PBS Newshour Extra

The television series Firing Line, moderated by conservative host William F. Buckley Jr., was a venue for discussion and debate on political, social, and ethical issues of the day from 1966 through 1999.

Directions

Watch the clip from Firing Line featuring Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which came out during the Senate hearings and four weeks before the “smoking gun” was released. Then respond to the questions in the boxes below.

“Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0144; The Limits of Journalistic Investigation.” July 9, 1974. Permission has been granted for educational purposes only courtesy of Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress) via https://youtu.be/OeUwEzqh9kg

Questions

1. Why does Bob Woodward say his new book with Carl Bernstein, All the President's Men, is a book about journalism and not Watergate?

2. Why did Bernstein disagree with Buckley’s description that a journalist is different than a prosecutor or a judge in a courtroom?

3. The Firing Line episode was called “The Limits of Journalistic Investigation.” Who gave the episode this title? How might investigative journalists push the ethical limits of journalism?

4. In what circumstances might you support reporters pushing the ethical limits of journalism?

5. Firing Line provided a venue for discussion on political and social issues with experts of the day. How is it similar or different from news shows today?

Covering Watergate

1972-1974

Primary Source Interactives

Watergate Investigation Begins

Woodward’s Notes

Woodward and Bernstein

Investigative Journalism on Firing Line

Public Media

Broadcast Television

Media Literacy and Civic Engagement

Viewers Weigh in on Watergate Coverage

Senate Watergate Hearings

Political Cartoon

Newsroom Diversity

Then and Now

Directions

Questions