Did Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and the Washington Post Break Journalism’s Highest Sacrament?
Did two of America's most famous journalists, the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, break a 33-year-old vow to W. Mark Felt never to reveal his identity until after the former FBI assistant director was dead?
MORRISVILLE, Pa. (PRWEB) Aug. 3, 2005 -– Did Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and
the Washington Post break journalism’s highest sacrament, a promise never to
reveal the identity of a secret source, when they confirmed that 91-year-old
former FBI assistant director W. Mark Felt was “Deep Throat?”
Media
relations consultant Richard Lavinthal, a former newspaper and wire service
reporter, and spokesman for federal and state prosecutors, poses that question
in an OpEd commentary appearing August 1st in the Sunday Times of Trenton (New
Jersey).
Lavinthal spoke with San Francisco attorney John O’Connor, who
represents Felt and the Felt family, and authored, “I’m The Guy They Call Deep
Throat,” which appeared in Vanity Fair magazine on May 31.
O’Connor
revealed that neither Woodward, Bernstein nor the Post sought to be released
from the vow never to identify Felt until his death. It may seem foolish when a
source “outs” himself in a magazine article, Lavinthal says, but the owner of
secrecy not the reporter controls whether to release the journalist from his
pledge. In this case, Felt may have no memory of Watergate, further muddying the
water, Lavinthal said. But not remembering is not a waiver,” he
argues.
In “Journalism and Omerta: Watergate Style,” Lavinthal notes that
Woodward and Bernstein originally refused to confirm Felt’s identity when the
Vanity Fair article hit the newsstands, then later decided to confirm that Felt
was Deep Throat.
“A reporter's vow to protect the identity of a secret
source is the most important sacrament in journalism, the key that can unlock a
story lurking below the surface. It's vital for investigative journalism, but it
can extract a heavy toll on the reporter who offers it. Journalism's version of
omerta can lead to jail, where Judith Miller of The New York Times now sits,”
Lavinthal wrote.
The column is available from http://www.prPROpinion.com
and http://www.PRforLAW.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb268236.htm