Psst, want to hear a secret? Deep Throat was no hero

The Times (U.K.) ^ | 06/08//05 | Daniel Finkelstein

[Pokey78]

“PASS ME the binoculars, Dan,” said the beta male from Gamma Wiring. “I want to get another look at her legs.” I passed the binoculars. He got another look at her legs.

“Anyway, where was I?” he continued. “Oh yes, our new cable labelling protocol. It’s simple, but ingenious.” And so, as the cheerleaders warmed up the crowd for a London Monarchs game, I endured a half-hour briefing on the best way of telling apart plastic-coated wires.

When he finally, finally reached the end of his monologue, he added these words: “And that’s all off the record.” I was able, in conscience, to go further and agree to make it entirely confidential.

Even as a staff writer on Network magazine (“Britain’s Leading Distributed Data Processing Monthly”) I quickly got used to the idea that most of your sources think of themselves as Deep Throat, while many of your colleagues imagine that they are Woodward or Bernstein. One PR man used to insist on meeting me in the Dunkin’ Donuts just behind Piccadilly Circus so that we wouldn’t be overheard as he passed on a hot tip about Taylor Woodrow’s procurement of new multiplexors. “Hold page 17!” I would shout as I rushed back into the office.

It is hardly surprising that the dynamic duo from The Washington Post have such a grip on the journalistic imagination. Their work on Watergate helped to bring down a President, and who else can boast that? It’s not surprising, either, that everyone wants to be seen as Deep Throat, meeting in parking garages at 2am, leaving secret signals on rolled-up pages of The New York Times, risking all in the cause of truth and justice.

Yet is this view right? Was Deep Throat a hero?

The coterie that used to surround Richard Nixon thinks not. Well, there’s a surprise. The revelation that the former FBI man Mark Felt was Woodward and Bernstein’s source has brought condemnation from some of the Watergate participants.

I found that pretty irritating, I must say. If you helped to bring about a burglary, participated in a cover-up, embroiled your boss in a Grade A scandal and went to jail, I think you should keep your mouth shut about the probity of others, don’t you? Even if Felt’s actions were wrong, nothing he did begins to compare with the activities of the conspirators themselves.

Almost as irritating as this, however, is the fact that I think the Nixon crowd is correct.

Of course, Deep Throat comes out of Woodward and Bernstein’s account looking good. Funny that. Journalists are not likely to portray their own sources as fools or knaves. “Deep Throat turned up late again. He asked me to run through the stuff about the plant pot and the flag one more time, so that for once he might get it right and realise when I was signalling for a meeting. As usual he hadn’t a clue what was happening, but was trying not to let on so that I would go on thinking he was in the loop. Everything he told me was out of last week’s copy of Newsweek. Next time, I said firmly, we can meet up during the day.” I don’t think so.

Mark Felt’s own view of his actions is therefore more instructive than anything Woodward has to say. He denied for years being Deep Throat — “It was not I and it is not I”. And, asked if it would be so terrible if he had been the source, he replied: “It would be terrible. This would completely undermine the reputation that you might have as a loyal, logical employee of the FBI.”

And I agree. A top official of the FBI has no business skulking around near parked cars, leaking confidential information about criminal investigations. His disgust with the Nixon White House was justified, but he should have expressed it openly and, if necessary, resigned.

As Peggy Noonan, a Reagan speechwriter, put it: “A hero would have come forward, resigned his position, declared his reasons, and exposed himself to public scrutiny. He would have taken the blows and the kudos . . . heroes pay the price.”

As it was, he let others take “the blows and the kudos”, watching silently as other Nixon officials were accused of using Woodward for various underhand purposes. This, too, was distinctly unheroic.

Mark Felt was a great help to Woodward and Bernstein, but without him the Watergate scandal would still have been revealed, the conspirators would still have gone to jail and Nixon would still have resigned. There are, however, some things that might not have happened without him — the cult of the leaker as hero, the secret source as white knight, the gossip as guarantor of freedom. And that wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

Except if, like me, you’re a journalist.

[Maria S]

I didn't check to see if the following was already posted.
Meanwhile, good post 'Pokey78'!

Deep Throat Much Bigger Than Mark Felt
June 7, 2005
http://www.aim.org/press_release/3715_0_19_0_C/
WASHINGTON -- Accuracy in Media (AIM) said today that revelations that former FBI official Mark Felt himself had other sources in the Watergate scandal mean that the real identity of Deep Throat has not been fully disclosed.

AIM editor Cliff Kincaid said that a Brendan Lyons story in The Albany Times Union (N.Y), also published on the front page of today's Washington Times, identifies Felt as only one of several FBI officials who fed information to The Washington Post during the scandal that brought down President Nixon.

[maestro]

.....Was Deep (Chuck Colson) Throat a hero?

/Sarcasm

[AUsome Joy]

I know you were being sarcastic, but I want to say that Chuck Colson was certainly not a hero then, but he has become one to thousands of people. He has really done wonderful things with Prison Fellowship and that program would never have been started without his having served time in prison.

[maestro]

......Felt to introduce Colson's new book this month?

/Teamwork Sarcasm?

[maestro]

ping?

[mommadooo3]

Oh NO....a back-stabbing, two-faced SNITCH is ALWAYS a 'hero'.