Bob Woodward on Covering Watergate and Investigative Journalism

Bob Woodward is an associate editor of the Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971.

Woodward graduated from Yale University in 1965, and served five years as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy before becoming a journalist. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first in 1973 for the coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second in 2002 as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Gene Roberts, the former managing editor of the New York Times, has called the Woodward-Bernstein Watergate reporter team, “maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time.” Bob Schieffer of CBS News has said, “Bob Woodward has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time.”

Woodward has authored or co-authored 18 books, all of which have been national nonfiction bestsellers. Twelve of those have been #1 national bestsellers, including The Final Days, The Price of Politics, The Last of the President’s Men, and his most recent, Fear: Trump in the White House, which broke records with a million-dollar release. In listing the all-time 100 best nonfiction books, Time magazine has called Woodward’s All the President’s Men, the explosive Watergate story which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, “perhaps the most influential piece of journalism in history.”

Woodward discusses the impact of Watergate: what started as a small story—what the White House press secretary famously called “a third-rate burglary”—ballooned into an event that changed history.

Woodward and fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein spent years interviewing and re-interviewing everyone they could track down who was attached to the case. Woodward has often discussed the role their reporting played in Nixon’s resignation. But keep in mind: journalists don’t aim to take down presidents; they pursue the facts.

While Woodward was investigating Watergate, Katharine Graham, the publisher, and owner of the Post, encouraged him to never give up on uncovering the truth because “that’s the business we are in.” As Woodward explains, you have to keep going back. Even 40 years later, people like Alexander Butterfield—the former deputy assistant to President Nixon who disclosed the White House taping system—continue to divulge new information about Watergate when interviewed.

The tactics Woodward and Bernstein used to follow the story are helpful for any aspiring journalist or young reporter in understanding just how far you have to go. They wrote about their experience reporting on Watergate in All the President’s Men, which later became a movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. If you haven’t already, take the time to read Woodward and Bernstein’s book and watch the film.

Woodward believes people agree to be sources because they want their side to be heard and because “everyone is a secret sharer [under] the First Amendment.” When you start working on a story, make lists of people who might have any understanding of the case. These witnesses and participants will help you uncover the truth.

The internet will never replace human sources in investigative journalism. Obviously, no one can google “Where are the secret memos?” with a reasonable expectation of success. Decades later, Watergate would be reported in pretty much the same way. But how might the internet be used as a tool alongside human sources?

• When reporting, you have to knock on doors, set up meetings, and ask people to help you.
• To develop these relationships, especially with sources who might be hesitant to divulge important details, you will need to be persistent and patient. Sometimes that means calling an office five or six times before someone will meet with you.
• Most importantly, never give up on finding sources.

Mark Felt became “Deep Throat” by accident. Woodward met Felt long before the Watergate investigation, when he was a U.S. Navy sailor who sometimes acted as a courier between the chief of naval operations and the White House.

When Woodward started his career as a reporter, Felt provided tips and clues on various stories. After the Watergate break-in, Woodward asked Felt if he knew anything about “H. Hunt”—a White House worker whose name was written in two of the Watergate burglars’ address books. Felt verified Hunt’s involvement and went on to share information many more times throughout the investigation.

• Felt spoke with Woodward on deep background, meaning Woodward was not able to identify him as a source.
• Their communication was clandestine. They met in a garage using a secret code involving a newspaper and flower pot, espionage tricks Felt had learned during World War II.
• Felt ultimately conveyed the true gravity of Watergate to Woodward. The burglary was part of a much larger effort by the Nixon reelection committee to sabotage Senator Edmund Muskie and get a weaker Democrat nominated.
• The situation was so severe, he told Woodward, that he feared Woodward and Bernstein’s lives might be at risk.

Woodward believes Felt became a source not just because Felt was offended by the criminal activity of Nixon and his cohorts, but also because of thwarted personal ambition. Even so, Felt never handed documents over for the Washington Post’s use, nor did he provide an outline for the story. Instead, he provided clues to help Woodward uncover the overall picture. Woodward always made sure that Felt’s identity was completely protected, even as speculation about his identity circulated in Washington decade after decade. Over the years, Woodward gained the trust of other sources because of the protection he gave Felt.

While reporting on Watergate, Washington Post editor Howard Simons showed Woodward that the best story is a breaking story.

• When developing a story, it’s very important that you stay open and not become attached to your own theory of what happened. Make sure you are not so blinded by what you believe occurred that you can’t see what is right in front of you.
• You might be certain you are right, but your personal perspective will inevitably affect the questions you are asking. Rely on other perspectives from your team and continuously examine your own perspective before you publish. Keep in mind Woodward’s story of the pardon President Ford gave Nixon and the real story behind Ford’s decision-making.
• Don’t forget to apply your own common sense. Sometimes the key to understanding a case is staring you right in the face. This became very clear to Woodward when he was investigating whether the Committee to Re-Elect the President and the White House were connected to the Watergate burglary. It just didn’t make sense that low-level people in the Richard Nixon campaign would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their own. In this case, the common-sense way to uncover the truth was to “follow the money.”

Woodward shares lessons from the mistakes he’s made during his career as a journalist.

• While reporting on the Watergate investigation, he learned the value of verifying facts. One of his stories stated incorrectly that, according to grand jury testimony by Hugh Sloan, Bob Haldeman controlled a secret fund. Though the basic facts were correct—there was a secret fund that five people controlled, and Hugh Sloan had verified that Haldeman was one of those people—Sloan never stated this in grand jury testimony. If you don’t present the facts correctly—even if the essence of what you’re saying is correct—you compromise the integrity of your story and your news organization.
• The internet has transformed the landscape of journalism. We are living in an era in which journalists are distrusted, which means that reporters must work even harder to present their stories authentically. The accelerated news cycle puts immense pressure on reporters, editors, and news organizations, but Woodward cautions that impatience is driving too many journalistic choices.
• Woodward states that the key similarity between special counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Watergate is the attacks on the press. In both cases, those who have or had a stake in the outcome of the investigations accused the press of publishing falsehoods. In a speech made at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., Woodward emphatically proclaimed that “the media is not fake news.” Journalists must continue to uncover hidden government secrets and report the truth, because, as the motto of the Washington Post states, “Democracy dies in darkness.”

Whether you’re a budding news reporter or a skilled features writer, the art of journalism and nonfiction writing is ever-evolving. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Bob Woodward has spent decades honing his journalistic craft. In his MasterClass on the art of investigative reporting, the legendary journalist shares all he knows about how to investigate a story, interview sources, and understand how the news is written.

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