Lowell Bergman to speak at Macalester

Some believe that investigative journalists are an endangered species. Not Lowell Bergman. The former "60 Minutes" producer (Al Pacino portrayed him in "The Insider") and current "Frontline" star will talk with MPR's Kerri Miller about the future of his craft tonight at Macalester College. The Pulitzer Prize winner and University of California-Berkeley professor gave us a preview last week in a phone conversation:

Q Is investigative journalism in trouble?

A Despite the collapse of the economic model that supported traditional newspapers and broadcasting, there's still a great demand for it, particularly watchdog reporting. You've got to remember that what we call investigative reporting was done primarily by magazines and books 100 years ago. It didn't become a dominant force in newspapers and television until 40 years ago, when the economic model allowed them to do it.

Q So what's the state of network reporting?

A I haven't seen a lot of it in primetime. "60 Minutes" is all by itself. It makes money, but now they are being forced to share their revenue with CBS in general, since the Katie Couric bit didn't work. Enterprise reporting is what you've seen disappear. They're not keeping bureaus open in war zones or reporting things before they happen. We did a "Frontline" piece in 1998 called "The Terrorist and the Super Power," which was all about the hunt for Bin Laden. It got almost no pickup. The day after 9/11, the White House called and asked for a copy. Now it's one of the most played documentaries in the history of PBS. Five years ago, I did a piece on how some credit-card companies are charging higher rates than loan sharks. It just shows you that some stories don't pay dividends right away.

Q How do you react when you see things like NBC's "To Catch a Predator" on "Dateline"?

A It's not news. They've transferred that to the entertainment department. But it's a mistake, period. Anyone involved in that should be ashamed of themselves.

Q The two biggest stories of the past decade are the Iraq war and the economic recession. In both cases, did the mainstream press blow it?

A Both are very different scenarios. I don't think the general, established news organizations can be very proud of the runup to the Iraqi war for a whole variety of reasons. But it's very hard for established news organizations to question the White House about whether or not you should go to war. As for the economic story, many newspapers were doing stories on it. I worked on a 6,000-word story with the New York Times in 2000 that addressed the dangers of predatory lending. We were covering it, but nobody was listening.

njustin@startribune.com • 612-673-7431