“All the President’s Men” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein is a journalistic classic that dives into the investigation of the Watergate break in in 1972 that led to a political melt down.
The book starts out as investigative reporting from the point of view of Woodward and Bernstein from Woodward’s report that followed the Watergate break in and eventually the stepping down of the Nixon Administration hence the title of the book.
Woodward and Bernstein were two reporters for the Washington Post that did more than pretty much anyone else at the Post or any other newspaper at the time, when it came to shedding light on the Watergate scandal and they weren’t even supposed to be the people covering it it was all a misunderstanding.
News broke that the center for the Democratic Party at the local level was broken into but it was actually at the National Democratic Party and pretty much by the time that they found out about it it was “old news”. Little did they know that would only be the beginning. This event would be the start to a dynamic reporting duo of two reporters who were not particularly fond of each other. Together they became national figures for their incredible investigative reporting over the matter.
The best thing I liked about the book was that it was written in the third person. As I was reading it it wasn’t like I was getting either of these men’s opinions or bias it was like a fly on the wall had written it about the events that actually happened. I can see how this book is so iconic when it comes to journalism and how Woodward and Bernstein became household names when it comes to reporting.
There’s a couple of things missing, Hailey. For one, the book was written
after the fact. W & B took lots of notes as they did their reporting, which
became the foundation for this book. They knew from the start this was
going to be a big deal. There has been discussion about their methods,
their use of Deep Throat, and eventually their mistakes. How do they
deal with those in the book? Also, they were criticized for their lack of
objectivity at the same time they were celebrated for sticking to a story
that many believed to be exaggerated. It’s those kinds of details that are
important here because they help to explain the method and purpose
of the text.