The old proverb “the Pen is mightier than the sword” (Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy) still holds significance in protecting of public rights. Words such as freedom, and liberty engendered the idea for democracy. Such words formed into sentences and paragraphs enlightened the public to take action against tyranny and corruption. Freedom of the press is what ensured the general masses of their public rights. The exemplary case in which the freedom of the press played a role was the endeavors of Woodward and Bernstein to unravel the corrupted politics behind the Watergate Scandal. The movie All the President’s Men depicts the proceedings of the Watergate scandal, the scheme to attack the crux of democracy: “ the open election”. Also how the two journalists of the Washington Post progressed to unveil the relationship between the Watergate Burglary and the White House. On one hand, the movie represents the role of the media in its obligation to convey the truth to the masses. On the other hand, the movie reflects political corruption and conspiracy. The accomplishment of Woodward and Bernstein presents the importance of the interaction between the media, the government, and the general masses of society. The role of the media is not only to intervene between the State and the public, but also to take account of public ideas and to apply those ideas to new policies. Also, the media acts as a safeguard to prevent the corruption of the State. Thus, the Watergate scandal signifies the significance of the media as an intermediary between the government and the public mass.
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
... middle of paper ...
...
Woodward and Bernstein's undertaking constructed the cornerstone for the modern role of the media. The making of the movie about the Watergate Scandal and the ventures of the two journalists signify the importance of the media. The media’s role as intermediary is exemplified throughout the plot of the movie. The movie is the embodiment of journalism that guides future journalists to progress towards the truth, no matter what they are going up against. It was the endeavor of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that led them to the truth behind the president’s men. They showed that not even the president is able to deter the sanctity of journalism in its search of truth. The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and people’s right to know account for the same truth that journalists pursue; the truth that democracy is alive and will persist to live on.
unearthed one of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century. Bernstein and Woodward were not aware of how well they worked together. "They had never worked on a s...
President Richard M. Nixon and his involvement in the Watergate scandal were broadcast nightly on the 6 o’clock news in the early 1970’s. Americans were engrossed with the scandal and each person held his or her own view of situation. Each broadcast or newspaper article created a mistrust of political and governmental leaders. In response to this mistrust, the Freedom to Information Act was strengthened by the United States Congress in 1973 (Chamberlain). Although this act was first placed into law in the late 1960’s, the Watergate scandal provided the incentive make this law stronger.
A pair of unlikely newspaper reporters investigates the first Watergate break in, which will uncover a conspiracy that leads to the white house. In the book “All The President’s Men” by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward is about two newspaper reporters who work for the Washington Post. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward investigate the Watergate break that will lead them to the involvement of the president’s men and the president Richard Nixon. The purpose of this book is to show the inside look of how two reporters uncover a conspiracy that took the nation by storm. It wasn’t the crime that the nation by storm, it was the cover up by the president and his men.
Firstly, the journalists are reporting from two vastly different locations. One is reporting from the comfort of an office and familiar surroundings, while the other is reporting from a war stricken foreign land. Although, there is a common tie, they both involved and had the ability to effect the government and they were all in danger. All of the journalists had the opportunity to report on the truth, even if it were to have political and even personal repercussions. Thus, due to the political nature, all of the journalists were putting their lives at risk and were aware of this. They also had the ability of putting other lives in danger. Woodward and Bernstein discovered how the information they were gathering had to be used strategically in order to not harm their sources, and Flynn and Henderson had the ability to create further conflict and terror for the country they were reporting about. Thus, all of the journalists had to learn how to use precautions while investigating, writing, and reporting on their given
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Everything is riding on them getting the facts right. Because Bradlee said this, Woodward and Bernstein are cautious about publishing something that could potentially be detrimental to the country, but they make sure the information they received is correct and publish it anyway. In the quote, Bradlee stated that the First Amendment would be affected. If a story is published with wrong facts, especially when the incorrect facts are about President Nixon and other higher up officials, the rights of the people are going to be questioned.
The title of the book is All The King’s Men and the Publication date for this book is 1996.
During the first initial weeks of the scandal, the media seemed disinterested and didn’t want to report anything to early in fear of the Nixon administration. It took the work of two young reporters constantly investigating and getting anonymous help to spark a firestorm of investigations into the scandal itself and increase public interest into the newly discovered Watergate scandal. The names of those two young reporters were Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their approach to investigative journalism is what helped bring the story more into the public eye. Information about the Watergate scandal kept pouring out in the form of countless newspaper articles, editorials, and other news related organization after Woodward and Bernstein’s stories got more exposure. “Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House”(“Watergate Scandal” 19). The press...
Coming to the Wikileaks most of the mainstream journalists hate it because it not only gave discrete information on governments but also exposed the media and how they are acting as a smokescreen generating machine for government. (Ben, 2010), in comparison with the present journalism with that of 30 year old journalism Ben Tripp, exclaims if there would have been such a leak about governments and corporations a properly motivated Fourth estate wou...
One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
power of the mass media is an asset to the government in some instances and
One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (M...
The first is the crisis of viability. The chance of success in the journalism in the mainstream is approaching a decline due to the transformations in technologies and new access to multiple sources of information. The second is a crisis in civic adequacy. The contributions of journalism to citizenship and democracy have begun to shift and this shift has caused a question of the relevancy of journalism to democratic processes. In a democratic society journalism plays the role of the government watchdog. The effectiveness of society’s watchdog is now being challenged and in turn alternating the structure of the current democratic society. Many critical theorists of the press during the beginning of the 20th century were concerned with finding appropriate forms of public regulation of the press and journalism to ensure that journalists are writing “news and information about public affairs which sustains and nurtures citizen information, understanding and engagement and thereby a democratic polity” (Cushion and Franklin, 2015: 75) (Dahlgren, Splichal 2016). Journalism is a political entity that influences and informs the public. It is meant to work as a source of public information that helps and does not hinder the general public specifically in political processes. The article
This essay will show, unfortunately, that our democracy is not as healthy as it potentially could be because of television and print’s inadequate coverage of politics and the public’s resultant frustration and lack of knowledge. The reason this occurs is not because the media is trying to restrict our role in the government, but because it has other agendas to consider, such as producing maximum profits. Also, the media can take its obligatory role, often referred to as the “fourth estate,” to an extreme. John McManus, a former newspaper reporter and current professor at Santa Clara University researching the social responsibility of news media, specifically uses this term in his book Market-Driven Journalism: Let the Citizen Beware? to explain the media’s ideal role as the fourth branch of the government. The media is meant to participate in our system of checks and balances and check the government to ensure that it does not withhold too much power from the people. However, this can pose a problem if the media tries too hard to keep a check on the government and ends up transcending its role as the fourth estate and becoming cynical of the government. These market-driven characteristics and overzealous tendencies are conveyed in the media’s choice and presentation of language.
Basically, the media performs three functions to inform, to influence and to entertain. But effects of these functions are multidimensional in modern times. It has provided awareness about the whole world. In twenty-first century, media has a tendency to shape political, economical and social values of an individual. Moreover, media has eliminated the boundaries of information, so that a person can become an active citizen of the global economy. Hence, it is logical to state the media has become a basic need of human civic life.