MOUNT UNION COLLEGE Famed journalistic couple speak

The journalists see their role as essential to democracy.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
ALLIANCE -- How have a New Jersey Jew and a Louisiana Catholic sustained a 34-year marriage?
Cokie Roberts, a Catholic, and Steven Roberts, who is Jewish, downplay their religious differences, focusing instead on their shared values.
The journalists spoke Monday at Mount Union College's Schooler Lecture Series. Among their accomplishments is a best-selling book on marriage, "From This Day Forward."
"All marriages are mixed marriages," Cokie said. "It starts with a man and a woman."
"We value the institution of marriage," Steven said. "We say marriage is for most of the people most of the time, but we don't preach. We don't say marriage is for everyone."
During their visit they touched on a variety of subjects but centered on the current crisis in China, the 2000 presidential campaign, and the performance of the Bush administration so far.
They declined to paint a political picture of themselves in black and white terms, but admitted they often disagree.
Role of journalists: "Our job is essential to democracy," Steven said. "We're analysts. We're not partisan. I am most gratified when someone tells me I explained something to them well and I helped them understand."
Steven said that journalists should be skeptical but that too often, the popular press is overly negative and critical.
"There is no market for heroes -- for people who are doing their job well," he said.
The pair were questioned on the press's determination of what is news and on political bias in the press.
"What you're really asking is 'Isn't the media liberal?' Who is the person in Washington who is the most unhappy with the media right now?" Steven said. "That's Bill Clinton. A liberal media certainly hasn't been easy on him."
Determining news: Cokie said the determining factor in what is news is most often the news itself.
"Right now the top news stories on all the networks is the China crisis and when will we bring our fliers home," she said. "That is, and should be, the top news story."
Steven said what makes national news in the United States is often economically driven. It's expensive to cover foreign events, and if the issue is one Americans don't care about, they'll tune it out, he said.
"TV viewers have a lot of choices, and they vote with their clickers," Steven said. "Do we have an obligation to cover events? Yes. Can we force people to listen? No."
Careers: Cokie Roberts is co-anchor of the ABC news program "This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts" and serves as ABC's chief congressional analyst.
Steven is the Shapiro professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University and regularly appears on CNN's "Late Edition," PBS' "Washington Week in Review" and the ABC radio network.
Together, they write a syndicated newspaper column anchored in the New York Daily News and are contributing writers for USA Weekend, a Sunday newspaper magazine.