Theme IV: Monitoring the Powerful
EQs: Why is freedom of press essential to any democratic society?
What is the impact of press on the society?
The Fourth Estate:
Journalism as Part of Our Government

The press assumes the role of a watchdog, monitoring the
operations of the government. Its duty is to blow the whistle against
government malpractices and abuse of power.

Apart from overseeing the government, the press would also watch
over all powerful institutions in society (MacDonald/Supersize;
Michael More It is also a core principle of the “watchdog” to examine
the unseen corners of society.
Why does the Press Monitor the Powerful?
Officials and the administration are fallible and need to be
checked;
Freedom of the press serve to examine the conduct of
officials, expose their wrongdoings and diffuse liberal
sentiments;
Freedom of the press is meant to be the terror of all bad
ministers, who will be shamed and put into disrepute for
their misdemeanors.
Freedom of the press is a principal pillar of a free
government.
Freedom of the Press
“The liberty of exposing and opposing a bad administration
by the pen is among the necessary privileges of a free people,
and is perhaps the greatest benefit that can be derived from
the liberty of the press.”
Father of Candor (1764)
“This formidable censor of the public functionaries, by
arraigning them at the tribunal of public opinion, produces
reform peacefully, which must otherwise be done by
revolution….. It is also the best instrument for enlightening
the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral, and
social being…..” Thomas Jefferson (1823)
Scandal and Intrigue



Understand: The investigations into Watergate that led
to the resignation of Richard Nixon are a case study
in the operation of the American Constitution and
political values.
Know: Definition and role of the Fourth Estate and
the Purposes and Features of Watchdog
Journalism
Do: Critically analyze the Watergate Scandal: identify
examples of Watchdog Journalism; assess effectiveness
of investigative reporting and apply acquired
knowledge to an investigation into the untimely death
of Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Watchdog Journalism
Objectives of a watchdog story: seek and tell the truth; sort out the
causes that lead to the problems in question; explore the consequences
and implications of the discovered findings.
The Purpose: The watchdog stories address concerns of great public
interest (such as wrongful behavior, problematic practice, and abuse of
power of government agency or officials.
The Goal: In doing so, they are expected to keep the government in
check by arousing strong public attention, exerting enormous pressures
on the government in power, and pushing for a change for the better.
The Objects for Monitoring: Public authorities and now expands to big
corporate.
Watchdog Journalism: Purposes and Features
Three Levels of Reporting
The First Level of Reporting

Layer I reporting is objective reporting, careful and accurate
transcription of the record, the speech, the news conference;

Journalists have to rely on ready-made information provided by the
sources (such as statements, press releases, handouts, declarations)
assuming it is true or keeping a distance from it by writing it in a
reported speech;

Most stories appearing in daily news media belong to level I
reporting;

While we may be content to use the ready-made information, we
must be aware of its limitation (reported facts are not equal to facts)
until we can confirm them.
The Second Level of Reporting

Layer II reporting requires a journalist to verify material, seeks out
additional facts, and use his/her knowledge as a source of facts for the
story;

Journalists take initiative to verify source-provided material and base
their stories on material gathered through checking and digging;

Investigations may reveal that official stories are misleading the public
and challenge official explanations which may be widely accepted by
society.

Example: The cover-up of massacre of civilians in Vietnam by US
troops
My Lai Massacre (1969)/ Seymour Hersh

On November 12, 1969,
Hersh broke the story of the
My Lai Massacre, prompting
widespread condemnation
around the world and reducing
public support for the
Vietnam war in the United
States.

The explosive news of the
massacre fueled the outrage of
the American peace movement,
which demanded the
withdrawal of American
troops from Vietnam. It also
led more potential draftees to
file for conscientious objector
status.
The Third Level of Reporting

It is about causes, meanings and consequences of
what happened;

The purpose is to inform us on how things work,
why they work that way, or why they don’t work,
in addition to telling what did happen today;

It is analytical as it moves beyond the reporting
of facts into the subjective area of judgment and
inference;
Layer III Examples

What are the effects of eating MacDonald’s
meals everyday and in particular implications for
your health?
• Why CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions
and the large shipments of cocaine into the U.S.
by the Contra personnel, but taking no action?
• The real and potential impact of the
indiscriminate use of poisonous chemical sprays
on human health and environment.
Watchdog Journalism: Formal Features
Layer II or III Reporting: Must go beyond what other people
say, establish facts by yourself, and explore the meaning of these facts
in a context;
Example
Watergate Scandal:
It started as a burglary story and was later found out that one burglar
was a former White House employee

The Use of Layer I material: Investigative reporting always gets hints
from layer I material provided by others.
Example
Super Size Me:
The producer conceived the idea for the film when the he was at his
parents' house for Thanksgiving, watching a news story in TV about a
lawsuit brought against McDonalds by two teenage girls who blamed the
fast food chain for their obesity.

Three Main Forms of Watchdog Journalism
1. Original Investigative Reporting:
• Involves reporters themselves uncovering and documenting
activities that have been previously unknown to the public.
• On behalf of the public, the press pushes the public authority to
take action. Investigative reporters somehow work like a
detective: public records searches, uses of informants,
undercover work and monitoring activities

Example: Rachel Carson/Silent Spring 1962: international
movement to protect the environment
Three Main Forms of Watchdog Journalism
2. Interpretive investigative reporting
 Interpretative investigative stories develop as a result of
careful thought and analysis of an idea as well as
dogged pursuit of facts to bring together information
in a new, more complete context which provides deeper
public understanding.
 It reveals a new way of looking at something as well as
new information about it.
 Example Pentagon Papers 1971/NYT
Pentagon Papers 1971/NYT
•
A secret study of American
involvement in Vietnam written
by the government.
•
A reporter got a copy and then a
team of NYT reporters and
editors expert in foreign policy
and the Vietnam war interpreted
and organized the documents
into a dramatic account of public
deception.
• Without this synthesis and
interpretation, the Pentagon
Papers would have meant little
to most of the public.
Three Main Forms of Watchdog Journalism
3. Reporting on investigations
The reporting develops from the discovery or leak of information
from an official investigation already under way or in preparation by
others, usually government agencies.
Reporting on investigations is found wherever official investigations
are at work.
Example:
Mark Mazzetti/ National Intelligence Estimate 2006: The intelligence
found out that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has
helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the
overall terrorist threat has grown since the September 11 attacks five
years ago.
Decades after Richard Nixon resigned the
office of the president, Watergate
remains one of the top presidential
scandals of modern time.
The Watergate Scandal



Understand: The investigations into Watergate that led
to the resignation of Richard Nixon are a case study in
the operation of the American Constitution and
political values.
Know: Definition and role of the Fourth Estate and
the Purposes and Features of Watchdog Journalism
Do: Critically analyze the Watergate Scandal: identify
examples of Watchdog Journalism; assess effectiveness
of investigative reporting and apply acquired
knowledge to an investigation into the untimely death
of Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Watergate Burglars
James McCord, Jr., Roman Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio
Martinez, and Bernard Baker
The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon

The Watergate Hotel 1972: Watergate Burglars broke
into the Democratic Party's National Committee offices
on June 17, 1972.

Historical and Political background: arising out of
political events of the 1960s such as Vietnam, and the
publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1970 the
chronology of the scandal really begins during 1972,
when the burglars were arrested.

By 1973, Nixon had been re-elected, but the storm
clouds were building. By early 1974, the nation was
consumed by Watergate
The Investigations

Initial investigations of Watergate were heavily influenced by the media,
particularly the work of two reporters from the Washington Post, Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein, along with their mysterious informant,
Deep Throat (Mark Felt Associate Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Revealed in 2005)

Political investigations began in February 1973 when the Senate
established a Committee to investigate the Watergate scandal

The public hearings of the Committee were sensational, including the
evidence of John Dean, Nixon's former White House Counsel

Committee uncovered the existence of the secret White House tape
recordings, sparking a major political and legal battle between the
Congress and the President.
The Investigations
• 1974: the House of Representatives authorized the Judiciary
Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against Nixon..
*The work of this Committee was again the spotlight a quarter of
a century later when Bill Clinton was impeached.
 August: The House Judiciary Committee voted to accept three of four
proposed Articles of Impeachment, with some Republicans voting with
Democrats to recommend impeachment of the President.



Supreme Court orders Nixon to release more White House tapes.
One of these became known as the 'smoking gun' tape when it
revealed that Nixon had participated in the Watergate cover-up as
far back as June 23, 1972
August 8, 1974, Nixon delivers a nationally televised resignation
speech.
September 8, 1974: President Ford Pardons Nixon for all offenses
from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974. …
The Aftermath

Political scandals are termed "--gate“: Monicagate, FEMAgate,
Skategate, Jerseygate…

The media becomes more confident and aggressive

Watergate was unraveled by the Washington Post reporters,
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their work led to the
development of teams of "investigative“ reporters on
newspapers around the world

General sense of cynicism/skepticism towards government
'All the President's Men'
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein