A Quagmire of Epic Porportions

Slander

In the movie All the President's men there is clear and vivid evidence that the Watergate scandal story written by Woodward and Bernstein undertook some serious scrutiny. Considering the fact that their story made a direct connection between the president and a B-and-E, and also revealed the fact that the entire US intelligence community was involved in a scandal of dishonesty and secrecy the story was destined for slanderous reviews.. 

You ARE going to ANSWER my QUESTIONS!!!!

The persistence of the two young journalists Woodward and Bernstein can be seen as a strength or a weakness. I personally see it as a strength because their persistence made them engrossed in their journalism and investigative reporting. Their so-called-hunger for this story made it happen and it shows most viewers Woodstein's dedication and love for journalism. Because their hearts and minds were intertwined with cracking this scandal they were successful in getting their story out, even though it took mountains of dedication and hard work to investigate. 

Enduring the Phone Calls

Most viewers of this movie can see that Woodstein makes calls, answers calls, puts calls on hold, and it basically seems like for a large percentage of this movie Woodstein is on the phone. The reasons there are so many calls is to further investigate this case. For this time period calls are the most effective way to get answers. Today it might be more effective to text, tweet, facebook, or something of an internet nature, although calls are still relevant, the internet might be more effective depending on the investigation. 

Number Games

In one scene Bernstein is on the phone with a man named Holtz to confirm that President Nixon was directly involved in this scandal. Instead of asking for a direct confirmation Bernstein plays a little 'number game' to get his answer. Bernstein tells the man, to confirm that Nixon was involved he shouldn't  hang up while he counts to the number ten. To say that he was not involved, the man should hang up exactly when he gets to the number ten. Indeed this is deceptive, and it is not an exact verbal confirmation, so this tactic could have been faulty. This and some other tactics that were used in this investigation may be a little questionable, but it got them their story.

The Deep Throat

Throughout the movie Woodward meets with this man named DEEP THROAT, and he gives him hints on sources for the story. In reality the man who was Deep Throat, was Mark Felt, did not come out about his alias until he was on his deathbed in 2008. Also Woodward claimed he would not allow Felt's alias to be broken either, as he said he would take the secret of who Deep Throat was to the grave. Personally I think that Woodward's meetings with Deep Throat were extremely risky, and a little too dangerous for my liking. This is the part of journalism that scares me the most. The fact that someone could be investigating something and put their life in danger. Yet again and again I am stuck asking myself the question, 'What's life without risk?'