All The President's Men Summary

“All the President’s Men,” by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward tells the story of Watergate and how the events transpired, and how Woodward and Bernstein acted as journalists to present one of the most compelling cases of reporting. While this book was not only informative from a historical perspective but also in learning about journalistic standpoint. The book starts by introducing the two men and addressing some of the early speculation about what happened at Watergate. Then, as Woodward begins to try and make sense of the confusion, he contacts those around him and begins to accumulate leads. As Bernstein is added to the story, they heavily demonstrate the importance of leads and talking to the right people. Together, the two men build a list of leads and sources totaling over 100 people each. This is important because it shows the necessity of having reliable knowledge, as well as making sure it comes from varied places. Another topic that Woodward and Bernstein discuss is the morals and ethics that are involved in talking to sources. Especially on a case like this, anonymity is important because of the possibility of backlash that could occur if the wrong names got out too early. In addition to this, the men cite their networking skills and already strong network as helpful, and it got their foot in the door when the …show more content…
Due to their massive network of sources, the two men had very private information, sometimes coming from the FBI itself. This angered some of the agents who were working the case but solidified the knowledge that the two journalists were on the right track. Because of their some times rocky relationship with some of the agents working the case, the journalists were weary of some of the information given to them, and even began to feel followed and tracked, like many of the sources that they had spoken