This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Book Review

BY BOB SCHIEFFER G.R PUTNAM'S SONS 2003, 423 PAGES, $26.95

After four decades as a reporter, Bob Schieffer finally has put his lifetime experiences in writing. Chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, Schieffer has anchored and moderated "Face the Nation" since 1991. A member of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, he has received six Emmy Awards, and the National Press Foundation named him Broadcaster of the Year in 2002. Having joined CBS News in 1969, Schieffer is one of the very few correspondents to have covered all four major Washington beats: the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and Capitol Hill. One of America's most-experienced journalists, Schieffer has seen it all, and he shares his experiences in his latest book. However, this is not the usual autobiography. The author relates the behind-the-scene issues and events that did not make it onto TV or into the print media--these are tales he tells his friends.

In reviewing his reports of major stories over the past 40 years, Schieffer wondered how individuals involved in those events felt with the passing of time. Subsequently, he interviewed 85 people "on the record." These reminiscences by the men and women who lived the events make for some of the most-interesting reading in the book.

Schieffer is indeed very fortunate. Not only was he the right man in the right place at the right time on many occasions (both in getting the news and in gaining various positions at CBS), but he obviously loves his work. He is also fortunate to have a wife and two daughters who, over the years, have understood the importance of a workaholic journalist's frequent need to be away from home.

Schieffer details the major changes that have come to pass in journalism and politics. He begins with the assassination of Pres. John F Kennedy in Dallas--the day that America "lost its innocence." He takes the reader through...