Newspaper journalism has seen momentous changes in the three decades since Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post broke the story of the Watergate scandal. For one, the internet has changed the way journalists cover the news – and the way people receive it.
But at the May 2 kickoff panel for the 2010 Politics on Film festival, Woodward himself argued that, despite the sea change brought on by the internet, reporting today is not that much different than 30 years ago.
“I don’t think [deep throat] Mark Felt . . . would be blogging even now,” Woodward said of one of his famous sources. “You have to go see them.”
The panel discussion followed an afternoon screening of the 1976 classic “All the President’s Men,” famous for its riveting performances and tracking shots of the Post newsroom. Woodward was joined by POLITICO reporter Mike Allen and actor Robert Walden, who played Donald Segretti in the film and Joe Rossi on the newspaper-focused television series “Lou Grant.” The event was moderated by Michael Calderone of Yahoo News.
Woodward said the internet helps with certain aspects of reporting – checking names and addresses, for example – but maintained that the key to breaking the Watergate story was the “incremental coverage” — reporting out bits and pieces of the larger narrative over time – which still requires plenty of shoe leather. “You keep hammering away and you don’t give up on the story,” he said.
Allen and Woodward said the use of anonymous sources – a key aspect of the Post’s coverage of Watergate – often gets a bad rap, but maintain it is still an important part of political reporting when used correctly. When a White House source goes on the record with something, “That’s spin,” Allen said. But learning “what a newsmaker is really thinking” can be a “valid and valuable way” of using unnamed sources.
Woodward added that anonymous sources should not be used to grind axes, but can provide accurate, vital information for a story. “It’s the specificity of the information that lets you know it’s real,” he said.
Calderone remarked on one famous scene in the film (and in the annals of journalism), when Bernstein roused a very grumpy John Mitchell from his sleep. Calderone asked if this situation would even be possible with today’s well-insulated government officials.
Allen pointed out that it isn’t hard to find email addresses for even the most high profile government officials. “I can email anyone,” he said. “Oftentimes they don’t answer, but sometimes they do.”
As for the influence of “All the President’s Men,” Walden credits the film for launching “Lou Grant” and helping define the reporter in popular culture. “People understood the real value and essence of the fourth estate,” Walden said.
One thing that has changed since the days of “All the President’s Men” and “Lou Grant” is how people get their news. While Woodward said he still reads the Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal in their paper forms, he also provided a solid endorsement of Allen’s daily “Playbook” email. The widely read email digest is “an early-warning system for what’s going on,” Woodward said.
And the panelists also expressed hope for the future of a profession that admittedly has seen some rough days in the post-Watergate years – though someone may need to develop a new business model for delivering and monetizing the news.
“I don’t think the era of newspapers is over,” Woodward said toward the end of Sunday’s panel. “Someone is going to fix this.”
~By Aaron Lovell