Bernstein Chides News For Its Over-Confidence

Journalists since the Watergate scandal have indulged themselves in a largely undeserved "orgy of self-congratulations," former Washington Post investigative reporter Carl Bernstein said in a panel discussion at the Kennedy School last night.

Bernstein spoke on Watergate's effect on the relationship between press and government before an audience of about 300 at an Institute of Politics-sponsored forum.

"Watergate has not had the effect one would have hoped it would have," Bernstein said, adding that "we haven't seen any truly significant breakthroughs in journalism" in the 15 years since former President Richard M. Nixon resigned from office.

"The only real change is that we don't trust public officials any more," Bernstein said.

Bernstein and fellow Post reporter Bob Woodward gained national recognition for their investigative reporting on the break-in at the Democratic National Committee in 1972 and the subsequent political scandal their revelations created.

Despite widespread public belief, news organizations rarely assign large teams of reporters to controversial, breaking stories, Bernstein said.

For example, he said that only six of 2000 Washington journalists were assigned to the Watergate story in the first six months following the burglary. A similarly small number covered covert aid to the Nicaraguan contras before the congressional Irancontra hearings began.

"Every serious reporter knew what the Reagan Administration was doing, raising money for the contras, but until the link with Iran was established and something really outrageous occurred, it wasn't considered a story," Bernstein said.

Bernstein added that there has been "an unfortunate growth in the area of gossip and celebrity journalism...reporting is really the last priority for the networks."

Bernstein characterized reporting as "the best obtainable version of the truth," and he said, "there wasn't anything exotic about the Watergate reporting. To get to the truth you have to knock on a lot of doors."

"If there is a lot more knocking on doors these days, I'm not aware of it," Bernstein added.

Bernstein criticized the performance of the press during the Reagan years, saying journalists allowed the president to decide the news agenda rather than "deciding for ourselves what the real news stories were."

"This is not a time for self-congratulation," he added.

In addition to Bernstein, other participants in last night's discussion included James St. Clair, Nixon's former special counsel; James S. Doyle, former special assistant to the Watergate independent prosecutors; and Murrow Professor of the Press and Public Policy Marvin Kalb.