The choice between adversary journalism and compliance with power may seem trivialized by a comment by the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, but it does go to the heart of the matter. She said, "Almost every time I have tried to absolve even partially some famous son-of-a-bitch, I have been bitterly sorry."

But journalists also realize that leadership is important, that people need to have faith in their leaders, and they fear feeding the stereotype that politicians are crooked, corrupt or stupid.

And so journalists worry about their traditional role as adversaries to power. But they are more concerned about the uses of power by the state and its functionaries. The powerful state, says Milosz, "like a crab, has eaten up all the substance of society." The society versus the state, he wrote, "is the basic issue of the twentieth century." It continues to be into the present century.