“All The President’s Men” Quote Analysis In the movie “All The President’s Men”, Managing Editor Ben Bradlee tells Woodstein, “Nothing’s riding on this except the First Amendment of the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country.” This quote can be analyzed in a few ways. First of all, Bradlee is being sarcastic. The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, and the future of the country are all going to be affected if Woodward and Bernstein get the story wrong. 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. When people keep making up things and accusing the people that run the country of participating in illegal activities, the law makers are going to get mad. If these accusations are about them, they …show more content…
If the Washington Post were to publish something like that and it was wrong, then that whole newspaper would be negatively affected. First of all, Woodward and Bernstein would get fired, the paper would lose its credibility that it has gained over time, and the public would take everything they read on a newspaper with a grain of salt. Higher up officials would probably not be as involved with the press as they are now and would lose respect for the press. If the press gets something like Watergate wrong, what else could they “make up” about the government? This question would again limit the freedom of the press just like the other rights in the First
The two journalists that investigated and unearthed the wrongdoing were accurately represented in the film. These two reporters were named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Together, they formed an investigative duo that changed history. Woodward was an inexperienced reporter at the time. "Woodward had worked for the Post for only nine months," states the book All the President's Men (Bernstein and Woodward 13). Bernstein was the reporter who had more experience. "Bernstein was a college dropout. He had started as a copy boy at the Washington Post when he was 16, become a full-time reporter at 19, and had worked at the Post since 1966" (Bernstein and Woodward 15). The head reporter of The Washington Post notes in the movie on Woodward's lack of experience and asks that a more experienced reporter get the case. However, if another reporter had taken the case, it is possible that he/she would have viewed the case as meaningless and not have investigated it further. Woodward and Bernstein's determination and perserverance were what
“The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole.”
In the Supreme Court case of the New York Times Co. vs. United States there is a power struggle. This struggle includes the entities of the individual freedoms against the interests of federal government. It is well known that the first amendment protects the freedom of speech, but to what extent does this freedom exist. There have been instances in which speech has been limited; Schenck vs. United States(1919) was the landmark case which instituted such limitations due to circumstances of “clear and present danger”. Many have noted that the press serves as an overseer which both apprehends and guides national agenda. However, if the federal government possessed the ability to censor the press would the government restrain itself? In the case of the Pentagon Papers the necessities of individual freedoms supersedes the scope of the national government.
The supporting argument is that Nixon made awful choices, but that should not change the people’s opinion of government. Nixon supporters were disgraced and his opponents just shook their heads. His supporters trusted him to do the right things, but in the end he just hurt them. While this was a mayor issue in history the American people should not look at this one bad apple. If the whole United States thought that everyone in the government was corrupt then we would have a huge problem.
Clare Boothe Luce, an American journalist and politician, delivered a speech in 1960 to the Women’s National Press Club in front of the American press to criticize journalists for the misinformation they publish in order to challenge them to start publishing the truth rather than writing what the public wants to hear. Luce appeals to the audience of journalists using her role as a politician, comparison, and emphasis to persuade journalists to start writing the truth, no matter how dull, in order for American citizens to truly understand what is going on in today’s society. Throughout the speech, Luce speaks to the audience of journalists about how the information they release shouldn’t be falsified for a myriad of buyers or views. Although
“Murrow, McCarthy and the media frontier analyzed” also discusses how “we as a country walked into the war in Iraq without the media doing its job…It may be official blacklisting or maybe not, but deception is just as possible today in different forms (Sasanow, 3).”
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
Despite the national attention the Watergate scandal had gained President Nixon, he won the second term presidency. The major problem for Nixon would come later. The investigations of the Watergate scandal lead to the discovery of other criminal acts by officials including Nixon. During the investigation many things begin to surface. It was discovered that documents had been destroyed that may have made a link between Nixon and the Watergate scandal. These documents may have shown that he had some acknowledgement in what had happened. There was evidence that people involved in the Nixon campaign had been wire tapping phones illegally for a long time according to “dummies.com”. The greatest issue would come to light during the 1973 Watergate hearings. During testimonies it came to light that every conversation was recorded in the Oval office according to “study.com”. It was demanded that these tapes be reviewed to learn how much involvement President Nixon had in the Watergate burglary. The President felt that he had the right to withhold these tapes through what he referred to as executive privilege. This means that if it is the best interest of the public the president has the right to keep information from the
Despite his loss to JFK in the 1960 presidential election, in 1968, Richard M. Nixon was elected as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. He was praised by many for his comeback after previously losing an election and seemed to be an admirable man. While in office, Nixon made many achievements and followed through with all of his promises made during his campaign. For the first time in what seemed like forever, the American people had finally elected a leader who seemed unquestionably trustworthy – or so they thought. Unfortunately, shortly after Nixon was elected to his second term of presidency in 1972, the Watergate Scandal changed America forever by creating a sense of mistrust toward the government for the American people because of The Nixon Administration’s actions.
In Nixon’s first Watergate speech he addresses the issue of what is known as the Watergate scandal, and explains why members of his administrationresignedor weresacked.In this speech Nixon is speaking as if he didn’t know about the incident and he is innocent. For an example Nixon says” I was appalled at this senseless, illegal action, and I was shocked to learn that employees of the re-election committee were apparently among those guilty.” Later on people found out that he did indeed order them to break into the DNC Headquarters. Nixon deceives hisviewers when he says, “I was determined that we get to the bottom of the matter.” Nixon wanted the viewers to believe that he was not a part of the affair, and he wason the same side with the FBI.As the issue got more intense that is when Nixon delivers his second Watergate speech.
As television exposed the truth of government, so did Journalists. Daniel leaking of the Pentagon Papers that explained in detail the Vietnam War, and the leaking of the information to the New York Times in 1971. Scandals like this played an active role throughout the late 1960’s and into the early 1970’s. This eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. The critical stand point of the journalists led to the marked contradictory of American politics that grew into turbulent during the 1960s.
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.
A year before the election of 1972, President Nixon was becoming nervous about what the Deomocrats were planning on for the election. Nixon wanted to be re-elected but he did not think he could become re-elected without some sort of help. Nixon decided to send a group of spies to investigate what was going on at the Democrat Headquarters to see if they had any plans on how they were going to bring down Nixon. Supposedly hired by Nixon, a group of five men went to the Watergate hotel and stole some documents. Unsatisfied with what they found, they returned three weeks later intending to fix wiretaps that were not working and photograph documents. However while they were inside the building these fiv...
cover the investigation up and not let it get out to the public. President Nixon according to the article showed no interest in allowing the public to get insight into the investigation.
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.