Idiot of the Week: Bob Woodward
As someone who got a degree in Communication, has worked at magazines and newspapers, and now tries to pass along small pearls of wisdom to college students working in Student Media, it saddens me to see the state of journalism these days. The offenses are long, ranging from laziness in reporting to poor writing skills and promoting various points of view through the biased presentation of facts. And that's just the print media, which is far better than broadcast, which, for the most part, is a complete joke.
And one of the disturbing aspects of media's downward spiral is the celebrity journalist. Take Bob Woodward, please (bah dah dum)! Here's a guy who was revered as one of the top journalists of his time. After his work in Watergate, people became journalists BECAUSE of Bob Woodward and his Watergate partner Carl Bernstein. But what happens when you have too much going on and become -- as we like to say in the South -- too big for your britches?
Woodward got scooped by "Vanity Fair" on his own story when VF revealed the identity of Deep Throat earlier this year. Then Woodward scrambled around and put out a ho-hum book covering the Deep Throat situation. And because he's keeping busy writing books, being a weak guest commentator on TV, making the lecture circuit, being a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, working as an editor-at-large at "U.S. News & World Report." and occasionally doing his job at The Washington Post, which has primarily evolved, apparently, into White House stenographer, Woodward can't seem to find the time to tell his boss that Bush administration sources are leaking Valerie Plame's CIA identity to him. Woodward was then forced to apologize for the oversight.
Woodward revealed that Valerie Plame's secret identity was leaked to him by a senior administration official before Scooter Libby outed her but apparently declined to mention this earlier because he was afraid of being subpoenaed.
As more and more information comes out about Woodward, Deborah Howell, ombudsman at the Washington Post, recently criticized Woodward for his two journalistic "sins": those being not telling his boss of being leaked information and to then comment on the investigation without disclosing his own connection to the case.
Woodward, in a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black, said on MSNBC's "Hardball" in June regarding the Patrick J. Fitzgerald probe into the Plame case that in the end "there is going to be nothing to it. And it is a shame. And the special prosecutor [Fitgerald] in that case, his behavior, in my view, has been disgraceful." Guess what, Bob? I find your behavior disgraceful. You are a huge disappointment. Do us all a favor and retire so perhaps you could move into the White House where you can continue to cozy up to the administration. You've become an old hack who is too busy hobnobbing with the Washington elite and working on all the projects that make you wealthy instead of being a good journalist who seeks the truth. And for that, you're my Idiot of the Week!
Any thoughts on Woodward or the state of journalism in general? Post your comments.
And one of the disturbing aspects of media's downward spiral is the celebrity journalist. Take Bob Woodward, please (bah dah dum)! Here's a guy who was revered as one of the top journalists of his time. After his work in Watergate, people became journalists BECAUSE of Bob Woodward and his Watergate partner Carl Bernstein. But what happens when you have too much going on and become -- as we like to say in the South -- too big for your britches?
Woodward got scooped by "Vanity Fair" on his own story when VF revealed the identity of Deep Throat earlier this year. Then Woodward scrambled around and put out a ho-hum book covering the Deep Throat situation. And because he's keeping busy writing books, being a weak guest commentator on TV, making the lecture circuit, being a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, working as an editor-at-large at "U.S. News & World Report." and occasionally doing his job at The Washington Post, which has primarily evolved, apparently, into White House stenographer, Woodward can't seem to find the time to tell his boss that Bush administration sources are leaking Valerie Plame's CIA identity to him. Woodward was then forced to apologize for the oversight.
Woodward revealed that Valerie Plame's secret identity was leaked to him by a senior administration official before Scooter Libby outed her but apparently declined to mention this earlier because he was afraid of being subpoenaed.
As more and more information comes out about Woodward, Deborah Howell, ombudsman at the Washington Post, recently criticized Woodward for his two journalistic "sins": those being not telling his boss of being leaked information and to then comment on the investigation without disclosing his own connection to the case.
Woodward, in a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black, said on MSNBC's "Hardball" in June regarding the Patrick J. Fitzgerald probe into the Plame case that in the end "there is going to be nothing to it. And it is a shame. And the special prosecutor [Fitgerald] in that case, his behavior, in my view, has been disgraceful." Guess what, Bob? I find your behavior disgraceful. You are a huge disappointment. Do us all a favor and retire so perhaps you could move into the White House where you can continue to cozy up to the administration. You've become an old hack who is too busy hobnobbing with the Washington elite and working on all the projects that make you wealthy instead of being a good journalist who seeks the truth. And for that, you're my Idiot of the Week!
Any thoughts on Woodward or the state of journalism in general? Post your comments.
posted by Tim W. Jackson | 9:28 AM
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