Woodward On Watergate's 30th Anniversary

By: Joe Strupp With the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in coming on Monday, journalist and author Bob Woodward -- who broke the story and subsequent cover-up with former Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein -- spoke with E&P about the historic scandal's legacy three decades later.

Woodward, who is working on a new book about George W. Bush and the war on terrorism, discussed several issues related to the story, including the continued obsession with the identity of secret source "Deep Throat," the scandal's impact on investigative journalism, and how his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage affected his overall career.

On the continued guessing-game over Deep Throat's identity:

"It used to annoy me because it is a pretty low form of journalism to try to find out somebody else's sources. But it is a legitimate inquiry for the sake of curiosity.

"I'm glad it's still a mystery and unknown. I've been able to keep my promise. You can't control the questions on the agenda. I can't decide what people will focus on. It's similar to people trying to guess who is going to win an election, who will win the Super Bowl, or who is going to challenge Tiger Woods. That's what people want to do."

On investigative reporting:

"Investigative reporting takes time and patience. An editor once told me, 'You can't understand a man in an afternoon.'"

On Watergate's effect on investigative reporting:

"The legacy of Watergate is that the use of unnamed sources was legitimized -- if carefully done, checked and re-checked, and if people have had a full chance to respond. Obviously, there are also going to be abuses of it, but those are the exception, not the rule. The press is primarily better. By and large, I'm optimistic. You look at newspapers all around that are doing good journalism."

On how Watergate changed the way the press covers government:

"There is now a presumption [in the press] sometimes of guilt [when government officials are accused]."

Watergate's lesson for government officials:

"The lesson for government officials is clear -- come clean, tell the truth ..."

On Watergate's impact on his career:

"People know that when I say I'll protect a source, I mean it for life."