“real” events rather than artifectsnprompted by the presence of the camera.nThe aroma of the buffalo was notntransmitted over the satellites, but thenscent of shoddy thinking pervades thenbook. One wishes that such segmentednthinking were only the accident of onenproducer’s memoirs. Westin, however,nis rated as one of the best in the businessnby his peers, and I have yet to encounterna serious rebuttal to assertions that thisntype of thought process, ignorant of itsnown intellectual ancestry, is endemic tonmodem broadcast journalism.nIf these were the only defects ofnmodem journalism, one might be temptednto believe that they can be surmounted,nthat journalism could developna capacity to clarify the complexities ofnmodem life. One cannot be sanguine,nhowever, when the thinking reflected innthese books rests its hopes for the journalismnof the fiiture on an intensifiedntechnology that will enable swifter circulationnof greater amounts of informatioiLnThe founders of the American republicnconsidered it more important thatntheir citizens reach sound judgmentsnthan that they receive instant information.nThe purpose of representative andnFederal institutions in a large republic isnto guard against the swift kindling ofnpublic passions. The Federal dimensionnof American politics encour^es peoplento assess the local and particular dimensionsnof these popular passions. Representativeninstitutions should refine andnenlarge these sentiments, so that thenpopulace will be governed by the coolnand deliberate sense of the communitynrather than the fleeting flame of publicnpassioa Print journalism provides amplenopportunity for the cultivation of identifiablynseparate local, regional, and nationalnperspectives. It facilitates the extendednpublic discussion that our representativeninstitutions assume. Whatever thendeficiencies of individual publications, itnis still evident that written communicationndemands more discipline than televisednephemera. Television, in sharp distinction,noperates most convenientlynover monolithic national networks thatnseek to cultivate national passions. Itsnfleeting images discourage systematicnthought. What was on the screen whennthe dishes clattered is no longer availablenfor discussion after the dishes havenbeen put away.nIn his praise of the Wall Streetjoumal,nJerry Rosenberg indicates that Dow-nJones, too, is captivated by the lure ofnthe “opportunities” aflbrded by modemncommunications technology. High-speedncommunications, satellite transmission,nand international publications networksnare possibilities for contemporary printnmedia as well as broadcast journalism.nSuch acceleration notwithstanding, thenfeet that Dow-Jones produces a productnin print means that its messages aren’t asnephemeral as those provided on television.nIn addition, the fact that it, unlikentelevision, addresses a specific audiencenmeans that that audience can be awarenof the limited range of subjects addressednby the Wall Street Journal. Av Westin isnignorant of his debt to Thomas Hobbes;nDow-Jones pays firequent homage to theneconomic legacy of Adam Smith, even asnit divorces itself from the moral frameworknthat enabled Smith to see the potentialnfor people to live good livesnthrough his system of natural liberty.n1 hese books, then, reflect the alternativesnfacing Americans as we seek tonsecure our natural rights in a representativenrepublic into the next century. Tonthe extent that the mores of print journalismngovern our pubUc discussion, wenmay have reason to hope. To the extentnthat television intrudes further into thenintellectual and public discussion, ournhopes can only be as firm as the flickeringnimages that pass over the eveningnnews. DnThe Use of American Whipping BoysnMilton Lomask: Aaron Burr: ThenConspiracy and Years of Exilen1805-1836; Farrar, Straus & Giroux;nNew York.nPersonal Memoirs of U. S. Grant;nEdited by E. B. Long; Da Capo Press;nNew York.nby Otto J. ScottnMilton Lomask’s second, concludingnvolume of his biography of AaronnBurr fulfills the promise of his first. It isnMr. Scott is a frequent contributor tonthesepagesnnnlucid, calm, penetrating, and succinct.nThe figure of Burr, long ago placed innthe niche of ail-American villains, emergesnas a for more sympathetic person^enthan many of his enemies and critics.nBurr was a Founding Father. Althoughnnot a delegate to the Founding Conventionnin Philadelphia, he was a colonel atnthe conclusion of the War of Independencenfrom Britain (Burr served bothnWashington and Gates during the war),nand therefore a Founding Father in thensense of being a parent at the birth ofnthis Republic.nIn the first volume of his biographyn(Aaron Bum The Years from Princetonnto Vice President 17561805), Lomasknwmmmm^inJune 1983n