28 October 2010

“Watergate” Reporter Stresses Patience, Accuracy, Fact-Gathering

By Charles W. Corey
Staff Writer

Washington — American investigative journalist Bob Woodward, the winner of two prestigious Pulitzer Prizes for distinguished work in journalism, met with some 150 journalists from 125 countries in an interactive session at the U.S. Department of State. The event was part of the fifth Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, named for the award-winning and pioneering broadcast journalist.

Woodward prefaced his remarks in the U.S. Department of State’s Loy Henderson Conference Center October 27 by saying that, as a journalist, he would probably be critical in his remarks about past and present U.S. government leaders and officials during his 90-minute presentation. He then asked the reporters in the room, “How many of you could go into your ministry of foreign affairs and say what you really think or what you found out? Raise your hand. How many could not?” Woodward noted that the crowd was about evenly split when it answered his questions.

NEUTRAL FACT-GATHERING

In journalism, he said, it always boils down to “what is the information, what are the facts” gained through meticulous reporting. Woodward stressed the importance of what he called “neutral fact-getting.”

“In the end, what matters in journalism in this country is what information … you have,” he said.

Woodward, an associate editor with the Washington Post and a best-selling author, and Carl Bernstein gained fame in the 1970s after helping to break the “Watergate series” of stories while both were reporters for the Washington Post. Publication of those stories, which chronicled political corruption and dirty tricks directed by officials in the Nixon White House, eventually prompted President Richard Nixon on August 8, 1974, to announce his resignation.

As a journalist, Woodward said he begins each day by asking himself one key question: What is being hidden by government officials? “In government [in the United States], Democrats, Republicans, whomever is there, there always is something hidden,” and it’s the job of journalists to find out what that is and to shed light on it for all to see.

Woodward, who recently wrote Obama’s Wars, his first book about the Obama administration, said he has gotten interview time with many U.S. presidents and other political leaders because he is known to be neutral and approaches a subject with no preconceived agenda.

THOROUGH PREPARATION AND RESEARCH

Calling his type of journalism “aggressive reporting” in search of the true facts — wherever they may lead — Woodward told the reporters to prepare thoroughly before each interview and “read everything” their interview subject has written on pertinent subjects, even from several years back. That preparation, he said, shows you are taking the people you are interviewing seriously — as seriously as they take themselves.

Woodward said he often spends 12 to 18 months on a book, so there is time to be thorough. There is “a lot of noise” on the Internet, he said, and he counseled his audience to take the time to do some “old school” reporting. “You can’t do it fast,” he said, even in the face of severe cutbacks and financial constraints that are now afflicting the media and especially the U.S. newspaper industry.

“Democracies die in darkness,” he told his audience. Whatever the problems, he said, they can often be sorted out and dealt with by society and policymakers. The biggest enemy is secrecy, he warned, especially in government.

Asked about the world financial crisis, Woodward said the media failed to understand and report on what was happening on Wall Street that led to the financial crisis. If the financial press had been doing more robust reporting, he said, the crisis might have been minimized or might not have happened.

Being a journalist is the best job in the world, Woodward said.

Jacqueline Mosha, a reporter with the Guardian Limited in Tanzania who was in the audience, told America.gov that pursuit of the facts is very important because “people need to know the truth and the facts are very important.”

“If you put out the story without facts, it is nothing. … You have to put out the facts to make sure people read the story and understand it,” she said.

Freedom of the press is essential for reporters to operate freely, she added. “People want to know each and everything, and they trust media. If there is no freedom in a certain country, it is nothing.”

Catherine Mwesigwa Kizza, feature editor of the New Vision Newspaper in Uganda, said Woodward’s presentation was especially interesting when he talked about the importance of patience and fact-finding in an effort to deepen a story. But she said, “There is no way that you can have time for depth when you are rushing things through.”

She echoed Woodward’s point that it is important to know your subject well. “Those are two key things that I am probably taking back to the newsroom to my people. I know in our generation it may not be possible to do everything that he does, but I think it is worth it to get those old-school practices back in the newsroom.”

Kholwani Nyathi, news editor of The Standard Newspaper in Zimbabwe, said everyone “learned a lot” from the Woodward session.

Anthony Mulowa, chief reporter at the Times of Zambia called Woodward’s remarks “quite inspiring” because they showed everyone how they can do better journalism.

“Usually in newsrooms nowadays we get a lot of pressure in terms of deadlines. I was impressed that he still maintains his old style of taking time and checking facts. ... Usually we rush to produce something half-baked. ... But I think that as journalists we should learn to be patient and to dig deeper so we come out with facts that will be accurate, correct, balanced and informative,” he said. Editors and publishers should receive such counsel because they are often the ones pressuring reporters to produce quickly, he said.

A “WATCHDOG” ROLE

Innocent Jovito Chitosi, deputy editor of the Malawi News in Blantyre, told America.gov he has been impressed with the U.S. press role as a “watchdog” protecting freedoms all across America, and especially the freedom of expression.

“I have seen a lot of demonstrations. Just right now outside [the State Department], people are demonstrating. When I went to the White House, I saw people carrying placards, demonstrating outside the president’s office, which can’t happen in most of our countries. You find the police are there, not to stop them but to make sure that it is orderly. ... And everyone is going on about their daily work, nothing extraordinary, which is impressive.”

Amade Soro, director of publication at Albouchra Infos in Burkina Faso, told America.gov that Woodward pointed out the importance for all journalists “to be fair and to tell the truth to the population. This should be our principal goal in journalism.”

Julius Kanubah, legislative reporter and producer for the Star Radio in Liberia, told America.gov Woodward “has given us encouragement to continue our work as journalists.”

Freedom of the press is very important, Kanubah said, and the “surest way to ensure a democratic process.” He said he was pleased that his country has just signed into law a freedom of information act that provides easier access to information for journalists. “So freedom of the press is very crucial to Africa” and other regions worldwide, he stressed.

The Edward R. Murrow program invites rising journalists to travel to the United States to examine journalistic principles and practices. Since its inception in 2006, the program has welcomed more than 600 foreign journalists. Participants meet in the nation’s capital then travel in smaller groups for academic seminars and field activities with faculty and students at one of the prestigious partner schools of journalism.

The journalists also visit various American cities to observe U.S. media coverage of state politics and government as well as American civic life and grass-roots involvement in political affairs in smaller towns. The program concludes in New York City, with visits to major media outlets and a symposium to highlight current trends and challenges facing the media in the United States and around the world.

The program represents an innovative public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State, the Aspen Institute and leading U.S. journalism schools.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)