All the President's Men, Revisited (Plus a Handful of Ben Bradlee Quotes)

"Nothing's riding on this, except maybe the first amendment of the constitution of the Constitution, freedom of the press and, maybe, the future of the country."
--Ben Bradlee

"Now hold it, hold it. We're about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right."
--Ben Bradlee

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I just finished watching All the President's Men again, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the journalists who broke the Watergate story that brought down the Nixon presidency. The film brought to mind some personal experiences from that period of history as well as Sy Hersh's insightful autobiography, Reporter.

Though the film focuses on the efforts to which Woodward and Bernstein went to uncover the hidden connections between Watergate and the Nixon White House, Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee is the steady presence in the Washington Post newsroom who followed his instincts by allowing his two young guns to tackle this big story. Other veteran reporters felt someone more seasoned should lead this investigation. 

Yes, there were missteps, but the work they undertook was ultimately revealing, and rewarded.

There is always a need for intentional, persistent reporting at every level of government, whether federal, state or local. The challenges are many. No one wants reporters to upset the status quo apple cart. No one in power wants reporters snooping around to find out who's hands are manipulating the strings of the figures in the spotlight. 

Ben Bradlee put his reputation on the line when he stood behind the work of his young reporters, one of whom had only been on the Washington beat for less than a year.

What's unfortunate is when reputable newspapers sacrifice integrity to put forward an agenda. Opinion pages are fine for that, but when important stories get buried because they don't fit a pre-set narrative, it damages the reputation of the whole business. 

When the Gallup organization polled Americans with regard to how much they trust the media, the results should have been a wake-up call. Here are the key takeaways from that report:

• 9% in U.S. trust mass media "a great deal" and 31% "a fair amount"
• 27% have "not very much" trust and 33% "none at all"
• The percentage with no trust at all is a record high, up five points since 2019

33% have no trust at all. That's a pretty dismal record. 

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Here are some additional Ben Bradlee quotes to accompany this brief post about an important issue in our time (not Watergate, but journalism):

--As long as a journalist tells the truth, in conscience and fairness, it is not his job to worry about consequences. The truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run. I truly believe the truth sets men free.

--As a child, one looks for compliments. As an adult, one looks for evidence of effectiveness.

--It changes your life, the pursuit of truth, if you know that you have tried to find the truth and gone past the first apparent truth towards the real truth. It's very, it's very exciting.

--If an investigative reporter finds out that someone has been robbing the store, that may be 'gotcha' journalism, but it's also good journalism.

--It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth.

--Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That's just a given. And good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is.

In the perfect world every source could be identified,
but like the man said, "It's not a perfect world."

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