Johnette Alter

“Everyone has their version of the truth. But there are facts. There is reality. As a reporter, you can come up with the best obtainable version of the truth.”

Bob Woodward became a household name when he and his colleague at the Washington Post, Carl Bernstein, laid bare the scheme of President Richard Nixon and his associates to cheat, using criminal tactics, in order to stay in office.

Their story revealing Nixon’s Democratic Headquarters break-in, became the loose thread that unraveled a much larger pattern of corruption and criminality pervasive at the White House including a plan to firebomb a think tank office for documents.

Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting ultimately led to the only presidential resignation in U.S. history.

Photo: "Woodward and Bernstein" by debrajwagner is marked with CC0 1.0

No, Nixon wasn’t impeached. He was threatened with impeachment when the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee put forward three articles charging him with “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in July of 1974, including obstructing justice, covering up the crime, abuse of power and not cooperating with the investigation. This abbreviated list hides the enormity of the abuse.

When you read the salacious details of a criminal unit called the “plumbers” operating a shadow war on the other main American political party using tactics like firebombing and stealing information from a private citizen’s psychiatrist, using the powers of the IRS and FBI, your eyes begin to water wondering who would be safe from tyranny in such a nation.

Image: "watergate" by airship is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Nixon resigned when it became clear that the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate had a bipartisan majority willing to impeach, convict and remove him from office. The dam of democracy held in 1974.

Without quality journalism - on the part of both the reporters and the organization they worked for, The Washington Post, Nixon and his associates would not have been held accountable.

Woodward strikes at the core question of journalism in his Master Class introduction, “Everyone has their version of the truth. But there are facts. There is reality. As a reporter, you can come up with the best obtainable version of the truth.” He goes on to elaborate what journalism means to him.

In short, it’s all about the evidence, the data, the corroboration – the process.

Good judgement demands that we pick our sources of news with care. To learn the nearest truth about the happenings in the world, the reporter or news source you put your faith in must use a reliable, consistent process that adheres to best practices which includes a commitment to the “the best obtainable version of the truth”.

The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics includes four principles:

· Seek Truth and Report It

· Minimize Harm

· Act Independently

· Be Accountable and Transparent.

Each of these is further defined and act as guard rails for authentic journalism.

Image: Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics flier.

If you’ve never been misled by gossip with tainted motives, then you are in a tiny minority. The fallout at the least is personal drama at worst real-world loss.

Scale that nationally with persuasive misinformation, disinformation, and opinion labeled as news and the damage can be catastrophic. Further scale that with social media and whole countries can be harmed. Death is the highest price to pay but there is no shortage of economic and social cost for individuals and society.

One U.S. example is Pizzagate, the false story that was spread initially by right wing social media, then moved into wider circulation, that a pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. was a front for a child sex trafficking ring.

The owner, employees and even bands that performed at the restaurant were harassed with threats of violence. One believer ultimately drove to the restaurant from North Carolina with an AR-15 rifle to “investigate” the problem himself.

Photo: "Comet Ping Pong" by thumeco is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

No one was killed when he fired his gun in the restaurant packed with families eating lunch, but significant damage has been inflicted on the owner, those who work there, and on the shooter who was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison.

Parents whose children’s pictures were taken from the family friendly restaurant’s social media likes had to hire lawyers to attempt to get their pictures removed from conspiracy theory posts about pedophilia.

The owner, James Alefantis, gave an interview to Hatewatch a blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center and said of the ongoing experience, “ These weaponized social media attacks … those people [the extremists] move on. But they leave damage, real lasting damage in their wake. Not to mention they brought a gunman into my restaurant, an arsonist, [#Pizzagate] tourists, others. … My employees are traumatized, literally have PTSD, traumatized, waiters in their twenties. I know specific people who are going to therapists, or, you know, afraid to go places because of the actions of these people. So, these are real consequences. As the federal judge said, in the case against the gunman, it’s a miracle no one was killed.”

This great tragedy, and the many that have now followed from this watershed event, are due to disinformation and misinformation consumed by a public that could have chosen more wisely.

So yeah, if someone like Bob Woodward says it’s true, then it’s a good idea to allow his reporting to shape your view of reality instead of the myriad of other sources that do not follow the process of journalism.

Are reporters infallible? No

But it’s not about Woodward, the individual; it’s about his commitment to process. If a reporter or publication is consistently adhering, much like a scientist, to a set of formulaic standards with professional principals and best practices as their guide, then you’ve found the clearest mirror of our world that we have at present.

If you’re like me, your parents cautioned you growing up that, the company you keep is who you are. It’s also true that the information you consume is who you are. Are you choosing wisely?

Sources:

https://www.masterclass.com/classes/bob-woodward-teaches-investigative-journalism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/29/richard-nixon-was-not-impeached-despite-what-hillary-clinton-and-others-say/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080974-3.htm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part1.html

https://www.britannica.com/event/Watergate-Scandal/Watergate-trial-and-aftermath

https://www.vox.com/2014/8/7/5970967/what-was-watergate-scandal-nixon

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/5/13842258/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-fake-news

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/technology/pizzagate-justin-bieber-qanon-tiktok.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html

https://time.com/4590255/pizzagate-fake-news-what-to-know/

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38156985