Watergate, Woodstein, and All the President's Men

I had no knowledge of the Watergate event before reading Mightier Than the Sword. It was shocking and fascinating to learn about the history of such a massive conspiracy that affected the same country I live in. In reflection, I thought about the dynamic face of America, today, and realized that from a political and journalistic point of view, all aspects of society have been shaped by historical grievances. And it is without a doubt both useful and interesting to descend the iceberg of our modern societal structure to discover what lies beneath the surface of the times.

The dynamic duo, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, deserve all the credit and praise that have been showered upon them for their unparalleled public service of exposing governmental corruption and political vice. Streitmatter succeeds in shining the light brightly on the famous news reporters; in none of the other chapters in the book have I read about journalists directly attacking a force as strong and as deeply corrupt as President Nixon and his entire government agency. Even though the monstrosity of the situation was not revealed until much later on, the steadfastness and tenacity of their endeavor was unprecedented and enabled them to progress their investigation until the very end, even when their very lives were threatened, which is clearly expressed in the Chapter, "Watergate Forces the President to His Knees."

In examining the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, it is even clearer why the journalism practiced by "Woodstein" was exemplary of the craft: they never sacrificed their professional integrity in obtaining and exposing the truth. The first declaration demands that the journalist "test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error." Woodward and Bernstein remained loyal to this rule; they tried their hardest to verify every leak of information with a second source and never exposed anything without this ensuring its utter accuracy first. Another indispensable law in the realm of journalism is the minimization of harm: "Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect." The most impressive and praiseworthy part of their investigation, in my opinion, was the humanity of their tactics; as badly as they wanted the story, Woodward and Bernstein never burned a bridge--their words were as solid in their promises as they were in their stories.

The historical legacy of Woodstein and Watergate serves as a lesson to be learned by the journalists of our time and onward. The world is changing as technology advances and human development progresses, but we find that as journalism keeps up with the times for as long as people want to know, the essence of it remains constant. It is there to light the torch of humanity when people lose themselves in the dark, and people will find that it has always been there, waiting for someone to reawaken its spirit.