Regrettable: The troubling things I learned while rereporting Bob Woodward's Book on John Belushi
Slate:
By Tanner Colby|Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at 5:42 AM
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/03/bob_woodward_and_gene_sperling_what_woodward_s_john_belushi_book_can_tell.html
A little more than a week ago, during an interview with Politico, Bob Woodward came forward to claim hed been threatened in an email by a senior White House official for daring to reveal certain details about the negotiations over the budget sequester. The White House responded by releasing the email exchange Woodward was referring to, which turned out to be nothing more than a cordial exchange between the reporter and Obamas economic adviser, Gene Sperling, who was clearly implying nothing more than that Woodward would regret taking a position that would soon be shown to be false.
A rather trivial scandal, but the incident did manage to raise important questions about Woodwards behavior. Was he cynically trumping up the administrations threat, or does he just not know how to read an email? Pretty soon, those questions tipped over into the standard Beltway discussion that transpires anytime Woodward does anything. How accurate is his reporting? Does he deserve his legendary status?
I believe I can offer some interesting answers to those questions. Thirty-one years ago, on March 5, 1982, Saturday Night Live and Animal House star John Belushi died of a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeleswhich, bear with me a moment, has more to do with the current coverage of the budget sequester than you might initially think.*
Two years after Belushi died, Bob Woodward published Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi. While the Watergate sleuth might seem an odd choice to tackle such a subject, the book came about because both he and Belushi grew up in the same small town of Wheaton, Ill. They had friends in common. Belushi, who despised Richard Nixon, was a big Woodward fan, and after he died, his widow, Judy Belushi, approached Woodward in his role as a reporter for the Washington Post. She had questions about the LAPDs handling of Belushis death and asked Woodward to look into it. He took the access she offered and used it to write a scathing,
lurid account of Belushis drug use and death.
When Wired came out, many of Belushis friends and family denounced it as biased and riddled with factual errors. Exploitative, pulp trash, in the words of Dan Aykroyd. Wired was so wrong, Belushis manager said, it made you think Nixon might be innocent. Woodward insisted the book was balanced and accurate. I reported this story thoroughly, he told Rolling Stone. Of the books critics, he said, I think they wish I had created a portrait of someone who was larger than life, larger than he was, and that, somehow, this portrait would all come out different. But thats a fantasy, not journalism. Woodward being Woodward, he was given the benefit of the doubt. Belushis reputation never recovered.
blm
(113,083 posts)and some refused him the time of day early on.
He reported many stories wrong.
supernova
(39,345 posts)what Woodward got wrong/changed to suit his POV/ on watergate.
Bill USA
(6,436 posts)subjected to excruciating scrutinization by editors at WaPo - because of the unprecedented content - before it went to print. Plus, we've had 40 years for others to go over everything they wrote plus whatever additional evidence could be uncovered and nothing has come out to contradict what they wrote. Of course Nixon's own tapes helped corroborate the body of their work. {yes, Nixon took care of 17 minutes of the tapes, but everybody (well, except for some dedicated fascists) is hoping that technology will eventually enable Nixon's taped statements to one-day be recovered}.
I personally think, in the ensuing 40 years, ole Bob is perhaps experiencing early onset Alzheimers. THat's the most benign scenario I can think of.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)FreeBC
(403 posts)fishwax
(29,149 posts)Cha
(297,545 posts)I didn't read the book.. all I remember about John Belushi is he was a funny guy.
And, I'm reminded of him when I see his brother Jim in shows.