Thursday, November 17, 2005
The Sad Truth of Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward is dead, ladies and gentleman.
At least, his credibility is.
Media Matters has the story here. I was wondering why he was so dismissive of the Plame Investigation. It’s because he was potential target of the investigation. Aaaahhh….
I’ve never been a big fan of Woody. I was wondering, as I read Veil, for example, how he could recreate private conversations between the Director of Central Intelligence and a regional CIA director when both of them were under investigation at the time of the book’s publishing for criminal misconduct. If he had one or both of them as a source for the conversation, fine, but neither was a credible source for anything. This detail never stopped Woody from publishing book after book with questionable sources and no footnotes. He made a lot of money writing books that should have been in the fiction section. Reading a Bob Woodward book was always like being taken aside by a reporter with a lot of friends in high places and being told “lemme tell you a story about what really happened, guy.” I never bought it. I don’t take Bob Woodward’s word for anything. I don’t take any journalist’s word for anything. I trusted that he didn’t make things up from whole cloth, but God only knows what really happened behind closed doors. Woody’s books are realistic, but not reliable. If I want a realistic book to read based on conjecture I’ll check out Tom Clancy. He’s more entertaining, at least.
The sad truth is that the man who was once an icon of investigatory journalism is now the archetype of the deceptive establishment journalist. The Judy Miller, if you will.
RIP, Woody.
At least, his credibility is.
Media Matters has the story here. I was wondering why he was so dismissive of the Plame Investigation. It’s because he was potential target of the investigation. Aaaahhh….
I’ve never been a big fan of Woody. I was wondering, as I read Veil, for example, how he could recreate private conversations between the Director of Central Intelligence and a regional CIA director when both of them were under investigation at the time of the book’s publishing for criminal misconduct. If he had one or both of them as a source for the conversation, fine, but neither was a credible source for anything. This detail never stopped Woody from publishing book after book with questionable sources and no footnotes. He made a lot of money writing books that should have been in the fiction section. Reading a Bob Woodward book was always like being taken aside by a reporter with a lot of friends in high places and being told “lemme tell you a story about what really happened, guy.” I never bought it. I don’t take Bob Woodward’s word for anything. I don’t take any journalist’s word for anything. I trusted that he didn’t make things up from whole cloth, but God only knows what really happened behind closed doors. Woody’s books are realistic, but not reliable. If I want a realistic book to read based on conjecture I’ll check out Tom Clancy. He’s more entertaining, at least.
The sad truth is that the man who was once an icon of investigatory journalism is now the archetype of the deceptive establishment journalist. The Judy Miller, if you will.
RIP, Woody.
# posted by BitterHarvest @ 7:42 PM 
