The Harsh Reality of Journalism: A Take on All the President’s Men

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All the President’s Men (1976) is indeed eye-opening and it goes to show how even people in high positions use their power to cover up the harsh truth. Based on a true story, the work on the Watergate scandal is considered to be one of the most outstanding reporting efforts of all time. It all began when five men are arrested for burglary in the Democratic National Committee Headquarters. The film revolves around two journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who ventured to seek out the truth as they find out later on that there is more to the story than a mere burglary. This story involved people in the White House including the then President Nixon.

The main message of the movie is the fact that people will always have something they want to remain hidden from the public eye and journalists or maybe even the concept of journalism exists to uncover those stories. From watching the movie, I saw that journalists question things that majority of us may not notice and if we do happen to notice it, many would leave it to be and question it no further. At the start of the film, the story of the burglary to be covered by Woodward was not deemed important; however, as the film goes on, it turns out that there was a larger issue behind the scenes of said burglary. If it weren’t for his interest as well as Bernstein’s (as they became partners) in going in depth, the truth would have remained hidden to this day.

It boils down to the reality that a journalist’s job is no easy task. From the beginning, they were struggling to put out their story. At the time, Woodward had only worked for nine months and was considered as a rookie so many of his higher-ups were not sure if he could handle a huge story at that time. However, he had proven them wrong and towards the end, they even supported his work. The conflict constantly appeared throughout the film was their struggle to acquire information from witnesses and the like. These witnesses were afraid to speak up on whatever they saw or heard because they were threatened to not tell anything or chose to stay quiet. Some even refused outright before the reporters could even ask if they were willing to talk. At this point, I found it disheartening whenever they were rejected by the witnesses. Despite this, they pushed on until eventually, one of the witnesses took a stand and told them what she knew. Going back to the Post, Ben Bradlee, the executive editor at that time, was still unsure of the story that Woodward and Bernstein had brought to him. Along with the higher-ups, they continuously doubted their story as there was nothing clear and unreliable due to the anonymity of the sources. Later on, they eventually publish the story to the public and it had the opposite effect because it was an outcome they did not expect. Nevertheless, they were able to overcome that problem.

I learned that journalism isn’t all about telling people lies. To be honest, my initial impression of journalists was that they were rude and would do anything as long as they got their hands on information for their news stories. I believe that there is this image that media manipulates the truth or make up lies so that it gives stories flavor. Nonetheless, I learned that this is not true all the time. Sometimes, this is their way of doing it so that the real truth will come out. In doing so, I saw how they worked hard to find out what was the real story.

I admire their perseverance because there was one scene where officials denied their claims against them. This could possibly destroy not only their careers but maybe even Washington Post. They were also dealing with people in high positions which included President Nixon. The sacrifices and risks that they had to take was overwhelming to me because the two of them did that in order to bring out the truth to the public. Their lives were at stake yet the determination in their faces showed how much they wanted to do this for everyone. By the end of it, they uncovered the truth of President Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate Scandal.

From this movie and the countless shows I watched, investigative reporting is dangerous and I believe that it’s for people who are strong and willing to put their lives on the line. The community has no idea on the hardship that journalists go through everyday just so they could read the headlines on newspapers or in these times, on the Internet. There is so much more to a news story because behind every one, there is a story of the journalist and that I believe holds the same power and emotion as the news itself.