable events of a career spent covering 11 different presidential campaigns in a new book, "Deadlines Past: 40 Years of Presidential Campaigning, A Reporter's Story."
Walter Mears, did you love every minute of being out there as a reporter?

WALTER MEARS, AUTHOR, "DEADLINES PAST": Some minutes were better than others. We traveled all over together. You know what it's like sitting out of somebody's...

WOODRUFF: I know. I first met you in 1976, covering Jimmy Carter.

MEARS: Sitting outside of somebody's hotel, waiting for them. There's a lot of guard duty that goes with it. But I would say, make it 90 percent, and I love that. It was a great way to make a living. I would do it all again.

WOODRUFF: Well, you were waiting for the phone call, somebody asking you to go back to New Hampshire right now. Who knows, maybe that call is going to come.

MEARS: It comes.

WOODRUFF: You have a reputation as being the fastest writer around, not just writer, but the guy who gets the lead, gets it right, and does it. Where does that come from?

MEARS: I have no idea. I can't claim credit for it. I was lucky. I was, I guess, born with an ability to write. And I -- I practiced it for a very long time. And writing makes writing better. And so I can't account for it, except to be thankful that I had it.

WOODRUFF: Well, you also talk a good bit in here about how reporters used to give some of these politicians a pass with some of what they did. But, nowadays, that doesn't happen. Why -- what happened? What's that change all about?

MEARS: I wouldn't say so much a pass, as that there was a time when you could talk to a politician, a group of us could talk to a politician, we could sit down and have a drink and chat about life and things in general, and it didn't all wind up in print. I didn't regard it so much as a pass as a human relationship that isn't available anymore.

WOODRUFF: Why not?

MEARS: Too many people have been burned. So the candidates are very leery. Any time they go out in public, there's a boom mike hanging over them, there's a camera on them, there's tape recorder all around them.

So any unguarded moment can be a disaster for a major candidate -- or a minor one, for that matter. And it's put a wall, I think, that wasn't there before. I think we see a lot more of them now, particularly on TV. But we may know them less well than we did a long time ago.

WOODRUFF: Has campaigning gotten dirtier? Has it gotten rougher? How has it changed over this time?

MEARS: Well, what's around us here is what changed it, television.

I write a little about the experiences I had in my first campaign in 1960, which, my duty was a lot different then. I was 25 and not one of the senior people, obviously. But I covered John Kennedy's first speech after the nomination in 1960. It was in New York.

WOODRUFF: Wow.

MEARS: And I remember the television cameras in the back of the room, big, huge, bulky movie cameras, with lights, and cumbersome, in the way, couldn't be moved. They had to be set up long before the event began. It was hours from the time the film was made until it could be developed and put on the air, yes. And look at what happens now. It's instant. It's...

WOODRUFF: Has that made politics, made campaigning worse, because television -- not just television, but the whole 24-hour, constant deadline cycle is now dominant?

MEARS: It certainly has made it a lot more difficult.

And, as I say, it has led candidates to become much more guarded and insulated. And, in a way, it's made politics worse, because I think candidates are now packaged and sold like toothpaste, which wasn't the case a long time ago. You took the person in a different way.

WOODRUFF: But if you want to leave our viewers on a positive note, what would it be? What should they find redeeming in all of this?

MEARS: Well, all the people that I write about in here and most of the people that I met over my career were people that sort of defy the current cynicism.

I think most people who go into politics do it because they think they have something to offer. Obviously, they want power. They want to lead. But the motives are not base. And most politicians, I think, are well-motivated, honest people who work hard to try to accomplish things for their constituents.

WOODRUFF: An uplifting note upon which to talk to Walter Mears about. His book, "Deadlines Past: 40 Years of Presidential Campaigning, A Reporter's Story."

Walter Mears, an extraordinary reporter, great to talk to you.

MEARS: Well, thank you very much, Judy. It's been a delight to be here.

WOODRUFF: Thanks very much. Great. We'll be watching you as you -- we'll see whether we see you out on the campaign trail this year.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODRUFF: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com