Watergate and Clinton-Lewinsky:

Matt Hladik and Kyle Kirkpatrick

Presidents as public figures

Widespread coverageGatekeeping and agenda-setting

Entertainment or news?

June, 17, 1972—burglary at DNC Headquarters

Allegations of espionage and sabotage

Story broken by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974

Not the first Presidential scandal, but it was the first of the modern media era and led to sweeping change.

- Ruined the American public’s image of the President as a human manifestation of “American values”

- The President would no longer have a free pass from the members of the media

- First public fallout of a major American figurehead….good imagery, soundbites, shock value etc…

Heightened the adversarial relationship of the media and the President.

Created an entire new genre of reporting- investigative reporting.

Showed reporting could be inspiring, provocative, and noble.

Woodward and Bernstein were “the Orville and Wilbur Wright of investigative journalism.”

Woodward and Bernstein’s coverage of Watergate led to the widespread implementation of the anonymous source

The use of anonymous attribution has been the source of major debate and controversy post-Watergate

Two distinct factions have developed in journalism: people who use, advocate, or condone anonymous sourcing and those who do not.

Anti-anonymous sourcing: Feels like it could weaken the story or jeopardize credibility

Daly: “Must make every effort to go on the record.”

Not surprisingly, Bob Woodward has gone on the record to support anonymous sourcing

“The job of a journalist, particularly someone who’s spent time dealing in sensitive areas, is to find out, what really happened. When you are reporting on inside the White House, the Supreme Court, the CIA, or the Pentago, you tell me how you’re going to get stuff on the record. Look at the good reporting out of any of those institutions—it’s not on the record.” (AJR, 1994)

1995—Monica Lewinsky hired as a White House intern

Series of 10 sexual encountersLewinsky subpoenaed in Paula Jones

caseKenneth Starr investigatesMichael Isikoff, Newsweek reporter,

investigates, but magazine delays publishing

First public report of the scandal seen on Drudge Report

Clinton denies allegations

Extremely detailed Starr Report released

News reflects the sexual and borderline pornographic nature of the report

Lewinsky allegations dismissed in Paula Jones case, but coverage is still pervasive

Rumors circulate on the internet24/7 cable news networksSupply and demandPack journalism

“There’s a school of thought that says if a rumor gets traction, then you write about it. There’s another school that says if you write about it, you give it validity.”

--Josh Margolin, Star Ledger Reporter

Decline of gatekeepingsensationalist journalism

Salience and dumbed-down newsPressure on news outlets to report

on rumors Public’s “right to know”?Drawing the line between news and

drama/entertainment

Conclusion + Discussion Questions