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Government & The Media, 6/1/07
Key Lecture Points:
• June 17th, 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. Thereafter Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed to the American public that President Nixon had been involved in the cover-up of the break-in. Guided by “Deep Throat”, revealed in May 2005 to be the former Associate Director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt, these two journalists began the process of checking abuses of executive power.
• The official investigation into Nixon’s misdeeds by the House Judiciary Committee, and later investigations by the Senate’s Church Committee, resulted in checks on the powers of the Executive Branch. Intelligence agencies, like the CIA and the FBI, were particular foci of these checks. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was passed in 1978, limiting the ability of the CIA and FBI to “search and seize” without a warrant. For some, coming in the midst of the Cold War, these limitations impeded the ability of the Executive to provide for the nation’s security.
• Even before Watergate, the media acted as a vehicle for exposing the alleged misdeeds and ineptitudes of the Executive Branch. Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, which were the DoD’s own account of the Vietnam War, to the New York Times in 1971, leading to ever-mounting criticism of Johnson’s and Nixon’s handling of the war.
• Since September 11, 2001, the media has again become a focal point. Just as many following Watergate accused the media (via the revelations of the scandal) of undermining US intelligence efforts in the Cold War, so too do many today think that the media has overstepped its bounds in the fight against terrorism. Reports of the NSA “domestic spying program” and of the CIA’s network of secret prisons have led, just as with Watergate, to efforts to constrain the Executive. For some, this represents the introduction of much-needed oversight of Executive activities. For others, these media reports have undermined the ability of the Executive to prevent future acts of terrorism. The NY Times and the Washington Post have been accused by some of treason on the basis of the 1917 Espionage Act. The current debate seemingly weighs national security with the right of the press to expose governmental misconduct.
• What’s more, the recent scandal involving the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity has brought back into the public eye the matter of ‘protecting sources’. The First Amendment to the US Constitution has been interpreted as allowing for journalists to keep their sources secret, thus allowing for a free press. Just as Woodward and Bernstein protected Deep Throat’s identity, so too have modern-day journalists been protecting their sources. While some see such source secrecy as a justified protection of 1st Am. rights, others view it as endangering national security.
For More Information:
• On Watergate: www.watergate.net
• On Media Bans for photographing fallen soldiers: www.gwu.edu
Books For Further Reading:
• Shepard, Alicia. Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate. John Wiley and Sons, 2006. 288 pages.
Description: Based on new interviews and never-before-seen archival materials, "Woodward and Bernstein" takes a fresh, thought-provoking look at this unlikely journalistic duo. Thrown together by fate or luck, Woodward and Bernstein changed the face of journalism and the American presidency. For the first time, Shepard separates myth from reality as she traces the lives of the iconic journalists before and after Watergate.
Click here to order.
• Rudenstine, David. The Day the Presses Stopped: The History of the Pentagon Papers Case. University of California Press, 1998. 278 pages.
Description: This bold account provides an original perspective on one of the most significant legal struggles in American history: the Nixon administration's efforts to prohibit the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" from publishing the 7,000-page, top-secret Pentagon Papers, which traced U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In his gripping account of this highly charged case, Rudenstine examines new evidence, raises difficult questions, and challenges conventional views of a historic moment.
Click here to order.
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