Time & Perspective Quote by Bob Schieffer

Broadcast news likes to sell itself as a public-service relay race: whoever grabs the best witness or sharpest expert first “wins” the day for viewers. Bob Schieffer’s line punctures that self-image without quite calling it a con. The key phrase is “fierce competition,” which doesn’t flatter journalism so much as reveal its market logic. Networks don’t merely want clarity; they want advantage. “The guest” becomes a commodity, a booked body that can be promoted, teased, clipped, and replayed.

Schieffer’s wording is careful, even a little damning in its neutrality. “Most pertinent information” sounds like an ethical standard, but it’s stapled to “whatever the story of the moment happens to be,” a shrug toward the churn. That “happens to be” carries the subtext: the agenda is often accidental, crowd-driven, or producer-shaped, less a civic priority than a rolling slot machine of attention. The fight is not for truth in the abstract; it’s for relevance inside a rapidly expiring news cycle.

Context matters: Schieffer came up in an era when the Sunday shows and prime-time broadcasts were gatekeepers, then watched cable and later digital platforms turn booking into a speed sport. In that environment, “pertinent” often means fast, quotable, conflict-ready. The line reads like an insider’s admission that the system rewards immediacy and access, not depth - and that the audience is watching a contest as much as a conversation.