Watergate Is Too The Truth From Fiction - 994 Words

During his State of the Union address on January 1974, President Richard Nixon stated â€Å"One year of Watergate is enough†. The amount of stress and scandal that happened during this time in history was probably enough for him, but Watergate has proved to transcend this period. Decades later and we are still learning and studying the basics on how this story came to be and how it was uncovered. Though everyone who reads â€Å"All the President’s Men† may not go on to become journalists, they all have something to learn from it. The most important aspect of the book is discerning the truth from fiction. The beginning of this scandal seemed like any other robbery, but with a closer look a hidden story was uncovered. How can one know that the story†¦show more content†¦The first mistake made in the reporting of this story was getting the information from a second-hand source. According to a Democratic Party Investigator, Alfred Baldwin, a security guard f or Nixon’s reelection committee, had named three men who saw these memos. Bernstein and Woodward did try to confirm this source through another party, a Justice Department official, but his confirmation was of incorrect information. As a result of this false report, William E. Timmons, Robert Odle, and Glenn Sedam were falsely accused to be involved in Watergate and it ruined their reputations. In actuality, Baldwin did not provide these names and the memos that those men actually saw were merely routine security memos. An observer eyewitness is more informed of the truth and a direct statement from Alfred Baldwin would have been beneficial. Assertions in the place of fact can also be a reporter s failure. Instead of assuming ,following up the on FBI reports could have led to a more truthful story. Searching for the direct evidence of the topic being reported about is how a reporter â€Å"opens the freezer† and rushing to report can lead to unwanted mistakes as demo nstrated. Though journalists main goal is to expose the whole truth, to do this they must be open on their methods of acquiring information. With the use of transparency in news articles, the journalists do just this. One major point in the