When Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate story, journalism in this country took a turn. Tough, intrepid reporters were associated with a dogged quest for the truth. Yet, as Matt Bai explains it in the New York Times Magazine, it’s a mistake to think that the legacy of Watergate has actually been journalistic commitment to the truth. Instead, for him, Watergate led to an obsession with uncovering scandals, whether significant or not.
Today, journalists seek out scandals, often “exaggerating the importance of minor mistakes or improprieties” focusing more on attention-grabbing than offering nuance, complexity and a balanced truth. Scandal stories are designed to “elicit strong negative reactions (such as anger, shock, disgust, outrage) in the public.”
