“Lighting the Fire”

Carl Bernstein (left) and Bob Woodward

In a world where our mediums for obtaining and acquiring news is changing rapidly and accountability is getting lost in the midst of it all, it makes me worry whether people know anymore what the difference between truth and deceit is.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward are two American journalists who changed American history through their persistent pursuit of the truth in unveiling the story of Watergate, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The Watergate scandal is one of the best examples of journalism playing the role of the  “Forth Estate.” The Forth Estate is the news media and its job is to keep an eye on the three other branches of government because the truth is they cannot be trusted. The Watergate scandal reinforced and legitimized the notion of the Forth Estate concept.

The video, “Lighting the Fire,” raised important ideas that should seriously be considered in a world where there are so many different outlets for obtaining news and so many different prerogatives journalists have when it comes to enforcing the truth.

Investigative journalism reached its peak in the 1960’s during the Watergate era. Woodward and Bernstein worked day and night to unveil the major scandals that were taking place involving the president of the United States. When one journalist during this video said that if Woodward and Bernstein were uncovering this story today they probably would have winded up in jail and the Watergate scandal would have never come to light, I was shocked but then I realized why this is true. This is an extremely terrifying thought that this country is loosing the idea of what journalism is here for. We have a free press for a reason and it’s quite ironic how the range of mediums to obtain media has grown so vastly, but yet it is weakening the power of the press at the same time.

As a journalism major myself, I respected the old-timers in this video and their thoughts on media and journalists today. It was funny how the old-timer journalists thought the term “investigative journalism” shouldn’t even exist because they thought that all journalism should be considered investigative journalism. When a journalist is covering a certain subject he or she should completely delve into that topic and be an expert by learning everything they can about that subject and never accepting no for an answer. One of the old-timer journalists said that all good reporting should be the same as investigative journalism and I agree completely.

It seems as though journalists today or bloggers who believe they are journalists have lost the idea of the Forth Estate. Another journalist during this video caught my attention when she said, “The legacy of Woodward and Bernstein has run out and we need to be reminded of its lessons.” Another quote that hit me was, “We are no longer living in a democracy if you don’t know what is going on in your own country.”

This video really makes you think about how important the free press really is and how Americans are taking it for granted and not concerning themselves with what is truly going on. Bloggers cannot be the ones who will replace mainstream media because bloggers work from behind a computer screen just like I am right now. We need real journalists who are going to go out be and the next Woodward and Bernstein because until then the general population will be in the dark and to be honest it seems like they like it there. One journalist in this video said, “Democracy cannot live without going after the facts,” and that is something for Americans to really think about.

This video inspired me as a journalist to play the role in what a journalist is truly supposed to be. This video also frightened me because Americans are giving the so-called democracy we live in the leeway for it to slowly turn into something of a dictatorship and we won’t even know it until it’s all right in front of our faces.