aaron irwin€¦ · davies uncovered the wikileaks scandal as well as being one of the first to...
TRANSCRIPT
ComparisonsAaron Irwin
‘Bringing Down Empires’
It’s not everyday someone brings down a
US Presidency, or a huge media mogul.
My Choices
Woodward and Bernstein & Nick Davies
Woodward and Bernstein
Watergate scandal
Exposed Nixon’s plans
Espionage
Provoked Nixon to resign
Nick Davies
Responsible for
uncovering phone
hacking scandal
that closed down
News of the World.
Also had a part in
Wikileaks.
1943: Born March 26, Geneva, Illinois.
1965: Got his degree in History and English Language.
1965-1970: Navy Career
1972: Joined Washington Post
Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Nine Months on…
He was paired with Carl Bernstein to look into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee HQ.
Carl Bernstein
1944: Born February 14, in Washington DC.
1960: Copyboy for Washington Star
1965: Left The Star, became a prize winner at the Elizabeth Daily Journal in New Jersey.
1966: Joined the Washington Post
‘Watergate’
Break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
Five men arrested, one a CIA security guard named Frank McCord.
Story called a 'caper’ by many, ‘Woodstein‘ were tasked to cover the story.
What They Found
They found out Nixon's re-election
committee had a lot to do with it.
Also that a slush fund had been set up by
then attorney general John Mitchell, with
there being laundered funds and the
break in was espionage by Nixon's
committee, or him cheating the system.
Repercussions
President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974,
and remains the only president to resign
from the presidency.
Over 100 people were arrested, including
many White House aides for their part in
the Watergate scandal.
Nick Davies
1953: Born March 28,
1974: Got his degree from Oxford
University.
1976: Began Journalism career as a
trainee for the Mirror Group.
Why He's Relevant
Davies uncovered the WikiLeaks scandal as well as being one of the first to pick up on News Of The World’s phone hacking scandal, which led to the Leveson inquiry.
Therefore like ‘Woodstein‘, Davies brought down an empire, albeit different, with one being a media giant and another being the most powerful man in the world…
Why Compare Him To
‘Woodstein?’
Both were investigative journalists.
Discovered big scandals.
Both well respected within the Journalistic
field. Peter Oborne of The Telegraph
described Davies as ‘Britain’s greatest
investigative journalist.’
Wikileaks Davies sought out WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange about some stories he could possibly gather for The Guardian.
“Maybe the real story isn’t that four paragraphs, it’s the secrets. It was extraordinary that nobody else was trying to get hold of Julian [Assange] to ask him what these secrets were and whether they could have them.”
Milly Dowler
Davies ran a story on The Guardian into murdered schoolgirl Dowler’s voicemails.
‘Believed to have found evidence of the targeting of the Dowlers in a collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World.’
News of the World
After an investigation conducted by Davies, it
was discovered the NOTW interfered with
police investigations.
NOTW journalists intercepted and deleted a
range of voicemails left on Dowler’s phone.
This led to one of the biggest scandals in
recent UK history, and the closure of NOTW.
Bernstein…
“The lowest form of popular culture – lack
of information, misinformation,
disinformation, and a contempt for the
truth or the reality of most people’s lives –
has overrun real journalism. Today,
ordinary Americans are being stuffed with
garbage.”
Comparisons
Both print predominantly.
Both decided to focus on corruption.
Technological Advances.
Both wrote award winning books.
Hack Attack,
Flat Earth News
Davies has written a few significant books.
Especially Hack Attack, which is about the phone hacking scandal and taking down Rupert Murdoch.
All The President’s Men, The
Final Days
‘Woodstein‘ co-wrote
two books on the
Watergate scandal.
The former being
made into a movie.
Both tell the story of
Nixon and the hidden
slush fund.