Watergate. A place some have heard of. It was broken into by five armed robbers in the ‘60s. The men were arrested and two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, were assigned to the case. The men worked on it because they knew there was more to it than just an attempted robbery. Woodward and Bernstein went to the houses of those who worked in the White House and tried to get some information on what was going on. Sadly, most wouldn’t discuss it.
One night, Bernstein was able to get some information from a women and that helped them in their case. Woodward talked to an informant he had and he would lead him into the right direction as much as possible. Eventually, this spirals into a giant coverup for money that went into places it wasn’t supposed to. When Woodward and Bernstein worked on this story and had it published, they were risking the First Amendment freedom of the press and the future of democracy. How so? Well, when they did this, they were attacking higher ups in the White House, and if they weren’t right about all the accusations in the story, then the White House could take steps to try to suppress what they write. Of course, they were right and it led to the arrest of many people and even caused President Nixon to resign.
If Woodward and Bernstein didn’t pursue this story, then this could have continued for many years to different presidents and it would show that they could do whatever they want. What we can take from this is that persistence always wins. If they weren’t persistent, then the story would have flopped. If Woodward and Bernstein didn’t do this or were wrong, then it would have ruined what the press could say. Thankfully, Woodward and Bernstein were right and they turned the tide. They changed the meaning of being a reporter.
