Watergate forces the president to his knees

                On Saturday, June 17, 1972, President Richard Nixon’s’ corruption was finally exposed. Two reporters from the Washington Press exposed this corruption and even though other news organizations condemned them for exposing this, The Washington Post stood behind them and supported them. The White House secretary, Ron Ziegler, let out a statement saying that the men trying to install listening devices inside the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate building were “third-rate” burglars. Ron Ziegler urged the Post to editorialize his statement. The Washington Post assigned two reporters to the Watergate story, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. While watching the arraignment of the Watergate burglars, Woodward realized something fishy was going on when one of the burglars stated that he worked for the CIA. Woodward and Bernstein connected the burglary to the White House and immediately begin to investigate and report on their findings. They found that President Nixon paid the “burglars”, also they found that the Watergate incident was started with a huge campaign of political spying conducted for President Nixon’s re-election. In late October Woodward and Bernstein exposed that both the Watergate burglary and the campaign of political sabotage were financed by a secretive fund of money that was controlled by the Presidents aide. Finally after four months of investigation the two journalists had enough evidence to prove that the White House was behind the Watergate burglary. Woodward and Bernstein’s determination and hard work displayed the effects of great journalism. They went to numerous houses of men and women who worked in the Committee of Re-election and even though they constantly had doors slammed in their faces they still persevered in order to get to the truth. The reporters used an internal source to verify all of their leads and evidence. That source was called “Deep Throat”. Deep Throats identity was a secret up until 2005 when he exposed himself as W. Mark Felt. He was 91 years old at the time and back in the 1970’s when the scandal was going on Felt was the second highest official in the FBI.

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                For months the Washington post was criticized for continuing to follow the Watergate story for so many months. The most serious effect of the Watergate scandal not being heavily publicized by other news organizations was that Nixon won the 1972 election by a landslide. Editor of the Washington Post, Ben Bradlee and publisher, Katharine Graham were the two people that ultimately took responsibility for hiring Woodward and Bernstein to cover this story. Nixon began misusing his Presidential power to punish the Post. Nixon ultimately made the Washington Post renew their television licenses and it cost the Post a lot of me and money to do this. After much time, more people joined in the fight to expose the truth against Nixon and the government. Ultimately Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974 before the impeachment process was completed. Journalists like Woodward and Bernstein that made such dramatic impacts in their reporting would forever change the country and display the importance of the news media.

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                I choose this chapter because of the recent events surrounding Osama’s death. The government hasn’t released nearly enough information to satisfy the public’s curiosity. It is times like these that the public looks towards journalism and the news media to seek out the truth and to expose it. Although in 1972 the Washington Post clearly suffered in its attempts to expose the truth, it was worth it in the end. With all the technology and resources available in today’s society if the news media would put a little more effort in their reporting, I’m sure they could get to the truth. The news media was created to serve the public, to inform us, to educate us on what is going on in society, not to give us brief conclusions on events going on in today’s world. They are there to expose the truth and hopefully they continue to make us proud and fulfill the expectations that they have lead the public to believe in since its creation.  

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Muckraking

"Slowing the momentum for women's rights"

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”  Chapter 3 in Mightier than the Sword, “slowing the momentum for women’s rights”, is all about the woman’s movement and their struggle throughout history to be treated as equals. For hundreds of years women have yearned to have as much a part in society as men have, and finally in 1848 their struggle towards demanding that equality began. Chapter 3 is all about the battle women went through in order to have that equality noticed by society. In 1848, a group of colonists devoted to the women’s rights cause demanded that women be treated as equals. People like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanton devoted their lives trying to get society and the government to acknowledge women. It wasn’t an easy fight, especially with the media fighting against their cause. As history has time and time again proven is that with the media on your side anything is possible. However, the media wasn’t on their side. The media fought to make people such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanton look like insignificant nobody’s to the public. Even in the midst of all that bad publicity, they believed that any publicity, even if bad, would help draw attention to their cause. Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony actually founded their own newspaper, “The Revolution”.  Unfortunately because of all the controversy over the women’s rights movement, the media could not financially sustain itself and it eventually crumbled. Finally in the 20^th century, women’s equality was finally acknowledged. This chapter conveys the message that if only the news media had supported women’s fight toward equality, it wouldn’t have taken them as long to finally become acknowledged as something more than just a housewife. Thankfully, women such as Elizabeth C. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony persevered and paved the way for the media to ultimately acknowledge women and for women to become successful and appreciated members of society.

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                I chose this chapter because as I was reading the book and trying to decide which chapter I would most like to write about, my little sister came in the room and turned on a movie. That movie was "She’s the Man" starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. It is an inspiring movie about a girl who loves playing soccer and wants to try out for the boys team after her school cut the girls soccer team. In the movie, Amanda Bynes impersonates her brother at his high school and tries out for the boys’ soccer team. After weeks of practice she finally makes first string on the team. The first game, coincidently, is against her high schools boys’ soccer team. In the end she beats the other team and reveals her true identity. The coach at her brothers’ school is so impressed with her talent that he keeps her on the team. This movie helped me to choose chapter 3 on women’s right as the chapter for my first blog project because like the women in history fighting to be acknowledged, in the movie Amanda Bynes struggles to prove that she is as good as the boys, and ultimately both succeed.

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Mightier Than The Sword: Sowing The Seeds of Revolution

Chapter one in Mightier Than The Sword was a great start to conveying just how much power the news media holds. During the American Revolution it was the news that spread word about the revolts against England all over the colonies. It was used to motivate the colonists to join the fight, as well as to inform the colonists about what was going on. Throughout the revolution the news media expanded and became a huge motivation. Journalists such as Tom Paine played an enormous role during the revolution; he opened the publics eyes to the truth. Tom Paine published "Common Sense" which was basically a pamphlet that stated men and women were obligated as citizens to demand more. His bravery to write something so bold and so honest was astonishing. Tom Paine wanted all people to understand his pamphlet, so he made it as easy and clear to understand as he possibly could. George Washington believed that Tom's motivational writing was so effective he had him write the Crisis papers to inspire his troops during the winter. Washington had the essay printed in the Pennsylvania Journal and he had it read to all of his troops. A week later the troops won a very important victory. Using the influence of journalism and the news media, Tom Paine inspired society to fight for what they believed, to fight for a greater cause, and to fight and ultimately build an independent country that promotes freedom.

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