Teaching Watergate journalism

I love showing/teaching/discussing Pakula's All the President's Men. For the record, in addition to Woodward and Bernstein's book, there are a couple of titles worth checking out: Alicia Shepard's Woodward and Bernstein, and Woodward's own Secret Man (Downie mentioned it). They both give supplemental information not just about the scandal, but the reporting, the aftermath, both their careers, and Mark Felt's own involvement in political/military shenanigans during the Reagan era.

One obstacle to using the film is the sheer amount of time spent reviewing things like primaries, wire services, 70s-era page proofs and the key players in Washington during the timeline; students often feel daunted at the unfamiliarity of it all that the simpler elements of the story escape them as well. I have some handouts that help, but the ones in our packet are more streamlined and user-friendly, so that should be a boon when it's time to use it again.

Two scenes that work well to show early in the semester: Redford working the phone, trying to get background on Hunt, and the press conference (which Steve used part of as well in an early session), both of which illustrate the hard-work-in/polished-product-out approach we so desperately want to instill in our budding young journalists. Another scene that works well to that effect is the morning news meeting in the 1994 film The Paper, although there's some language I have to edit around.

Sooner or later, someone's going to make a film about Julian Assange breaking the WikiLeaks military story; until then, let's use what works, and use it to maximum effect. Thanks for the help.

Downie, next to his filmic counterpart.