Although philosophers in the United States have advocated the concept of adversarity for the relationship between reporters and people in Congress, in actuality these two groups work together in symbiosis. This document reports on a study in which 190 reporters, members of Congress, and Congressional aides were interviewed regarding particular congressional hearings that involved media input. The interviews revealed that the work of these groups is sometimes inherently and unavoidably symbiotic; examples of various forms of this relationship are discussed. The major portion of the document is composed of a case study of the cooperative relationship between the Los Angeles Times and Congressman Fortney "Pete" Stark, which led to a series of hearings on the plight of United States citizens serving time in Mexican jails. This case study shows that a set of understandings must be shared by reporters and members of Congress in order for them to function in symbiosis and that, although the adversarity principle need not be abandoned, it could use some reexamination. (CC)