Hmmmm, you could be right. But there are other Washington Post reporters who could have written the story. And....remember, Matt Cooper wrote his own story after he testified.
You are probably right. I was in college majoring in journalism when Watergate broke--yeah, I'm that old! Anyway, the sea change of kids who entered journalism after Woodward/Bernstein's coup was amazing. It went from people interested in learning and explaining facts to people who wanted to bring down some corrupt administration or in other ways change the world through their journalism. As far as I am concerned, Woodward had a big part in corrupting journalism's vaunted, albeit mythical, impartiality.
I can remember one particular incident, while I was on the college newspaper, because it was so idiotic. I reported on some discrepancies between the various cafeterias on campus: they charged different amounts for the same items. Before I wrote the article, I talked to the head of food services who acknowledged the discrepancies and the next day the prices were correlated across campus. I felt I had accomplished something and I wrote the article, noting the discrepancies and also noting that the administrator immediately changed the prices after our conversation. This was after the Waterate fallout so I really caught some flak from younger fellow journalism majors. According to them, I should never have spoken to the administrator before I published. I should have published the discrepancies with a demand that they be changed so I could get credit for the change. I felt I had accomplished the same thing without risking the administrator feeling that he had to justify the discrepancies after he was publicly challenged. I guess I wasn't cut out to be a modern journalist.:)
You are correct -- Woodward spoke at the OU Gaylord School of Journalism and he told the students to never write a story when you are part of a story. He said you can work with the author but you are to never become the story you write.
My daughter was impressed with his candiness and his telling the journalism students that ethics count the most. He talked about his access at the White House for the book he wrote and how he appreciated everyone he came in contact with there.