Posted on 10/22/2016 5:42:13 AM PDT by Kaslin
In the early 70’s there was no internet. In those days a reporter had no cell phone. Typing on a computer was decades away. If somehow the letter E got in front of the word Mail it was simply a typo. The tools of the trade for an Investigative Journalist were pencils and paper, a typewriter, a little bribe money and sources inside the Halls of Power. When these tools were mixed with aggressive follow up, perseverance and old fashioned sweat of the brow it often led to the disclosures about war, spying, corruption and the men and women who were involved.
Two men who followed that path were Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. Following the release of their highly acclaimed “All The President’s Men,” which chronicles their reporting on the Watergate break-in, up to and including the highly private NIXON tapes, Gene Roberts, managing editor of the New York Times, called their work “maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time.”
Were any of their efforts illegal? A case could be made that the disclosure, by Alexander Butterfield in 1973 of the Nixon tapes, was a violation of the President’s personal property rights, possibly.
What is not in question is that the main source for the Pulitzer Prize winning reporting was “Deep Throat.” Thirty years later it was discovered that “Deep Throat” was FBI Associate Director W. Mark Felt. It could be said, with a great degree of confidence, that Director Clarence M. Kelley, who was appointed by Nixon, did not authorize any of the information that was being passed to the reporters. Therefore the revelations were being obtained illegally.
That is, however, not the way it is remembered “…single greatest reporting…..”, because in investigative journalism the end, which often brings startling revelations, usually justifies the means.
Fast forward to today. Gone are the pens and pencils, the typewriter, the phone booths, to report the latest update, and even sources that point in the right direction. All are replaced by the most sophisticated of cyber technology. What remains still, is the dedication and responsibility to seek out and deliver to the public the truth regardless of where it may lead and regardless how it is achieved.
WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange may emerge as the modern day Woodward and Bernstein. Having been nominated six consecutive years for the Noble Peace Prize and having won numerous awards, it would seem that the WikiLeaks journalists, like their Watergate predecessors, know how to best use the modern day tools.
Donna Brazile, DNC Chairwoman, as expected complained, “Podesta’s emails were stolen.” “You are so interested in talking about stolen material.”
Investigative journalism is fine when it is used against one’s opposition. Unfortunately when that same type of journalism is reversed it becomes illegal, immoral and an invasion of one’s privacy and perhaps even foreign driven. When the shoe is on the other foot it can get very uncomfortable. I am not sure, however, that Nixon ever discussed taking the two reporters out (that’s not to dinner).
If election affecting information is out there and in the cyber world it never goes away, it is the responsibility of all the press, not just the investigative reporters, to find it and reveal it, regardless of the repercussions. That is just as true today as it was in the 70’s. Assange, like Woodward and Bernstein, understands that very well even to the point of the repercussion being the loss of his own life.
“Can’t we just drone this guy?” Hillary Clinton. Democratic Candidate for President of the United States.
Some investigative journalists. They had everything handed to them by an insider turncoat who was pissed that he didn't get Hoover's job at the FBI.
A challenge - name the next big story Woodward and Bernstein broke on their own.
I'll wait, I'm very patient.
Especially if it contains such damning information about how you manipulated, staged secret attacks, and we're corrupt to the core about harassing the American people. That holy water burns pretty bad eh? No it was more like spying which wins wars and something our government has absolutely no problem doing against its own citizens at all. ad the the truth of the matter is that your own people are doing it against you because they realize just how evil you have become. And you guys say there is no God. Be ready to learn that you've been wrong all along. Whe there is God, there is justice so either change your ways or get ready or more holy water and the burn....
The article’s claim that Mark Felt was deep throat is a gross over-simplification and is misleading.
He was one of several sources.
Roger Stone’s new book “Nixon’s Secrets” deconstructs that theory.
Other older books on the topic include:
—Jim Hougan, Secret Agenda
—Colodny and Gettlin, Silent Coup
Woodward was CIA and many of his sources were CIA.
They had “issues” with Nixon. :-)
Bernstein not so much, however, two years after leaving ABC News, Bernstein released the book Loyalties: A Son's Memoir, in which he revealed that his parents had been members of the Communist Party. The assertion shocked some because even J. Edgar Hoover had tried and been unable to prove that Bernstein's parents had been party members.
I’d have to put James O’Keefe on the list also.
Bob Woodward worked in Naval Intelligence for six years under Alexander Haig.
Haig was not a Nixon fan...
That's where I thought it was going, too.
The article overlooks a crucial point. Woodward and Bernstein were members of the mainstream media, and were in-the-closet Leftists. Today not a single member of the mainstream media is interested in doing such investigative journalism. Quite the contrary, as somewhere around 90% of them are open Leftists who are using their positions to campaign for Clinton and other Democrats.
When Democrats steal stuff (like illegally recorded cell phone conversations...) it is about the content.
Only when Democrats stuff is stolen, it is about the theft.
Woodward and Bernstein were tools of the “progressive” media used to bring down a president the media hated.
Previous “progressive” presidents had done far, far, worse. Their crimes were ignored by the media or coverage was spiked.
Julian Assange or James O’Keefe, they are the real deal.
We have two guys who put their lives on the line for us, who risked all.
Yeah.
Agreed. And #4 must be on his mind.
BINGO!!! Even better proof the Washington Post and Woodward are fakes is democrats have been hiring the mentally ill and violent as 'protesters' for years... even run ads on CraigsList - and the bozos and bimbos at the Washington Post never 'caught on' to the ruse.
Effing useful idiots... no better than trained seals clapping their flippers.
Here’s something else the bozos and bimbos at the Washington Post are missing about voter fraud... their ‘hero’ believes in it:
http://www.mrctv.org/blog/obama-speaks-rigged-elections-2008
“Barack Obama in 2008 warning about voter fraud and suggesting Republicans could try to sway the election in their favor.
“Well, I tell you what it helps in Ohio, that we got Democrats in charge of the machines,” Obama said regarding the threat of election-rigging.
He continued, “Whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction. That’s why we’ve got to have, I believe, a voting rights division in the Justice Department that is nonpartisan, and that is serious about investigating cases of voter fraud.”
“That’s why we need paper trails on these new electronic machines so that you actually have something that you can hang on to after you’ve punched that letter—make sure it hasn’t been hacked into,” he added, admitting that even Democrats have “monkeyed around” with election results:
“I want to be honest, it’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes, Democrats have, too.”
______________________________________________________
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4625800/obama-rigged-elections-2008
Obama on ‘Rigged’ Elections in 2008 Obama on ‘Rigged’ Elections at Kent State University on Sept. 3 2008
Woodward was CIA? Is that why he’s so corrupt he’s missing the voter fraud bit? And the paid thugs posing as ‘protesters’? Or is he typical of the bozos and bimbos of the Washington Post?
http://www.mrctv.org/blog/obama-speaks-rigged-elections-2008
“Barack Obama in 2008 warning about voter fraud and suggesting Republicans could try to sway the election in their favor.
“Well, I tell you what it helps in Ohio, that we got Democrats in charge of the machines,” Obama said regarding the threat of election-rigging.
He continued, “Whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction. That’s why we’ve got to have, I believe, a voting rights division in the Justice Department that is nonpartisan, and that is serious about investigating cases of voter fraud.”
“That’s why we need paper trails on these new electronic machines so that you actually have something that you can hang on to after you’ve punched that letter—make sure it hasn’t been hacked into,” he added, admitting that even Democrats have “monkeyed around” with election results:
“I want to be honest, it’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes, Democrats have, too.”
______________________________________________________
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4625800/obama-rigged-elections-2008
Obama on ‘Rigged’ Elections in 2008 Obama on ‘Rigged’ Elections at Kent State University on Sept. 3 2008
Haig leaked on Nixon after the Deep Throat period.
Haig was a dirtball supreme—stabbed everybody in the back.
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