All the President's Men

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lassic Film “All the President’s Men” Introduction “All the President’s Men” is a classic film that compels the viewer to think concretely about our political system in general and the office of the President of the United States in particular. The film’s major characters are Carl Bernstein played by Dustin Hoffman, and Bob Woodard played by Robert Redford. Both men were serving as journalists for the Washington Post during the Watergate Scandal in June of 1972. The theme reveals the role of investigative journalism in national politics. “All the President’s Men written by Alan J. Paluka is still a classic film today because it serves as proof that journalism in the political arena can inform the public, influence public opinion and expose the existence of corruption and scandal in the highest office in the land. The movie, “All the President’s Men” is based on a book written by the same journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two young reporters who ran with a little known, and little acknowledged, story about five men breaking into the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in June of 1972 (Loeb). A little over two years later, their audacity and perseverance eventually caused the only resignation of a President in United States history (Loeb). According to Michael Levine (626), “investigative journalism is a search for evidence to justify the publication of a story about an event or set of events. Ethical & legal considerations, and the journalists’ shared cultural need for statements grounded in fact, require that investigative reporters document the details of a story with reliable evidence.” “Reliability of the evidence gathered by Bernstein & Woodward took many forms which included the use of interviews, documents and their own emotions as well as the emotions of others” (Levine, 626). It was obvious that Bernstein & Woodward

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