Watergate at 35: How 'Woodstein' Did It

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: Watergate at 35: How 'Woodstein' Did It
By Alicia C. Shepard
Published: June 17, 2007

....Even though nine reporters worked the story that Saturday, only Woodward and Bernstein showed up the next day to report on the strange story. Neither was thrilled to see the other.

To Bernstein, Woodward was a suck-up. He’d only been at the paper for nine months. He’d moved up the editorial food chain way too fast for Bernstein’s liking. Bernstein thought of him as the “rat turd” reporter for all his front-page stories on failed restaurant inspections. Bernstein figured Woodward’s meteoric rise had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with his establishment credentials: WASP, Yale graduate, navy lieutenant.

“I thought Woodward was a prima donna, and an ass kisser, a navy guy, green lawns of Yale, tennis courts,” Bernstein told the late author, David Halberstam in the mid-1970s. “I didn’t really think a lot of most of Woodward’s stories. I thought they were from the wham-bam school of journalism, making a lot out of very little.”

To Woodward, Bernstein was a quasi-counterculture journalist, a long-haired freak who rode a bicycle, didn’t own a car and smoked cigarettes incessantly. He was either constantly borrowing money and never paying it back, or out womanizing while still married to his first wife. Besides, he was a Democrat and Woodward was a registered Republican who had voted for Nixon in 1968.

Everyone knows how the rest of the story goes. The pair were thrown together by their editor, Barry Sussman (who doesn’t speak to them today), and they made history, helping the Post win a Pulitzer in 1973 (they didn’t win it, the paper did) for its Watergate reporting....(W)hat most people don’t know, or don’t remember is that Woodward was a neophyte who depended a great deal on Bernstein’s well-developed skills as a reporter. Woodward learned from Bernstein. It was Bernstein who knew how to get credit card and phone records; how to work sources; how to work the system. Woodward owes a lot to Bernstein. He has said several times that he was able to capitalize on Bernstein’s talents better than Bernstein could....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003599918

[blondeatlast]

1. These intrepid journalists picked up the phone and knocked on doors.

When the first contact they made couldn't confirm a FACT, they went on to another person or didn't include it.

Imagine if today's DC journalists were covering Watergat--it would still be a minor break-in--"Nothing to see here. Paris is going to jail!"

[KoKo]

2. Something sad about this.....Thanks for posting...n/t

[gatorboy]

3. "Woodward was a registered Republican who had voted for Nixon"

I think this says alot about the journalism integrity of the time (And today). How many registered Republicans would go after Bus these days? How many would choose truth over party?

[Blackhatjack]

4. Keep in mind that the 'low profile' nature of Woodward/Bernstein served them well...

None of the other major papers and reporters were following up on the story, and the MSM was marginalizing anyone who wandered from the official story that this was just another 'break in'.

No one knew or expected anything from Woodward and Bernstein, even inside their own paper.

And they could have never 'cracked' the case on just investigative techniques without an 'insider' feeding them the information needed to keep the story alive and lead them to the Oval Office.

None of this takes away from what Woodward and Bernstein did. It is just the truth about how public disclosures come about. If often takes many breaks all going the right way or the wrongdoers get away with it.

[Fierce]

5. What, did E&P lay off all its copy editors, too?

Lotsa typos and plain old bad writing in that article. (Off topic, I know, but sheesh.)

[DeepModem Mom]

6. It is a real problem with E&P, and it's bothersome. I don't complain to them...

however, as I find valuable things there nearly every day (for free). I assume they work on a low budget -- but still, considering the field they cover, you'd think they'd be sticklers for copyediting!

On edit -- often I copyedit for them when I post here, but I was in a bit of a rush today.