~o~!~o~<br >Sometimes an exposure involves an abuse so blatant or titillating<br >that it blazes its own path to recognition. But more often， the<br >uncovering of a scandal requires a great cooperative act of percep-<br >tion that ripples across society.<br > The most crucial level of perception is that of the press itself.<br >If the press at large ignores a fledgling expose， if editors scorn its<br >incompleteness or fail to grasp its importance， if reporters do not<br >jump in to widen the beachhead， if press conferences do not con-<br >front officials over it， if columnists do not elaborate its ramifica-<br >tions， then it will not survive to reach those levels where public<br >advocates take it up， where investigative agencies begin to grind，<br >where mass opinion demands redress.<br > Rightly do newsmen rail against bureaucratic secrecy， political<br >cover-up， and judicial hostility， but the great graveyard of investi-<br >gative stories is to be found in apathetic newsrooms. In The Presi-<br >dent Who Failed Clark Mollenhoff has swept together out from the<br >dark corners of the Carter administration facts that myopic editors<br >have failed to perceive， facts that should have been laid out on the<br >front pages for readers to ponder. Yet， these facts have been<br >Largely discarded or ignored in editorial offices across the fifty<br >states. ~<br > The picture that emerges is not one that America really wants<br >to see so soon after Watergate. Americans have been rocked by<br >